Tag Archives: ISIL

ISIS Wants You!

Throughout the United States history, many posters and slogans have been used to recruit people to join the US military.

Who could forget that poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger with the slogan, ‘I Want You for the US Army.’  That poster and slogan were designed by an artist from New York by the name of James Montgomery Flagg.  Flagg designed this poster for the Army after our entry in World War I in 1917. Four million of these four-color posters were printed and plastered all over the United States from coast to coast.  The pointing Uncle Sam finger was not a new idea.  He actually copied the idea from a British recruiting poster featuring Lord Kitchener.  Kitchener was also pointing his finger accompanied by the slogan, ‘Your Country Needs You.’  Amazingly, these posters were so successful that both Russia and Germany followed with similar posters.

My little hometown was a little backward and sometimes out of date, so I can remember some of those posters with the slogan, ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’ actually posted in the Legion Club and the Post Office in the 50s. .  That poster was reinvented for recruitment during WWII.

There have been some really good recruiting slogans that the US military has used over the years.  I have a degree of familiarity with the Army, so I will start with them.  From the 50s to 1971, the Army slogan was, ‘Look Sharp, Be Sharp, Go Army.’  Doesn’t that slogan just stir your hormones and make you want to enlist?  That was the slogan that was in vogue during the Viet Nam War.  The draft was still in effect during this war.  In retrospect, a more appropriate slogan should have been, ‘Two Extremities, Two Eyes, a Pulse?  Uncle Sam Will Draft You!

From 1971 to 1980, the US Army slogan was, ‘Today’s Army Wants to Join You.’  Say what?  What in hell does that mean?  Doesn’t that slogan send shivers up your spine accompanied by patriotic fervor?  It is amazing that slogan recruited anyone.

Thankfully, my personal favorite Army slogan came into use in 1980.  It was so popular and successful that it was used until 2001.  Do you remember it?  ‘Be All You Can Be.’  This was accompanied by an amped-up catchy versed song and proved to be wildly successful.  Other than ‘Uncle Sam Wants You,’ it is the most recognizable Army slogan of all time.

But all good things must come to an end and the ‘Be All You Can Be’  was replaced in 2001 with the stupidest slogan ever, ‘Army of One.”   I think that was the worse slogan ever.  What happened to teamwork?  What happened to camaraderie?  How far does an Army of One get on any battlefield?  I have a confession.  I did not know what this slogan meant until I researched this post.  The word ‘One’ was suppose to represent an acronym meaning, Officers, Non-Commissioned, and Enlisted.  Even with this discovery and revelation, I still think it is the stupidest slogan …..EVER!

In 2006, the slogan,  ‘Army Strong’ was introduced.  That is the current Army slogan.  Lame.  But a vast improvement over ‘Army of One.’

Some of our other service branches have had memorable recruiting slogans.  The Marine Corps has used, ‘The Few, the Proud,’ and the sexist slogan, ‘We’re Looking for a few Good Men.’  The Air Force has used, ‘Aim High, and ‘Cross Into the Blue.’  The Navy has used. ‘Accelerate your Life,’ and ‘It’s Not Just a Job, It’s an Adventure.’  ‘Be Part of the Action,’ is the motto of the Coast Guard.  Combining these slogans with songs and slick videos has served all of these branches well since the inception of the volunteer Army.

Do you know who else is very successful in recruiting?  ISIS, or ISIL or Daish.  Pick a name, it’s all the same organization. They have been wildly successful in recruiting from other terrorist organizations, from sympathizers from Arab countries, and from sympathizers from Western countries.  How do they do this?

According to the Syria Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors activity in the Syrian civil war, some of the new recruits in Syria include former militants of the al-Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria and opponent of the Islamic State.  ISIS ability to convert members of rival terror organizations, in addition to the thousands of citizens worldwide- many who are Westerners and not natural-born Muslims – reflects the extend of its recruitment power.   ISIS recruits approximately 20 new members a day, and most of the foreign fighters are between 15-20 years old, according to a spokesperson for the Islam Army.  The Syria Observatory estimates that the group has more than 50,000 militants in Syria alone.

ISIS has a professional production company designing its videos.  Unlike the old Al Qaeda group that had a bearded fighter talking in front of a single camera for 45 minutes, these videos are all high production quality, sometimes employing multiple cameras.  Like any army recruitment video, ISIS videos promise the reward of having a purpose and playing an important role in something larger than yourself – smartly edited with slow-motion action shots.  They also aim to address any concern a potential recruit may have.

ISIS has even opened a marriage center in Syria where women can register to become the wife of a jihadist.  The terror group even gifts couples honeymoons after getting married, but they can only vacation within the caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

In addition to the well-made videos, the media arm also produces an online English language magazine called Dabiq that publishes propagandist articles and reports aimed to glorify the Islamic State.  But the most powerful media tool ISIS has mastered is social media.  It has a  presence on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Middle Eastern networks.  They have aps and hashtags and use both to spread their propaganda.

