500 women and children buried alive by Islamic extremists

[Rhinodawg]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/middle-east-conflict-500-women-4034384

Petrified women and children were buried alive in a mass slaughter by Islamic State extremists, it was claimed yesterday.

An estimated 500 Yazidis were murdered in the atrocity in Iraq, according to the country’s human rights minister. He also said around 300 girls and women have been kidnapped as slaves by the terror group.

The outrages have piled pressure on the West to step up its actions against the jihadists who have besieged around 150,000 Yazidis in the Sinjar region of the country.

Desperate families on foot continued to flee for their lives at the weekend. Children and stricken adults were carried during the exodus in the searing heat.

[brer cat]

1. OMG. No words for such an atrocity. nt

[Rhinodawg]

2. Extremists doesnt really work here.

[CJCRANE]

3. Brainwashed Western vandals. nt

[maced666]

4. Game of Thrones shit in 2014.

Why do I feel Americans have this on the back burner.

[CJCRANE]

7. That's a good analogy...in about three different ways. nt

[Scootaloo]

55. Because ISIS is doing what we want them to do

Whether or not we're behind them, they're doing the sort of thing that the US wants.

They're cannibalizing iraq. We don't want there to be an Iraq. We've spent nearly thirty years trying to obliterate iraq, ten of which have revolved around the concept of partitioning it into three states - one, with US support, and two left to fail. This is why we're providing backup in the Kurdish territories and leaving the rest of Iraq to drop dead.

So too in Syria - ISIS is tearing things up in Syria, and though they aren't winnig, it's costly to the "enemy regime". So why would we interfere there?

[catnhatnh]

5. WOW-were the 300 slave women...

forced to carry away incubators from the hospitals? And how lucky to be a Yazhidi man, none of whom so much as stubbed a toe...anything smell bad here? 500 innocents buried so we don't get to see them and 300 more stolen away so we can't see them either-damn ISIS and their stealth atrocities, damn their round numbers!!!

[NuclearDem]

14. Yes. It's the exact same thing as the incubators story.

Or it could be that ISIS is just plain fucking evil.

[CJCRANE]

23. They are evil but they also experts in terror via social media

including spreading rumors and using sockpockets to make it seem like there are more of them (the "Sybil" effect).

[Warpy]

56. My bullshit meter gets pinned

whenever there is a wartime story of mass atrocity against women and children.

It just got pinned and I don't know what will get it unstuck.

[Rhinodawg]

6. And the hits just keep on comin'

ISIS militants 'massacre 80 Yazidi men and kidnap 100 women and girls in northern Iraq after they refuse to convert to Islam'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2726033/We-hundreds-Yazidi-slave-women-Syria-How-news-Sick-boast-British-jihadi-ISIS-captures-wives-siege-Mount-Sinjar.html

[CJCRANE]

9. Tweeting Western jihadis who apparently also like Nutella and Robin Williams movies

as well as being favorites of the Daily Mail.

[Enrique]

26. only 11 retweets

fail!

[grahamhgreen]

8. Hundreds of thousands have died since Bush invaded. Yet no accountability.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. Baloney.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. What's baloney?

I applaud your skepticism but if a person targets another person for harm because of some intrinsic characteristic he's garbage.

If these accounts about ISIS are true they need to be taken to task. I hate fucken bullies.

[CJCRANE]

17. Reports via social media and "unconfirmed sources" are automatically suspect.

I have no doubt that these are bad guys but both ISIS and the MSM want to terrorize us.

ISIS use social media as a "shock and awe" terror propaganda campaign.

The neocons and their MSM stooges want us to put boots on the ground so we can we be their toy soldiers again. Let the neocons suit up and go over there.

[LuvNewcastle]

39. Yes.

It's all a bunch of bullshit to get us riled up. I really don't believe any of it anymore. The people spreading these stories have a lot to gain by our involvement over there.

[jwirr]

12. They want us to go in and fix this mess. Where are the other so called good guys in the ME? Surely

other ME leaders do not want this group ruling the country on their borders? For once let them stand up and end this nonsense instead of us.

