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Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images
A ripped up image of Jesus Christ is left on the ground of a Catholic church in Diabaly on Tuesday.
DIABALY, Mali -- Burned-out cars lie at the entrance to liberated Diabaly. Nearby, the stench of death rises from the window of an army vehicle discarded by the side of the road; inside are the bodies of four Malian soldiers, presumably slaughtered by jihadists.
The Islamist army stormed through the town last week and left a destructive trail. They ruined the church, smashing away its cross and decapitating religious statues. They looted the pharmacy and destroyed homes. They were joined by Malian soldiers who defected, according to some local residents.
Although the insurgents controlled Diabaly for only a few days, its terrified residents cheered when they left and French and Malian soldiers swept in.
After launching airstrikes and a final strike, the French military have recaptured the key town of Diabaly from Islamist rebels. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.
"They are not Muslims," 53-year-old resident Oua Diarra said. "Muslims cannot be thieves. Muslims cannot loot. These men were terrorists.
"The Islamists punished the children simply for crying at the terrible things that they saw ... We were so terrified."
The jihadists were driven out before they could impose their form of Shariah law over the town's 40,000 people. They had said that they would do so once their grip on the town had been consolidated.
"Most of us, the people of the town, had not been touched by the Islamists, but we knew that it would not be long," said one man who brought his family into the town square to shake hands and take photographs with the French soldiers. "They had threatened to punish anyone who broke their laws."
Gruesome propaganda videos from militant groups operating in Mali offer a glimpse of life in the militant-controlled north of the country. They include footage of men being lashed at a public ceremony. One video appears to show a man having his hand sliced off.
"The Islamists came with food and said they would soon teach us Islamic law," said Mema Diakate, a resident who giggled with her girlfriends in the town's center. "We knew that eventually we would not be able to stand here -- to come outside and laugh and lead our lives."
Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images
A resident looks at Islamists' pickup trucks destroyed at a Malian military camp destroyed by airstrikes a week ago in Diabaly on Tuesday.
Many residents in Diabaly described the rebels as "outsiders" and "foreigners" and said they included some "Arab men." They claim fighters from Chad, Somalia and even Afghanistan were among them. Others were deserters from the Malian army who, having failed to protect the town from the militants, dumped their uniforms and joined the enemy.
Although most residents were delighted by the arrival of the French, many were critical of the inability of the Malian army to hold the garrison town.
They recall dozens of fighters -- perhaps as many as 200 -- managing to flee in a convoy of 4x4 vehicles. Some headed north into the desert -- others vanished into forest. Many may have scattered and concealed themselves in the community.
As the French advance north from Diabaly, they are progressing slowly in the knowledge that while their enemy is melting away, it hasn't disappeared.
Related:
African troops, US airlift join Mali operation
ANALYSIS: Why France is taking on Mali extremists
France and Mali set aside colonial past to fight new common foe
PhotoBlog: Eerie photo of French soldier in Mali upsets military officials
Leave a Comment:
Stop calling these people 'jihadists' or 'rebels' or 'insurgents'! They are nothing but terrorists! All they want to do is destroy what people have, take what they can steal and kill people in the process!
Thank you.
More to the point, the Islamic High Council of Mali has stated the following: ''The intervention of France in Mali has nothing to do with a fight against Islam, It is a fight against crime and terrorism.''
Give all colors, spins and excuses.
Sunni Islamic extremists' hating and killer fronts like al Qaida with different labels, Taliban, MB, Salaffi and others have gone crazy.
Examine Eygpt, Libya, Syria, Pakistan and other places.
In Syria, they can't tolerate Assad just because he belongs to a different Muslim sect.
Root causes of fast backward marches of Islam to hating and killing days are oil rich seventh century bigoted, highly despotic, corrupt one-way traffic Sunni rulers of House of Saud, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and other Sunni Arab League nations.
It will be suicidal to do the dirty jobs for them like Iraqi wars and impose sanctions on Iranian oil and again make them richer and stronger.
You miss the whole point. These people are jihadists, and want to impose Shariah law on Mali, and then the world. For anyone to not recognize that this is part of the religion is to live in total darkness and idealistic ignorance.
Hello folks, we are the terrorists, we have an obligation to every last victim of this illegal aggression
because all of this carnage has been done in our name. Since World War II, 90%
of the casualties of war are unarmed civilians. 1/3 of them children. Our
victims have done nothing to us. From Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq to
Somalia to Mali to wherever our next target may be, their murders are not
collateral damage, they are the nature of modern warfare. They don't hate us
because of our freedoms. They hate us because every day we are funding and
committing crimes against humanity. The so-called "war on terror" is
a cover for our military aggression to gain control of the resources of western
Asia and Africa.