According to Michael Steinbach, FBI’s assistant director of counter-terrorism, “They have mastered the use of it (social media)…as a propaganda tool, as a recruitment tool and as a targeting tool.”   He goes on to say, “ISIL has used social media better than any terrorist group before or currently.” Steinbach says the message from ISIS or ISIL is clear: “come join the caliphate, and if you can’t join the caliphate, conduct an attack in the U.S.”

I have thought for quite some time that our government has attempted to gloss over the severity of Westerners joining an Islamic terrorist group.    As of October 2015, law enforcement authorities know of 250 Americans who had traveled or tried to travel to Syria or Iraq to join ISIS fighters.  There are about 900 active investigations against ISIS sympathizers in all 50 states.  Why do I think these numbers are low?  Germany has stated that 900 of its citizens have left the country to fight for an Islamic terrorist organization.  France is claiming  between 200-300 of its citizens.  Admittedly, these are only the people they are aware that have left their countries.  America  at 250?  Firstly, look at our population compared to France and Germany combined.  Secondly, about five years ago, authorities in Minnesota admitted that over 200 Somali teens were missing.  Missing?

These Somali teens, both boys and girls are not missing.  They are either with ISIS or with an off-shoot organization of Al Qaeda in Somalia.  They are targeted.  They are wanted because they speak English, are computer savvy and educated, and they are vulnerable.  I have seen an ISIS recruiting video on the internet.  It makes ISIS look like their caliphate is the Muslim version of Club Med.  Do you know what is really scary about this situation in Minnesota?  All of these teens were born in the US!  They have attended Minnesota schools all of their life.  And yet – with all of the opportunity available to these teens, they still select to go fight for an enemy of their birth country.

Here is a wake-up call for all of my Minnesota friends………………26% of Muslims who leave the US to fight for ISIS and Al Qaeda are from Minnesota!  Only New York provides more terrorist recruits.

The point of this blog?  Contrary to what the POTUS said when he said ISIS is the Al Qaeda junior varsity team, this organization is technologically savvy, pathologically dedicated to their religion and  well funded.  Their recruitment techniques are just as professional as those used by our service branches.  My fear is that their recruiting techniques may be more successful than ours.

A Dictator By Any Other Name Wouldn’t Rule As Sweet

There is nothing more depressing than waking up on a Tuesday morning and learning that your favorite football team got hammered during a late Monday Night Football game.  Adding to the grief, you also learn that Kim Il-Sung has stated he was going to wipe out the United States with nuclear weaponry.  Don’t those North Koreans watch football?  Don’t they know it is depressing enough to have your team lose?  And now they want to wreck my day by threatening to incinerate us with his nuclear weapons.  Couldn’t they at least wait until tomorrow to hit our country with these threats?  Just how barbaric could these North Korean dictators be?

Well, the short answer is they can be pretty darn barbaric.  Everyone has heard the saying, ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’   And also the one:  ‘Like father, like son.”  In the case of North Korean dictators, that last saying can be modified to read, “Like father, like Sung, like grand-Sung.”  In other words, North Korea has had three generations of dictators since World War II.

The granddaddy of the current idiot was Kim Il-Sung.  He gained his fame by fighting the occupying Japanese during World War II.  After the war, through political intrigue and assassination, he gained dictatorial powers in North Korea.  One thing can be said about Kim Il Sung:  there wasn’t a publicity agent in Hollywood, New York and D.C. that could have polished and fabricated his image the way he had it done.  Later in his life, his publicity agent was his son and successor, Kim Jong-Il.  So, granddaddy Kim Il-Sung pretty much established his authority in 1948, and ruled with an iron fist until his death on July 8, 1994.

Granddaddy Sung’s other claim to fame is that he, deciding that Communism was the best choice of government, invaded the democratic South Korea.  That little action caused the Korean War, or, in the words of the North Korean dictator, the ‘Fatherland Liberation War.’  The word ‘liberation’ sounds very much like the word ‘liberty.’  Rest assured, Granddaddy Sung was not going to grant liberty to anyone if he had conquered South Korea.  That war ran from June of 1950 to July of 1953.  The United States suffered the loss of nearly 34,000 military personnel in that war.  (As an aside, there was never a formal peace treaty between the US and North Korea.  Technically, we are still at war with North Korea!) Clearly!  Hence, the speak of nuclear aspirations!

So upon the death of Kim Il-Sung, his demented son, Kim Jong-Il came into power.  Much like his father and grandson, he assassinated anyone that stood in his way of gaining power or disagreed with his policies.  He lived the lifestyle like that of a French king in Versailles, all while his people were starving.  He ran his country into the ground.  But alas, he did do one thing that creates his notoriety….he developed nuclear weaponry.

In December, 1985, North Korea became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).  On April 10, 1992, its NPT safeguards agreement entered into force.  In May, 1992, North Korea submitted its initial report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and inspections began.  Not surprisingly, these inspections revealed discrepancies in what North Korea was reporting and what the inspectors were finding.  In April, 1993, the IAEA concluded that North Korea was in non-compliance with its Safeguards Agreement and referred this finding to the UN Security Council.  North Korea then announced its withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation treaty.