[Rhinodawg]

13. I agree.

Who do you think should be doing it ?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. We contributed to this mess therefore we bear some of the responsibility.

Christians fared much better in Saddam's secular iraq.

[jwirr]

21. I agree but no one wants us over there. That makes it almost impossible for us to fix it. The

minute we leave they are at it again. I truly believe that the only people who CAN fix this are the people of the ME themselves. And I agree Saddam was better in many ways for Iraq than what they have now.

[NuclearDem]

16. Obviously fabricated.

It's all just the MIC.

[CJCRANE]

18. Some ISIS pics were found to be fake. A big part of "terror" is deception.

As per the "Art of War" if you can create a fearsome reputation then it's much easier to then use that reputation plus rumors and deception to terrify your enemies.

[NuclearDem]

22. Yes, I know.

And I naturally doubt most claims made by a terrorist organization about their own exploits.

But neither do I buy the Gulf War incubators analogy. ISIS is slaughtering civilians and enslaving others; that the numbers may be somewhat inaccurate doesn't matter.

[Nye Bevan]

19. I would keep an open mind on this story.

Remember Saddam's alleged shredder?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein%27s_alleged_shredder

And how Kim Jong Un supposedly fed his uncle to hungry dogs?

It is certainly horrible if it is true but it's a big "if" at this point. So right now I am not going to say "how horrible" and I am not going to say "such baloney".

[99Forever]

20. Ugly stuff.

How does that make the responsibility to stop it fall upon us? We are NOT the world's police force. You have a solution that will end it, fine, hop on a plane and get it done. On your own dime, please.

[Rhinodawg]

24. Even more ugly stuff..(warning)

http://www.catholic.org/news/international/middle_east/story.php?id=56507

[99Forever]

28. Got your plane ticket yet?

Do you serious think answering me with gore porn from a "Christian" propaganda site would change my mind?

You want to ride in and save the day, have at it. Just leave the rest of us out of the fight YOU want.

[CJCRANE]

29. I feel like the MSM and social media flicked a switch

a few months ago into full on neocon propaganda mode.

It's like the Bush Era on steroids.

[99Forever]

31. I completely agree.

The pounding of the war drums is loud and constant. The MIC wants to move product and they are willing to go to any length to do so.

[librechik]

60. shock doctrine/ disaster capitalism n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. If the stories of the atrocities are true I would go...

Just as I would have fought on the side of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. That being said I don't how much help a quinquagenarian like myself can provide.

[99Forever]

32. Good for you.

Have at it. No one is stopping you. Buy your gear and head on over.

[CJCRANE]

33. Would you go into Syria

where this has been happening for longer?

Or just into Iraq?

[Rhinodawg]

36. "I want"

lol

unbelieveable.

[99Forever]

38. Perhaps you should explain yourself better then.

Because to me, that IS what your posts are conveying.

[Rhinodawg]

41. I have a problem with atrocities and war crimes.

I will not ignore them. And I suspect you do too.

That doesn't mean I favor anything.

[99Forever]

42. Then what is your point posting this stuff?

If not to inflame anger and bolster a war agenda, what purpose does it serve. You are correct, I have a problem atrocities and war crimes, even those committed by our government, in our name or committed by other nations with the means to do so provided by us.

[Rhinodawg]

43. It SHOULD inflame anger...and disgust....and outrage.

but that doesn't mean I favor a war agenda.

[99Forever]

44. Then it did what you intended.

To what end, I'm unsure.

[Rhinodawg]

45. .

ok

[GeorgeGist]

47. then what?

[Rhinodawg]

50. Maybe Turkey, Egypt and Jordan...

can get off their a$$es and do something about it.

[tkmorris]

53. You have a VERY SELECTIVE problem with atrocities and war crimes

It hurts your credibility.

[U4ikLefty]

57. Bullshit, you have no problem with Israel's war crimes.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. The human race is imploding.

[CJCRANE]

27. The ISIS people are outnumbered. They are mostly non-Iraqis

who have no connection to the local culture and tradition.

[Rhinodawg]

34. It really is.

to sort of quote a commercial....

Can YOUR religious fundies do this ?