This is sending the poor of this country to kill the poor of those Muslim
countries. This is trading blood for oil, Uranium and gold. This is genocide, and to
most of the world, we are the terrorists. In these times, remaining silent on
our responsibility to the world and its future is criminal. And in light of our
complicity in the supreme crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
ongoing violations of the U.N. Charter in International Law, how dare any
American criticize the actions of legitimate resistance to illegal occupation.
Actually the early spread of Islam was through doctrinal terrorism explicitely commanded. Multiple cultures and nations were subject to cruel forced conversions. Including the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Christians of the levant and north Africa, The Buddhists of Afghanistan, the Hindu of Pakistan, etc...The Christian Byzantine Greeks of Turkey were wiped out. Even the Greek capital of Constantinople was coerced into conversion or immigration. Islam has a long history of Jihad going back to it's founder. Even the early authors of Islam admit this:
Tabari IX:69
"Arabs are the most noble people in lineage, the most prominent, and the
best in deeds. We were the first to respond to the call of the Prophet. We are
Allah's helpers and the viziers of His Messenger. We fight people until they
believe in Allah. He who believes in Allah and His Messenger has protected his
life and possessions from us. As for one who disbelieves, we will fight him
forever in the Cause of Allah. Killing him is a small matter to us."
While it is true that most Muslims to not follow the fundemental tenets of Islam, it is also true that the fundemental Islamist is an existential threat to non-believers.
islam is nothing more than an evil virus. A virus produces nothing but itself and leaves nothing but death, destruction and despair in its wake. It is impossible to be a little infected with this disease. You can make all the excuses you want, but you are either infected or you are not. You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. There is no middle. So if you worship an animal, a rapist of children, a human mutilator, a beheading monster, and a thing which raped a widow on the same day he killed her husband, you are definitely infected with the disease known as islam. You have my permission to do civilized humanity a favor and end yourself before you spread the virus.
Don't listen to TrustVerify. Nothing but an Islamist apologist for terrorists and pro-"Palestinian," make-the-whole-world over as Muslim piece of crappe. FAR MORE civilians are killed by their fellow Muslims than by Westerners. FAR MORE. Not to mention the cowards who hide behind the skirts of women and little girls.
These people are just organized gangs of criminals they use religion in order to legitimize their acts of brutality. We should stop calling them “Islamists” and call them what they really are, MURDERING CRIMINALS.
Right on BigAl (and backtobasics up top).
Hello folks, it's getting hard to follow this whole war on terror melodrama without a program! So we funded Al Qaeda in Libya and are funding them in Syria which I guess in the US eyes makes them good Al Qaeda and fighting them in Mali and Afghanistan which makes those bad Al Qaeda, right? It looks like we have a bipolar issue regarding our foreign policy. The rest of the planet must think we're nuts! They're right!
TV: you just want us to step back and give these scum free rein to terrify and brutalize others. It's part of your religion.
Only country in the ME where Jews/Christians/Muslims/etc. live peacefully together is ISRAEL!!!
@ BigAl Las Vegas
Unfortunately this is a naive position. All the Abrahamic faiths contain orders, at one time or another, to 'kill the infidel.' They are merely following the dogmas of their superstitions. Religion can make otherwise normal people do abnormal things. I'm 'not' saying these assH0les were/are "normal" -- but religious history is riddled with millions upon millions of dead people's blood drained for NO other reason than belief.
@ Charles: Excellent post.
backtobasics-1076842
Please help yourself to one brief history lesson in destroying, stealing, and killing.
https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/chile/index.html#17
Consider the source.
You know the Malian Govt. was in deep @!$%# when they asked France to come in and help, no one wants to call in the former colonial power.
The religion of peace just peaced the @!$%# out of this town.
40,000 people---residents of the town---no guns to protect them selves--- WOW---that is the situation coming up in the United States--Concetration camps are already set in the good ole USA---one at Nellis AFB--base ,many foreign troops are stationed there----Obama wants the weapons of the avgerage United States citizen---Our President is a Muslim--did he not just give a Muslim country $125,000,000 and set up a office of the USAID--United Stated Aid for International Development--the United States tax payer will rebuild all of the roads--schools in Burma--now Myanmar----while I-95 is full of holes
see:
http://www.usopenborders.com http://www.illegalimmigration statistics..org
http;//www.usaid.gov/who-we-are.gov
and here I thought they were all "desimated" according to the empty suit in the WH.
Except that the "Islam" part is something that they themselves explicitly proclaim, central to their mission. So maybe "murdering Islamist criminals" might be most accurate.
