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Thread: Beyond the frontline: watching ISIS

  1. #221
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    Default Defeating ISIS: Just Shoot Him Dad

    Defeating ISIS: Just Shoot Him Dad

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  2. #222
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Inside IS Terror Weapons Lab:frightening?

    Sky TV has shown lengthy video clips of an ISIS training college in Raqqa, featuring remote control cars for IEDs and a working thermal battery for SAMs:
    The IS research and development team has produced fully working remote controlled cars to act as mobile bombs, while they have fitted the cars with "drivers"; mannequins with self-regulating thermostats to produce the heat signature of humans, allowing the car bombs to evade sophisticated scanning machines that protect military and government buildings in the West.The group trained fighters from a variety of countries to carry out attacks and to train more jihadists in their own countries.
    The video it is claimed came from:
    An IS trainer with more than eight hours of unedited training videos was captured by the remnants of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as he headed north through Turkey towards Europe. The FSA passed the material to Sky News but was not aware of the importance of the videos, described by a weapons adviser to the British military as an intelligence "gold mine"
    Link:http://news.sky.com/story/1617197/ex...or-weapons-lab
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 02-04-2016 at 06:48 PM. Reason: This was a stand alone thread with 2.6k views till merging.
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  3. #223
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    William McCants going over the main points of his book at a presentation in SF. I think his biggest contribution is his discussion of the culture that IS has created and why it is a draw for people. Here's a link to the video.

  4. #224
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    Thumbs up Bravo

    Joel,

    Great catch the Will McCants podcast, whose insight I never tire of listening to, even if Iraq has receded from my priority list . This is one of three truly useful posts today and illustrates why SWJ remains useful.
    davidbfpo

  5. #225
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    Default ISIS Guide Teaches Jihadis How to Blend In

    ISIS Guide Teaches Jihadis How to Blend In

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  6. #226
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    Default The Convoluted Coalition Against ISIS

    The Convoluted Coalition Against ISIS

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  7. #227
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    Default ISIS Recruits in the U.S. Legal System

    ISIS Recruits in the U.S. Legal System

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  8. #228
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    Default More Is Needed to Beat ISIS, Pentagon Officials Conclude

    More Is Needed to Beat ISIS, Pentagon Officials Conclude

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  9. #229
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    Wilson Center video on IS. Features Joby Warrick talking about his new book on IS and Henri Barkey who is an expert on Turkey. Here's a link.

  10. #230
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    Just wrote an article about Zarqawi's ties with Iran. He operated in the country two times in 2001 & 2003 and set up his first networks running through Iran in 2000 as well. Had the support of the Iranian govt. Here's the piece.

  11. #231
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    Default To Beat ISIS, We Ought to Try Robotskrieg

    To Beat ISIS, We Ought to Try Robotskrieg

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  12. #232
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    Default Obama Is Pressed to Open Military Front Against ISIS in Libya

    Obama Is Pressed to Open Military Front Against ISIS in Libya

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  13. #233
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    Great article from CTC Sentinel on whether Baathists influence Islamic State's military strategy and tactics.

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    2 new articles point to IS maintaining its flow of cash via bulk oil sales in Syria and continued access to money exchangers and dollar auctions in Iraq. Group is facing economic crunch but is still attempting counter moves. Here's the article.

  15. #235
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    Default ISIS' IED Supply Chain

    A short article on the supply chain to ISIS to make IEDs:https://www.foreignaffairs.com/artic...sis-makes-ieds
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  16. #236
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    Back in 2006 journalist Michael Ware was interviewed by PBS's Frontline about the insurgency. He talked about the interaction between Baathists and Zarqawi's group. He mentioned interaction between the two, but it was far from easy to join Al Qaeda in Iraq. Read a short excerpt on what Ware had to say about former regime elements joining AQI.

  17. #237
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    Default Children and Islamic State: 31k pregnant women

    A report from the London-based Quilliam Foundation and two others on this subject; which includes the claim 31k women are pregnant:http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/pr...the-caliphate/
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  18. #238
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    Default Pentagon Has Plan to Cripple ISIS in Libya With Air Barrage

    Pentagon Has Plan to Cripple ISIS in Libya With Air Barrage

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  19. #239
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    Default Goldmine: ISIS 22k personnel files revealed

    Last night Sky News (UK) revealed an 'exclusive':
    The files were passed to Sky News on a memory stick stolen from the head of Islamic State's internal security police, an organisation described by insiders as the group's SS. He had been entrusted to protect the organisation's core secrets and he rarely parted with the drive. The man who stole it was a former Free Syrian Army convert to Islamic State who calls himself Abu Hamed. Disillusioned with the Islamic State leadership, he says it has now been taken over by former soldiers from the Iraqi Baath party of Saddam Hussein.
    Needless to say the files have been handed over to the 'authorities', although some question why they ran the story, unless of course publicity was delayed.
    Link to report:http://news.sky.com/story/1656777/is...-22000-jihadis

    Or a 5 min TV report:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0EtIzfjlOY

    UK SME's assessment of this 'gold mine':http://news.sky.com/story/1656827/is...of-information

    Digging deeper into the origin:
    The forms showing the 23-question survey in Arabic were previously published online by Zaman Al Wasl, a pro-opposition Syrian news website.
    Link:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6921881.html

    What do the forms reveal or confirm IMHO? Zaman Al Wasl say:
    Two thirds of ISIS manpower are from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. 25% of ISIS fighters are Saudis....Syrians are just 1.7 % of the total number of fighters. The Iraqis make 1.2.
    Link which has original documents in Arabic:https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/14541.html?
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  20. #240
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    Default Hold on the files have errors

    A number of SME have reservations, here is Charlie Winter:
    There would be big alarm bells for me, because when I've seen inconsistencies like that in the past they've been on really shoddily made forgeries...The biggest concerns, were the different names, logo, and grammatical mistakes that he described as "very much out of character" for IS documents. With something as important as this, it's important to look at it with as suspicious, discerning, and cynical an eye as possible...
    Link:http://www.globalpost.com/article/67...nd-alarm-bells

    Or the BBC's take:
    The documents were clearly not intended for public consumption, so those who drafted the questionnaire may not have paid as much attention to detail as for public documents. And they should be compared not with IS documents of today, but of around two years ago, when they appear to originate - before the group's rapid land grab across northern Iraq and Syria, when its bureaucracy and administrative capabilities were less well developed.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35773649
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-10-2016 at 01:56 PM. Reason: Add 2nd link
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