[CJCRANE]

35. That's what the neocons want. Just like the Christians in Central Africa and Uganda.

[Rhinodawg]

37. I have stated we should stay out.

But that doesn't mean I ignore atrocities.

Sorry.

[CJCRANE]

40. I mentioned the situation in Syria and Iraq here before the MSM cottoned on.

I couldn't understand why they were ignoring it.

But I'm not going to jump up and down about unconfirmed reports via tabloid newspapers and social media especially when there is a clear MSM agenda.

[n2doc]

46. Thousands of women, accused of sorcery, tortured and executed

in Indian witch hunts

In places where superstition and vigilantism overlap and small rumors can turn deadly, nearly 2,100 people accused of witchcraft have been killed between 2000 and 2012, according to crime records gathered by the Indian newspaper Mint. Others placed the number at 2,500; others higher still. “Like the proverbial tip of a very deep iceberg, available data hides much of the reality of a problem that is deeply ingrained in society,” according to New Delhi-based Partners for Law in Development. “It is only the most gruesome cases that are reported — most cases of witch-hunting go unreported and unrecorded.”

http://wapo.st/1ll5cXq

When are we going to bomb them?

[LittleBlue]

48. The Mirror is a UK tabloid, though

Anyone have a reputable source? After the genital mutilation hoax, stories like this should be confirmed.

[Comrade Grumpy]

49. This refers to the town of Sinjar, which ISIS hit a couple of weeks ago.

It was the residents of Sinjar who fled to Sinjar Mountain.

Meanwhile, ISIS is at it again:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/yazidis-killed-in-kocho-near-sinjar-after-obama-calls-off-rescue-mission/2014/08/15/31478a3c-e46e-4c4c-8406-d0f27073a308_story.html

Islamic State fighters kill dozens of Yazidi villagers

DAHUK, Iraq — Extremist fighters have killed more than 80 men and and detained hundreds of women in a Yazidi village, Yazidis and Kurdish officials said Saturday, offering a reminder that the ancient minority sect is still at risk despite President Obama’s conclusion that the threat had passed for those stranded on Mount Sinjar.

Islamic State militants drove into the village of Kocho, about 15 miles southwest of the town of Sinjar, on Friday, following a week-long siege in which the al-Qaeda inspired group demanded that residents convert to Islam or face death, said the reports, which could not be independently verified.

The men were rounded up and executed, while the women were taken to an undisclosed location, according to Ziad Sinjar, a pesh merga commander based on the edge of Mount Sinjar, citing the accounts of villagers nearby. Six men were injured but survived, and managed to escape to a nearby village where they are being sheltered by sympathetic local Sunni Iraqis, he said. One of them told him that 84 Yazidi men were lined up and shot and that more than 300 women were taken away.

Yazidi activists and Kurdish officials said at least 80 men were killed and hundreds of women taken away after the fighters entered the village shortly after 1 pm on Friday.

“The villagers had received local assurances that they were safe,” said Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s former foreign minister who is now working closely with the Kurdistan Regional Government. “Maybe they killed them in revenge for the setbacks they have suffered from the air strikes.”

[Rhinodawg]

51. OMG !!

careful...if you point out what ISIS is doing, someone will accuse you of wanting the US to go to war.

You MIC NEO-con you !! (lol)

[ladjf]

52. If true, they must be stopped. nt

[Rhinodawg]

54. See...everyone says that...

but no one say WHO is to stop it.

I will listen to any suggestions.

[ladjf]

62. If those allegations are true, they have

taken cruelty to a new level for this Century. Consequently, there are many responsible Governments who would participate in their defeat. If might take awhile to get all the troops together.

One suggestion is that we have in our arsenal and old type of low level fighter bomber, the A-10 Warthog, which is taylor made for organizations such as the ISIS. However, the Air force is trying to phase them out so they are currently using supersonic tactical fighters, totally unsuited to fight a primitive army such as the ISIS. So far, I seem to be the only one that recommends the A-10.

Look them up. They can rain holy terror on lines of small vehicles, lightly armed or, foot soldiers running across open spaces.