Charles: Super post.
All non-Muslims should join hands and wipe out from earth once of all Islamic extremists, the liabilities on any society and nation they are in and curses on earth.
Let us start from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, root causes of 80 percent of world problems including economic ones.
"jihadists leave trail of destruction" everywhere they go.
Hello Rachel you said:
"Only country in the ME where Jews/Christians/Muslims/etc. live peacefully together is ISRAEL!!!"
Really! I guess you go no further than the Zionist Gazette to get your information!
In July 2005, a coalition of 171 Palestinian Civil Society organizations created
the global BDS movement - for "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human
Rights" for Occupied Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, and Palestinian diaspora
refugees.
Since 1948, dozens of UN resolutions condemned Israel's colonial occupation, decades
of discriminatory policies, illegal land seizures, settlements, international
law violations, and harsh oppression. They called for remedial action.
Nothing so far worked. Palestine remains occupied. Its people keep suffering. Their
human rights are denied. Gaza's suffocating under siege. Abuses this extreme
can't be tolerated.
Colonialism, apartheid, and militarized occupation constitute serious international law
breaches. It's long past time they ended. World leaders show no resolve.
Grassroots activists must do it on their own until Israel:
• recognizes Palestinian self-determination within 1967 borders with East
Jerusalem as its capital;
• respects international law;
• ends its illegal occupation, including Gaza;
• dismantles its Separation Wall;
• grants Israeli Arabs equal rights as Jews; and
• complies with UN resolution 194, affirming the right of Palestinian refugees to
return home or be fully compensated for losses.
Sustained grassroots activism for the long haul, including a vibrant BDS movement, has
the best chance to achieve it. It won't happen another way.
You brush facts aside to support your jingoistic propaganda.
Hogwash. Jordan is the Palestinian state. THEIR FELLOW "PALESTINIANS" in Jordan keep them in camps. Gaza has a border with Egypt but the Egyptians hate those terrorists, too. The security fence is necessary to keep out the murderous terrorists.
Israeli Arabs ALMOST TO A MAN AND WOMAN do not want to live under the Islamic kleptocracy that is any form of "Palestinian" "government."
How about the rights of Christians and Jews driven out of N. Africa and the rest of the Muslim ME?
This article shows the @!$%# that Islam subjects people to. The inhabitants of this little Mali town can see it--they knew the prison that was coming. Your kaffiyeh must have slipped over your eyes and ears, TV. Crawl back into the hole that is your hateful mosque.
One can't imagine the level of barbarism these seventh century Sunni Islamic extremists are doing in Mali and other places.
"Many residents in Diabaly described the rebels as "outsiders" and "foreigners" and said they included some "Arab men." They claim fighters from Chad, Somalia and even Afghanistan were among them."
Time has come for all non-Muslims to forget differences and fight these seventh century Islamic barbarians and beasts, especially Sunni ones, on rampage all over.
Fountainheads of these problems are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Both the nations deserve to be erased out of the world map for world peace and economic stability.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially House of Saud and other Sunni ME rulers inspired and funded Sunni Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
Pakis and Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones.
Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
They are making the lives of their own people also miserable by their Islamic religious madness to the intolerable levels.
NO INTERVENTIONS IN SYRIA AND IRAN. REMOVE SANCTIONS ON IRANIAN OIL TO CRASH OIL/GAS PRICES.
Just to let you know it's not only Muslims commiting these crimes. Take Nigeria or Sudan for example; Christians engage in the murder, mutilation, rape, torture of thousands of muslims. And even in the broader Africa, Christianity is used as a weapon against the uneducated; thousands of people are killed, tortured and jailed in the name of Jesus. Every religion has its evils.
utamegi25........yours is a voice of truth...ANY and EVERY religion has been nothing but a curse on this world....
utamegi25 and 2little2late: At different timeframes of history, most of the religions have done what Islam did but to lesser degrees.
Since its birth Islam has been the most barbaric and beastly of all religions.
It will be foolish to compare what Christians did in 1500/1600 to what followers of Islamic cult are doing in this 21st century.
These days, except for the followers of Islamic cult, not many get hung up on religious priests/gurus/monks!
Most like I say: if teachings are not rational go to hell with your teachings!
When it comes to Islam, instead of condemning, most Muslims give spins, lies, interpretations and so on. In Muslim majority nations, it is blasphemy and so stone/kill!
It will be better if likes of you don't compare apples and oranges.
Can there be a worst human hell hole than Saudi Arabia with House of Saud and his 5000 princes and princesses and their gangs controlling all aspects of human life?