As can be imagined, this caused an international stir.  Though Kim Jong-Il may be demented, he was not stupid.  So in November of 1993, North Korea proposed to the United States that the two governments negotiate a ‘package solution’ to all of the issues dividing them.

Now we need to back off a step or two and access the political climate in each of the two countries.  Kim Jong-Il is the dictator of a starving country.  They can’t grow enough corn or rice to feed their people, but they have money to make nuclear weaponry.  Bill Clinton is on the hot seat concerning a certain White House intern.  In November of 1993, he is gearing up for reelection.  This would be a major feather in William Jefferson Clinton’s hat.  It would also be a strategic distractor from all those pesky women that keep coming out of the woodwork claiming that Bill was accosting them.  So the negotiations begin.

North Korea would allow one non-comprehensive inspection by the IAEA.  The US would suspend war games with the South Koreans.  There were many other provisions, but the end result was a pact that was neither a treaty subject to Senate approval, nor a legally binding executive agreement, but a non-binding political commitment between the two countries, as noted by the UN Security Council.  There you have it…a non-binding pact!  Most of you will remember the pomp and ceremony when Madeline Albright was at a banquet with Kim Jong-Il.  You also remember the notoriety the media gave to Bill Clinton for gaining such an international political coup!

What were the final results of this pact?  Well, Clinton gets reelected amid international accolades.  The conniving Kim Jong-Il?  He got millions of gallons of fuel oil, two light water reactors, and tons of food stuffs provided by the United States to feed his starving population!  How did Kim Jong-Il explain all the American boxes of food to his populace?  Simple.  He told his people that the United States was providing the food as war reparation for having invaded North Korea!   And it is now quite evident that the North Koreans have certainly never stopped the production of nuclear weapon materials!  Kim Jong-Il ruled North Korea until his death on December 17, 2011.

Now we have the grandson, Kim Jong-un.  There were some hopes for change, as he was educated in the west, but those hopes are unfounded.  Like his father and grandfather, he has ordered that those getting in his way or disagreeing with him be assassinated.  He had his own uncle put to death!    So here is what I woke up to this morning in addition to my football defeat:  North Korea said on Tuesday its main nuclear complex was operating, and it was working to improve the ‘quality and quantity’ of its weapons which it could use against the United States at ‘any time.’

Here we go again!   The three dictators?  Well, they all were heavy handed.  They all had unbelievable publicists to polish their images within North Korea.  They all resorted to torture and assasination without impunity.  They all loved and craved attention on the international stage and would do anything to get it.  Is this what Kim Jong-un wants?  International attention at any cost much like his father and grandfather?  No one knows for certain what this idiot will do to garner that attention.

So why have I given this history lesson about the three North Korean dictators?  Well, it is apparent that history is going to repeat itself.  Another democratic American president and another third world crap hole that is threatening world peace by using its nuclear capability.  That country would be Iran.

You are familiar with Iran.  It is the country that sponsors, either directly or indirectly, ISIS, ISIL, al Qaida and any other Muslim extremist terrorist group with an acronym.  And yet, our Secretary of State and POTUS are falling all over themselves attempting to come up with some sort of agreement to assure world peace.

My question is this, “Is it possible to enter into a mutually respected agreement with Iran that will prove to be beneficial to our country?”

I don’t believe it is possible for a variety of reasons.  Firstly, they are the sponsors of most of the terrorism going on in the world.  Whether we want to face it or not, they have declared war on our country in particular and Christianity in general.  The one thing that all these terroristic extremist groups have done is create thousands of refugees.  These refugees are spreading to Europe and the United States and creating a financial burden for many of these hosting countries.  For these extremists, its a twofer!  They are obeying Sharia law by spreading Islam, even to places that really don’t want it, and they are creating an excessive financial burden on the hosting Christian countries.  Make no mistake about it, unlike our immigrants in the early 20th century, these immigrants have no intention of assimilating into the culture of the hosting country.  Why aren’t those refugees running to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or some other stable Arab country?

On September 10, 2014, I published a blog titled, “What Flavor of Islam Do You Like?”  In that blog, it listed some of the principle tenets of Sharia Law, the law that rules the second largest religion in the world.  Here is one of those tenets:  ‘Muslims should engage in Taglyya and lie to non-Muslims to advance Islam.’  Iran is ruled by a caste of religious fanatics.  You can bet they follow Sharia law to the letter.  Can we trust what they say or do, knowing that lying to non-Muslims is not only encouraged but also prescribed?

Our country, the United Nations and the European community have all had serious trade and commerce sanctions placed on Iran.  Some of this involved freezing their bank assets.  These assets are estimated to be about $100 billion.  What do you think Iran will do once it gets its hands on that money?  The liberals are saying they will spend about half on infrastructure and half paying back debts to the Chinese.  I am a lot more skeptical.  I don’t see Iran building roads, bridges, schools or libraries anytime soon.  I can see a large chunk of that money finding its way to sponsor more terrorism.

Do you think that a nuclear deal with Iran will work?  Did we not learn anything from North Korea?