[kentuck]

58. Maybe true?

Maybe not?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

59. As far as I'm concerned, this should be a UN Blue Helmet job.

[lonestarnot]

61. OMG. Makes my blood boil.

[Jack Rabbit]

63. It's time we realized that going to war vs. doing nothing is a false dichotomy

Is there something the US can do? That's the question we should be asking.

For anyone who says let's go to war and liberate Iraq, I will remind you that the US has already tried that and it didn't work out too well. In fact, the present situation was brought about by the blunders of the Frat Boy and the Big Dick. Leaving Saddam in power in 2002/03 wouldn't have been a pleasant choice, but it's looking better all the time.

Nothing significant has changed in the decision making apparatus in the US since Bush and Cheney seized power in 2000. They were there to do the bidding of the corporate oligarchy, and foreign policy makers are still serving the interests of the corporate oligarchy. The plain truth is that the US never had a chance of achieving its goals in Iraq for more than a short period. I'm not talking about the goals of democratizing Iraq; the idea idea that an administration that came to power through election fraud really wanted to democratize anything is pretty far fetched. No, I mean the other goal, the one that actually was achieved for a short time: putting Iraq's oil fields in the hands of western corporations. The Bushies liberated the Iraqi people, alright -- from their mineral rights.

Classic colonialism, although just as evil as the slave trade, worked much better than neocolonialism does. Under classic colonialism, a poor nation's natural resources are put in the hands of wealthy corporations headquartered in the parent country, the parent country's troops, which have already been used to violently put the poor country's natural resources in the hands of the parent country's corporations and to overthrow whatever native political authority existed, thus making the poor country a colony of the rich one, are put on permanent occupation duty to enforce the colonial social-economic order. Of course, there is a colonial administration headed by appointees of the government of the parent nation. Thus, classic colonialism features a nation saddled with foreign economic development, protected by foreign troops taking orders from a foreign government.

Neocolonialism works pretty much the same way, except the troops are native and so is the government, but they are still expected to protect the property rights of foreign developers, who are still collecting profits from the extraction, production and sale of the colony's natural resources. This is quite a bit less efficient than classic colonialism. For one thing, the native politicians running the government are of necessity a bunch of crooks. They may be natives, but they are expected to resolve problems in favor of the colonial interests, i.e., foreign corporations, just as were the foreign bureaucrats appointed to govern the colony by the government of the parent colonial power in the days of classic colonialism. Since these native governors must be chosen from not a broad segment of the population, but from a limited number of natives willing to sell their country down the river for cash in the form of "foreign aid" from which they take a piece of the action for themselves, the talent pool is also limited and thus the president of the country is often not only crooked but incompetent as well. That's when a military coup comes in handy. If you thought the colonial president was bad, wait until you see the junta in charge. He's not only corrupt and incompetent, but brutal as well. In order to keep the people in line and not setting up their government, kicking the foreign developers out and nationalizing natural resources, the junta will fire live rounds into a crowd now and then to remind them who's boss.

However, if the government has no support among the native people at all, then we have a power vacuum, and you know what they say: nature abhors a vacuum. The vacuum gets filled by whoever of whatever is available. In the worst cases, this may be a bunch of local warlords, each covering a small bit of territory. Take Somalia, for example. Or Gaza. Or China in the early 1920s.

The present chaos in Iraq is a result of not allowing the people to decide for themselves who shall govern them, but instead insisting on a government that is compliant with the desires and needs of another country's elite. I rather doubt that the Islamic State radicals will be able to enforce their will long before their brutality erodes their support. That may be the opportunity for which the US war party is waiting. And that history will repeat itself until the US and its oligarchs finally learn that they're part of the problem and can be no part of any positive solution.

[pampango]

64. Evaluate the evidence and base policy on that, not on fear or emotion. We're not republicans.

Don't assume the slaughter is true but don't deny that it is certainly a possibility. If the evidence convinces you that the massacre did occur then we should base policy on that - not necessarily military action (other evidence shows that will be counterproductive).

To refuse to believe something is true regardless of the evidence (because it would be inconsistent with our policy preferences) is acting like republicans with respect to global warming.