Im not talking about different times in history. If you want to go back in time; the Catholic Church has committed far more heinous crimes throughout its almost 2 thousand year history. You cannot compare a few violent factions of Islam with the entirety of the Catholic Church whom as a whole killed far more people in the name of Jesus.
But back to the point I made earlier. In the year 2013, Christians did and still indeed kill, rape, mutilate and imprison many whom do not believe in their beliefs. It happenes every day in numerous African countries now...not in the 1500's. And even in the usa, people do stupid stuff in the name of their god like murder doctors or drown their children because god said so. And yes their is a worst human hell hole than S.A.....it's called Arkansas
utamegi25, stop trying to educate people...they don't want to know about Christians killing "witches" and "possessed children" in Africa today.
utamegi25 writes:
No, you're just more aware of the Catholic historical crimes than the Islamic historical crimes. Millions were killed by both. Today Islam presents the much greater threat and death toll. If you can't see or admit that then you are just willfully, wishfully blinding yourself to reality.
sleepinsadie and utamegi25: You people appear not to know or don't want to what Muslims have been doing.
I agree that Roman Catholics have to reform with times. You just see: most of the their churches have been bankrupted in the US for their crimes.
Even in Europe there are severe backlashes on the crimes of clerics and churches.
However Christians (even Roman Catholics) compare no where to what the followers of Islamic cult have done since its birth and are doing all over.
Arkansas is not as bad as you mention. But SA is a big Sunni Islamic hell hole and "human made" dirtiest swamp on earth!
You people can go on defending the undefensible!
Communism, one of the most violent ideologies, had the shortest life span.
In a similar way, if Islam does not reform with times, it will vanish in this century itself.
Islam's own Allah has predicted the end of Islam for majority of Muslims sins, crimes and criminal acts.
Look at Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Mali and other places. Muslims are killing each other.
Obviously this correspondent does not know the difference of the word jihad and terrorist. There are atrocities being committed all over the world and in order to talk about them, the correspondent should know the linguistic meaning of words before writting a column as to confuse the masses more. What these people are committing is NOT jihad, in any way, form or fashion. It is clear form of terrorism, slaughter and a wrong interpretation of their faith.
But, curiously enough, the "terrorists" themselves consider themselves JIHADISTS fighting to make Islam and Islamic Sharia law Supreme in Mali. It was right there in the article too, did you miss it? "The Islamists came with food and said they would soon teach us Islamic law,"
That's exactly what they were going to do, good and hard.
So whom should we believe; Centerway on nbc's vine, or the Jihadists themselves who are fighting and dying to impose strict 7th Century Sharia Law on Mali?
Let's stop calling them terrorists and just call the Muslims following the example of their pederast prophet.
That may have a detrimental effect on those Muslims who have the common sense to ignore the many stupid parts of their religion.
rok us;
IMHO, if they have the "common sense" to know there are stupid parts of the religion, "common sense" tells me, that one should abandon that belief for being flawed. But "Stupid parts" seem to be theme that flows through many other religions.
Rok, there are no nonstupid parts of religion.
When a group of people make war upon others without provocation that group should be hunted to the last man and killed wherever and whenever they are found. They should be wiped from the face of the earth with no mercy or hesitation. Those who support and encourage their existence should be wiped out with their brothers. When there is no profit nor safety to be had there will be less willing to take to the terrorist trail.
thats what Hitler said
Wallace:
What happened is reprehensible. However to say without provocation of underlying cause is false.
utamegi25
Hitler did say something like that. But he said that about European Jews who as a group were peaceful. Not terrorists.
Wallace J,Terrific post and I agree.
ban the Koran,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, world wide
The bible too please!
mc shhh you sound so ignorant.
Not ban but burn all Koran worldwide. Islam should be banned as a religion. It's only a bloody cult whose headquarter is located in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Islamist problem can only be solved by our nukes. It's time for the West to solve the Muslim problem for good. Those who are uncivilized have no right to live...Our world cannot have peace till these cockroaches lives.
@Ovais
You forget one tiny detail... Pakistan has nukes. And I would hate to see you try solve that problem with nukes knowing for the fact that Pakistan can and will return the favor.
Koran of all holy scriptures has done maximum damage to human beings.
Ban it!
In sectarian hating and killings, Muslims are themselves blowing up their Korans along with mosques.
Ovais: Sooner we nuke Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to the ground better it will be for world peace and humans.
