ISIS Jihadi John Revealed

      My article was about "Jihadi John," the British-accented man who appeared in an all black shroud covering his face in several ISIS videos in which he beheaded Westerners, has been identified as London born Mohammed Emwazi, a former senior intelligence official confirmed by ABC news. This was discovered earlier this week when a close friend of Mohhamed stated he had no doubt that Emwazi was the man in the videos. Then, a former U.S. intelligence official also comfirmed that Emwazi was the man in the videos.  Emwazi was from a well off family out of London, and graduated from the University of Westminster with a computer programming degree. At the moment British authorities have not commented on the identity of the man on the basis that lives are currently at risk. 

   

       The US Governments point of view and statements-  "The U.S. government continues to investigate the murder of American citizens by ISIL [ISIS]," the NSC said. "As the President said, no matter how long it takes, the United States will not rest until we find and hold accountable the terrorists who are responsible for the murders of our citizens."

  

    As my fellow classmates and I have discussed in recent weeks, ISIS is a horrible terrorist organization. The sooner ISIS forces are taken out the less innocent people will be murdered. I believe that it is very bad that Jihadi John's identity has been revealed because as British authorities said, their are lives at risk and if Emwazi takes this negatively he could kill more men or women. This information should not have been shared with the general public and hopefully, this will not cost anyone their life.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/jihadi-john-identity-revealed-senior-intelligence-official-confirms/story?id=29238973

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ISIS Beheadings In Libya Devastate An Egyptian Village

      Over this past weekend, the Libya branch of the self-proclaimed Islamic State beheading 21 male prisoners.  All of the men in the video have been identified as Christian laborers from Egypt except for one who hasn't yet been identified. This is not the first brutal attack that has been recorded in recent weeks. ISIS has been recording acts of terrorism that involve stabbing and burning people as means of intimidation. 13 of the men in the recent video were from El-Aour, a small Egyption town near the Nile river. Local Priests say the day the massacre happened, you could her a scream from every house in the town. The men from ISIS came to the town about one month ago and specifically demanded for Christians. At the time the town had no idea what was going on and the men were taken away in four vehicles. 

      The rest of the article goes on to talk about how the town is being comforted, and how it's dealing with the great losses. The church has been saying prayers for the murdered Christians and singing hyms. The town is still in mourning, but with the help from the church they will hopefully get through their lossses.

      ISIS has been striking terror through the lives of many people over the past year which I have been discussing with my classmates throughout the past few weeks. I believe that what ISIS is doing is terrible, and I in no way support them. I feel awful for the town of El-Aour  and the families of the fallen Christians. I believe that in order to stop these terrorist attacks by ISIS, the U.S. needs to station troops on ISIS soil and either protect the people threatened by ISIS or eliminate ISIS threats. If we have more troops we will prevent deaths on innocent men and women` even though they are not American. 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/02/17/386986424/isis-beheadings-in-libya-devastate-an-egyptian-village

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Parents' anguish as they wait for word on daughter ISIS claims is dead

      In Prescott, Arizona, not a day goes by without thought of Kayla Mueller. For more than a year and a half, Mueller's family has lived with knowing that their beloved daughter, Kayla, who was an American aid-worker, is being held hostage by the Islamic militant group ISIS. Up until earlier this week, the family had kept all this under wraps becuase ISIS threatened to execute Kayla if the family went public. On this past Friday however, ISIS terrorists spoke to the public and stated that Mueller had been killed during an airstrike by the Jordanian forces in Raqqa. However, the Muellers are still hoping that Kayla is alive and ISIS has provided no proof other than an image of a building in rubble. "We have sent you a private message and ask that you respond to us privately," her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, said in a statement Friday in hopes that ISIS will respond and hopefully reveal if Kayla is truly deceased. 

      At the moment Jordan forces are still investigating the claims by ISIS about Mueller's fate. In a statement made by Jordanian spokesman Mohammed al-Momani, the Jordanian government provided their side of the arguement by saying, "What we know about this terrorist organization is that they are liars when it comes to these things." 

      People are questioning why no ISIS militants died in the collapse and why there was no fire or smoke in the image ISIS revealed of the demolished building. People are starting to say ISIS killed Mueller before, and has been waiting for a chance to release this news and make it look like someone elses fault. 

      The article then goes on do discuss other claims believed to be false by ISIS and how Jordan believes ISIS forces have another one of their pilots. It also talks about how ISIS demanded a ransom for Mueller last summer and how it's possible she was killed then, and the news wasn't released until earlier this week.  

      I'm sure this article will relate to our AP Governent class soon because it has to do with our citizens' rights and our countries involvement in the war with ISIS. I believe this whole situation has been terrible, and hope the Mueller's will stay strong the next few months until more information is revealed. I personally believe that Kayla was murdered earlier in the year by ISIS, and they are trying to pin the crime on Jordanian air strikes. However, I hope my belief is wrong and Kayla will soon be returned. 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/09/us/isis-hostage-mueller-family/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

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U.S. Deploys Search and Rescue Helicopters to Iraq in ISIS Fight

      The article I chose to write about was titled "U.S. sends search and rescue helicopters to Iraq in ISIS fight." It was written on February 4, 2015, in response to a murder by ISIS of a Jordanian pilot. The article discusses the decision of the Pentagon to place more search and rescue helicopters in northern Iraq, in order to reduce the time it takes to locate crashed pilots. Other countries have already began pulling their aircrafts out of the area due to the threat posed by ISIS forces. 

      This new policy stemmed from a murder orchestrated by ISIS forces, and a video released by ISIS of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh which I'm sure we'll talk about later in class. He was captured by ISIS in December when his f-16 crashed over Syria. Not only does the video show the Lietunent being burned alive, but it also contains verbal threats to other Syrian pilots. U.S. officials stated that the United Arab Emirates, an important group in fighting ISIS, has completely stopped flying combat missions over ISIS territory after Kaseasbeh's capture. They have also said that every effort was made to recover the downed pilot and as soon as his plane went down an intensive search was initiated. Jordanian forces are still leading bombing attacks against ISIS. 

      After reading this article I am disgusted by ISIS. I strongly believe that we should put more troops into northern Iraq and support the Pentagon's decision of sending more search and rescue helicopters. The more military units we have fighting against ISIS forces, and looking for injured, crashed, or M.I.A. pilots the better. If we continue to put in search and rescue units, there will be a significantly smaller chance of downed pilots being captured and murdered.  

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-deploys-search-and-rescue-helicopters-to-iraq-in-isis-fight/

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