No, Jonathan. The sooner you nuke Pakistan to the ground, the worse it will be for world peace and for us as well. As I've mentioned in my above post, Pakistan is a nuclear state. We nuke Pakistan, they will not hesitate to return the favor and believe me, you would not want that on your conscience.
they should all be tortured and then killed.....send them all to there "GODS" hell
I cannot believe that this is happening. Obama won a million dollar Nobel Peace Prize for crimony sakes. He is beloved throughout the world, and all people are there to do the All Benevolent Leader's bidding. He is a crack foreign policy genius, unlike that former George Bush guy. That is why Libya, Egypt, Mali, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, the Palestinians, and the North Koreans have all fallen in line behind the wishes of the All Benevolent Leader of the World, Barrack Hussein Obama. "Four More Years.......Four More Years"!
The Obama administration in the first 4 years was about leading from behind. While at times it helped our soldiers avoid harm, it emboldened terrorists and resulted in Islamist bending nations, like Egypt, Libya. The second term is looking more like isolationism. Pulling our forward forces out of the middle East (hence no response to Benghazi or Algeria) leaving only one carrier Stennis in the Straight of Hormuz.
While we might save military lives which I applaud, we are risking the safety of our citizens and assets overseas, and also risking the lives of our allies. In the end, we need strike forces stationed in the Middle East, not a huge army, just special ops ready to respond. There is no country for our army to battle, only tribes with the ability to fly a plane into one of our buildings or blow up a subway in Europe.
OK, FtBrgtrnd,
And what response would you like to see, especially in the case of the Algerian hostage crisis ?
Seriously, if you could answer my question.
khenk,
Obama is completely incompetent and an embarrassment to the United States.
Rafal
There was no US response team available to rescue the Western (including American ) hostages in Algeria, Same thing with Benghazi. The response time was feeble.
Feeble responses incent terrorists to act again, like the African Embassies, The US Cole, Somalia.
OK, I understand.
You would like to see a US response team rescuing Westerners from some place in the middle of Sahara in a matter of hours? Or going to Benghazi, guns blazing, in the middle of a chaotic situation, when nobody really knew what was going on...
@FtBrgtrnd ctviking: How is your anti-Obama rant remotely relevant to the French military intervention in Mali ?
As for the hostages in Algeria, they weren't specifically Western.
So should the US, the Japanese, the Malays, the Filipinos etc gov all have barged in to rescue those hostages? Or perhaps all the countries involved should have deliberated til hell freezes over? Either way, this would have resulted in way more than 40 deaths!
Do you seriously expect a response team to be available for each civilian expat who's at risk of being taken hostage?
Cause that would be seriously impractical even if you limit those ambitions to South-America, North-Africa and the Middle East...
You are clueless. I have been to Mali. I served in the French Foreign Legion in the 1970's. That is a place where you don't want to get involved. It is as bad as Somalia, if not worse. You never know from one day to the next, or one minute to the next, who is friend or foe. Tribal alliances, and blood feuds that go back a thousand years, and are so complex that the natives have trouble sorting them out, rule here. The US would just lose again if they intervened here. The French have a history here, and at least some understanding of the place. Also, the local population mostly speaks French. We didn't need interpreters. This is France's sphere of influence, and they need to handle it.
khenk, what the f**k are you talking about.
Why do you fools continue to rant about things you don't understand. Everything to you fools is black and white and it's all Obama's fault. Try educating yourself instead of posting nonsense.
"Life is tough, it's even tougher when you're stupid." John Wayne
A town of 40,000 can't defend itself?
What an opportunity to make a comment about gun control! Hah!
At any rate - I say we, as a species, obliterate all Islamic fundamentalists and 'jihadists' such as these. Wipe them from the face of the earth. No tolerance, no mercy. Just a good old fashioned global campaign of eradication.
PC delusions and multiculturalism will only get you so far - then you face THIS.
If you could get them in one area and..............KILL THEM ALL!
New and Pete:
You guys are thinking like those terrorist. Terrorist are doing what they think they should be doing fro their perceived values and grievance of sufferings happened to them real or perceived,
In essence I guess all humans are God and Devil depending on which switch is on in the game of genetics and intractable human ind.
IDGC:
...nnnnoooo.... we're thinking like rational human beings confronted with a threat; a foe that can't be reasoned with and is bent on FORCING their ruthless, despicable 'faith' upon the world.
Wiping that out is just common sense and self-preservation.
Fundamental issue that will spread in its many form all over the world..is the rising population unable to live life they want. This is in essence struggle for resources by each group. In those countries communities ravaged by years of colonialism and missionary activities, religion and tribalism are easily identifiable symbols.
In the west ultimately it will be those with jobs and those not able to, those with wealth, influence and power and rest having nothing except ability to communicate to each other through social media and forum like these. These two will create combustible mixture. Statistics will show that economy is growing while large portion of masses will see their condition deteriorating and hopeless.
Political, religious, social leaders are sticking to their perusit of power for their narrow group and ideology. They are failing to come out fundamental change needed in the values and structure of society. Ultimately this situation will bring color to the rain and red will be in the streets.
Those guys are ruthless terrorists like all fanatics in any and all religion. Those idiots have nothing to do with Islam. They are despicable ppl, sorry devils...
TERRORISTS!!! - BOOGA, BOOGA!!!
Guess we gotta send troops. This has nothing to do with the fact that Germany is trying to repatriate its gold holdings from France and the US. France has projected it will take them 5 years and the US has estimated 7 years.
I mean, the gold's supposedly sitting right there under the banks(fed here in US). Must be a h3ll of a long elevator ride.
Of course, Mali has increased its gold output by nearly 50% over the last 2 years. So...I wonder if these two things are related.
Naaaaaa - TERRORISTS!!! MUSLIMS!!!! BOOGA, BOOGA!!!! WE GOTTA SEND TROOPS!!!
It has nothing to do with gold - or the repatriation of gold by Germany, honest. That's just coincidental.
UTIMEGI 25 - you are wrong. Christians do not rape, murder, pillage, etc. If they do they are definately not Christ followers. However, on the other hand fundamental Islam demands Jihad and we are not talking about an inner struggle against evil. Any Muslim that says this is not so is ignorant of the basis of their perverted faith and the teachings of Mohammed. At some point, I beleive Islam will be the dominating force of oppression througout the world - even here in the United States. Then those who claim that Islam is "peaceful" will stand among those that are murdering, raping, and piliaging our families, our wives and daughters, and looting our homes. Couple this with our "Islam sympathetic" president and his efforts to disarm the citizens of the United States, we have a perfect storm on the horizon. It is coming, or we can stand against it now contacting our national politicians to not vote in favor of the restrictive guns laws that Obama wants to inflict America with and by voting in 2016 against the current ideology that is literally vomiting out of the White House... How can the America people be so stupid and slow to catch on, and vote for this again?
Steve...Christians are murdering American doctors, nurses and office workers in the name of their Christian belief. Christians blew up the Federal building in OK City where there was a day care facility full of children...Christians lynched numerous black men and women....Christians enactred and enforced forced sterilization laws that were oveturned only because of Row v Wade...Christians burned and tortured anyone who disagreed with them back in the inquisition days...Should I go on?
Josephine, any nation or religion has blood on it's hands if you go back far enough in history. Your references are weak to say the least, and disconnected. Bizarre. Islamic terrorism has been constant, growing, and non-stop since the 70's. It's very relevant in any discussion of CURRENT threats to peacefull people. There's been thousands upon thousands die at the hands of Muslim terrorists all over the world for decades. To draw a comparison of that to a couple of freaks who shot abortion doctors and one guy with a truck bomb is absurd. Also, McVee wasn't killing in the name of Jesus. He was going after the F.B.I. is response to Waco and Ruby Ridge. If you are still in denial about Islam terror, you are extremely vulnerable.
Steve,Christians slaughtered American Indians.
^
Sorry to break the news to you Steve, but Christians do indeed do everything you say they don't. All the way back to emperor Constantine whom by the way conquered numerous contries in the name of Jesus and tortured and killed all that denied Jesus as their god. That has been basically the story up till today. You go tell one of those Evangelical crazies that they're not true Christians, lets see how fast they change your mind on whether Christians get violent
Steve - you do realize there are a lot of peaceful Muslims who are sayin the same things about followers of their religion - they aren't true Muslims is they do this...
Just as you stated, there are those that claim to be of Christ that sheltered child rapists, that are committing murder blowing up buildings or killing doctors who perform services they are against, who are murdering children in other countries today because they see them as possessed...and people standing with them.
It's not just one religion Steve.
Most crimes from Christianity are historical, whereas Islam inspires and motivates a mass, highly organized, worldwide movement TODAY that is responsible for terrifying and murdering tens of thousands of innocent people per year (including fellow Muslims are "insufficiently pure," as with Sufis in Mali and Somalia).
So the "Christianity is just as bad" posts are misguided or downright dishonest. Maybe "Christianity USED TO BE just as bad." Times have changed, but Islam hasn't. It desperately needs a reformation but the Gates of Ijtihad were closed centuries ago and anyone who seeks to modernize or liberalize Islam are often in mortal danger for trying to do so.
Man, you people have bought into some serious anti Christian, anti American hype. First of all, the U.S. calvery killed alot of Indians in a TERRITORY war, no a religious war. Sure, traget all the same. That was in the 1890s. What we're talking about now is the current state of affairs. A world wide, organized, driven by and for the purpose of HOLY JIHAD with a history of thousands upon thousands killed in very recent years can't even begin to be compared to 2 crazy freaks that killed 2 doctors. Have you people noticed any terrorist attacks in the last 40 years? They are ALL Islamists. What do you not get? Turn off Rachel Maddow for 5 minutes and read the freakin news, my God.
The dots are right in front of your faces - so connect them.
Neither the NY fed or France truly has the gold they claim to have (which is why the fed hasn't had a gold audit since the 1950's - and if you find that hard to believe, do a little research. Seems impossible - but it's true.)
Germany wants it's gold back from the US and France (not all of it - but some of it).
The US and France are sending troops to Mali while inundating the public with propaganda like this swell little piece of Orewellian rubbish (I like the ripped up picture of Jesus....man, $hit like that works so well on simple minds.)
The US and France have estimated 7 years and 5 years respectively - even though they supposedly already have it.
Mali has increased its gold output by 50% and has the 3rd largest gold reserves in Africa.
5-7 years to secure the nation and get the gold through black ops and fancy bookkeeping.
Seriously....it's sitting right there in front of your faces....and makes way more sense than this good-guy/bad-guy never-never land that some of you live in. It ain't about religion or Christian/Muslim or terrorism or human rights or any of that hogwash. It's simply economics - period.
There has been more murder, rape and mayhem caused by religion than any other cause in history...religion is ran by a greedy lot of people called ministers, preachers, priest, etc...exploiting the low intellectual masses due to their fear of death while these money mongers line their pockets and stomachs from free money, food and labor...there is currently no way to wipe out religion, dictatorial governments or poverty because of the ignorance of the masses...all one can do is humor the masses and live apart from them...
Ture, but religions have giving way, way, way more to the poor, old, and sick than any other group of organizations, ever. So much so, it would take other organizations hundreds of years to catch up to what religous institutions have done.
Just good Muslims spreading the peace is all.
The United States of Islam...........Consolidating as we speak. Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Mali, Iraq,Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Oman ......and so on ....and so on. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe death and destruction across the globe.
My recent studies have shown me this:
The current species of human is the top of the food chain.
Therefore, we, very naturally, self cull.
The globe will survive and revive as it has countless times. This current species of human is so busy taking itself out...self culling. Already, about half of this current species that inhabit bodies with uteruses, is valued as little more than breeding animals in so many areas of this globe, so, we, as a species, are already incredibly karmatically imbalanced. The imbalance is so great, self culling seems inevitable. Karma is a be youtch.
In my case, I have chosen to sit back and watch the process as most people my age here in the USA have settled back in their layers of fat and legal drugs long ago; uninterested in making changes for the better. Also, of course, slowly self culling, that is, until they find out they too have high blood sugar, and, SUDDENLY, care...or not...
Dee Ten...I could not have said it better myself. Religion is for the weak minded. It is a hold-over from our primitive beginnings as a species. Why anyone cares what a bronze age peasant preacher(s) said 2 millenia ago is beyond stupidity. To base your life on what these primitive morons thought and said is the height of folly. But humans are basically fools and will always look for someone or something to lead them around by the nose, as they prefer being told what to do instead of thinking for themselves. And in the meantime, thousands of human beings are maimed and killed each year in the name of god. We will never evolve as a species unless and until we can free ourselves from the primitive shackles of pagan based religions. And all three of the major Abrahamic based religions are equally at fault....Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Wow Doc, your insightful and amazingly knowledgeable grasp of human nature just makes me moist in my panties. I know you must be the head of the Mensa chapter in your neighborhood and how you came up with that without even any basic research..well...it just boggles the mind.
You trully are a spcial kind of stupid.
Orginized religion teaches people values to live by. That's the biggest problem with this country we live in, we used to have morals and values and now we have you.
What values pray tell..The value that only I am right? The value of kill them before they can sin? The value of kill them or deport them because My God doesn't like theirs and is going to punish me for breathing the same air? Listen to the Christian right and then listen to the Moslem right. They are both targeting those in this country who believe differently from them.
As a Hindu I learned compassion as the heart of my "religion" (it is more spirituality) Religion may guide you to a text but spirituality is something you live by. I don't listen to anyone but myself. Real spiritual people don't hate others. Just because you say you are something doesn't make it so. There are Hindu's that tarnish real Hinduism just like bad Christians and bad Muslims. They are just bad people and they take what they have learnt and make it bad. That doesn't make religion bad or wrong. It makes the people wrong. There are man made scriptures that float around and lead people on the wrong path. Luckily being a Hindu original texts dated thousands and thousands of years exist and they only state one thing.
Anybody who follows a religion knows that the essence of all religions is to love all and treat everyone like your brother and sister. Anyone who says other wise is deluded and fooling themselves.
My experience with religion is that people of like minds cloister themselves around the words of one person, who usually must be a male as required by the religion, to interpret the Holy Books the sheeple are too busy or lazy to read and interpret for themselves. My experience with religion is that 50% of the people, they happen to have uteruses, allow themselves to be repressed and valued as little more than breeding vessels to produce as many new humans as possible to inculcate into the religion (which also usually condones really cruel parenting methods) so as to not have any thoughts of their own (beat it or starve it out of ones very own children), ever, and, accept as 'normal' some really nasty things so many have done under the name & presumed encouragement of whatever version of god their interpreter preaches.
I'll stop now...
@Daisy Snow: I don't see that in Islamic teachings. Sorry. I discussed with many Muslims and their Prophet is explicit about Infadels. Not looking good from my humble perspective.
It was just a spontaneous demonstration that "spiraled out of control". Apparently someone showed them a Chip and Dale cartoon and made reference to the fact that the little critters "may have" nibbled on a koran that was lying about. Then all hell broke loose.
Mali ranks 15th in the world in terms of gold production. It accounts for a giant chunk of the country's GDP. Does anyone one else find it odd that terrorists just happened to pop up there a mere week after Germany demanded repatriation of its gold from France; who stated it would take 5 years to return? THEY DON"T HAVE IT! And neither does the FED here in America. The money junkies have looted their countries gold reserves behind their governments backs and now their using their influence to go and steal it from some poor country to save their skins. I know, conspiracy theory, blah blah. Go and look up the facts and draw your own conclusions. Things don't happen for no reason.
No, terrorists didn't just pop-up there last week. You may not have heard about them before 3 Americans were killed but AQMI has been in the Sahara since way before 9/11 (at the time, they went by the name GIA "Groupe Islamique Arme").
Among other things, they blew up quite a few bombs around Paris (killing many), were a major player in the Algerian civil war where some 200.000 civilians were slaughtered after a semi-rigged election between the quasi-dictatorial regime and the FIS (Islamic front ie the political facade of those who later became the terrorists)...
So - to make a long story short - you're right, it's far more complicated and interesting than "good guys' vs 'bad guys", or "let's kill all Muslims" or "All religions are evil/good" (I doubt most who commented in this thread ever looked even briefly at the history of Mali, Algeria or the Touaregs).
But sorry, your gold theory simply is invalidated by the facts.
Religion of Peace meets Religion of Love, time to make popcorn.
Just what you yankees, did to the south , during the war between the states!
Truth and Justice will prevail.
And when we booted them out of Afghanistan ,Where did we think they would go ? Unbelievable .... So Obama and the State dept either knew or didn't say anything to anyone ...
Of course they knew. And so did all the previous administrations since Clinton (and most likely Bush 1).
The mastermind "Moktar Belmoktar" aka Mr Marlboro (for his involvement in cigarette smuggling) trained in Afghanistan before returning to Algeria in 1991 to be an active participant in the civil war. Before his group took the name "Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb" it was the "Armed Islamic Group" (GIA in French).
They killed some 200.000 civilians in Algeria, blew up a subway station in the center of Paris in 95, hijacked an airliner in 94 intending to crash it into the Eiffel Tower (fortunately, the French took over the plane in Marseilles while it was refueling), kidnapped a series of civilians in Mali, Niger etc
Belmoktar was sentenced in absentia in different countries (incl to life sentences and death). He had a falling out with Bin Laden at some point (but he nonetheless named his son Osama). Life went on for the Jihad mercenaries, and recently - pushed South by the Algerian authoritarian regime - they overtook a (legitimate) North-Mali independence movement to make it their own, imposed terror on the local population (cutting hands/feet/limbs of those who disagreed, and forcing NGOs). Their ranks swell with the arrival of terrorist mercenaries from Libya (after Qaddafi fell). Mali requested int'l military intervention. French troops landed. The terrorists retaliated by taking the hostages in Algeria, but were stopped before they could take those hostages to Mali (though some 40 hostages were killed, incl 3 americans).
Btw why do you think the French agreed to join the war in Afghanistan, but were adamant that there were no WMDs in Iraq? Because they knew, based on their surveillance of these groups, based on the fact that the 2 mines in Niger where Saddam was supposed to have gotten his enriched Uranium are controlled by the French etc so they understandably were less than impressed by Colin Powell lying through his teeth at the UN.