Though Qatar’s own aircraft haven’t been bombing ISIL in Syria and Iraq, the Al Udeid Air Base here serves as the hub for US forces as they carry out a months-long air strike campaign against the group, AP reports.
At the base – among the largest American outposts in the Middle East – the US and some 11 other nations have been coordinating their warplanes, assault strategies and future plans against ISIL.
The group in Iraq was just blasted with 13 airstrikes yesterday, the US Department of Defense said.
The lion’s share of the air strikes in both Iraq and Syria have been carried out by American forces.
But speaking about Qatar’s role, as well as that of other partners including Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Lt. Col. David Haworth, chief of the current operations division for the Combined Air Operation Center, said:
“To look at just strikes would be like to look at a baseball game of just home runs.”
He added that the battlefield intelligence and other resources coalition members bring were “not just wanted, but necessary.”
First strike
In September last year, Qatar’s Emiri Air Force took part in what’s believed to be its first military mission in three years, by flying above Syria alongside military planes from the US and four Arab nations as part of an aerial campaign against ISIL.
At the time, four Qatari planes reportedly provided surveillance as the other Arab nations bombed ISIL targets.
Since then, Qatar has continued to provide a “supporting role” to the coalition that is fighting ISIL, though officials here have repeatedly stressed that military action alone cannot solve the problem.
Last month, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani penned an op-ed in the New York Times ahead of his visit to the US, saying that “bullets and bombs” were not enough to win the war on extremism.
He added that understanding the root cause of terrorism was a prerequisite to tackling its spread:
“I know that many in the West look at the terrorist threat and say that the problem is Islam. But as a Muslim, I can tell you that the problem isn’t Islam — it’s hopelessness. It’s the kind of hopelessness that abounds in the Syrian and Palestinian refugee camps, and in war-weary towns and villages in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Gaza.
It’s the hopelessness we see in the poorer neighborhoods of Europe’s great cities, and, yes, even in the United States. And it is this hopelessness, which knows no state or religion, that we need to address if we are to stem the tide of terrorism.”
Thoughts?
Tamim invokes hopelessness as a cause of terrorism, but wait, as I’ve said here before there are countless examples of places riven by varying degrees of hopelessness that don’t default to terrorism or hide behind a catch-all variant of ‘jihad’. Religion adds an extra incentive and excuse, and er, ‘some’ religions do that more than others. Also, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri were both from privileged backgrounds. The BL family were multi-millionaires. Zawahiri trained as a doctor.
So, the bottom line is that his attempted absolution of Islam as a reason for atrocities is very misguided and papers over an extremely serious and destabilising problem.
Other than that, well done USAF….keep flying those missions…….must be strange though flying out of a country that has supported the Al Nusra Front and has wealthy national individuals funding the Daesh scumbags.
Terrorism is a word that hsa become synonymous with Islam thanks to mass media of the west. It however, exists everywhere and among everyone. Christians bombing abortion clinics is terrorsim, Buddhists setting muslms on fire is terrorism.
OK, I want you to give us all three sets of stats, the first will be how many people have been killed by Christians bombing abortion clinics, the second will be the Buddhists (only in Burma) who have oppressed and killed the Rohingya, and the third will be people killed by those who claim Islam as a both an inspiration and excuse for their terrorism. Let’s check out those numbers and see if there is any discrepancy.
You seriously want to devolve this into a which religion is evil argument? What next? Which race is best?
Not really, I think both actions and the lack of action speak for themselves mostly, but nevertheless, I look forward to the results of your statistics research.
And should we include Non-Muslim on Muslim violence? Do you not think the residents of Iraq were terrified when their country was utterly destroyed and invaded by the ‘coalition’?
Am deleting this rest of this thread because it is WAY off topic, and devolving.
I don’t see how you can link the two. Relgion being linked to violence, terrorism, oppression and therefore evil is well documented throughout human history.
You can replace “religion” with “money” in your sentence and the same would be true. Greed, Power and Ego are the most evil aspects of humans, religion is a tool that is used just like money and politics so one can be “superior”.
I agree with Abdulrahman. ISIL is not the first oppressive, repressive regime to hid behind religion. And the Crusades of the Middle ages are a perfect example. There is NOTHING Islamic about what ISIL is doing…. Just as there was nothing Christian about what those crusading Knights did in Palestine.
Should add 4th group. .Muslims terrorising Muslims in conflict zones…
The Burma numbers on their own will defeat any other number. If you add to that the numbers in Central Africa (Muslims slaughtered like sheep, burned alive, barbecued and eaten alive, etc.) you will understand that Budhist and Christian terrorism is way more atrocious than the “Islamic” one.
We don’t know the numbers in Burma with any certainty, however the actions of the Buddhist and the compliant government is disgusting. They are being disenfranchised and marganalised.
Rubbish Yacine and you surely must know that………the Burma numbers would be dwarfed by those claiming Islam as a reason.
The Burma numbers are in the hundreds of thousands of tortured, killed and displaced. Now tell me where on Earth something of a similar scale is being done by Muslims? And don’t mention Syria or any war zone. Burma is not a war zone.
This source would suggest deaths in the hundreds with many more displaced, and Burma isn’t a war zone? Really? I think you’ll find there is a decades-old insurgency going on…..besides, why shouldn’t we look at crimes done in the name of Islam in war zones? What a strange way to try and stall the discussion in your favour!
http://www.genocidewatch.org/myanmar.html
Southern Philippines; east Africa. Next question.
Liar.
Sadly, no. Shall we throw West Africa into the mix too?
Actually that is not true, the government is fighting insurgents in the north and east of the country. Mainly other ethnic groups.
Yes Muslims in the south are being persecuted but the propaganda in the gulf greatly exaggerated the numbers.
Count the number of innocent Muslims the US, Israeli, British, Australian, and French armies killed then tell me who are the terrorists. State terrorism and radical terrorism are the same thing with just different names.
Not just Muslims, but how many Koreans and South Americans by those sadistic, war mongering states – namely the US?
More than religion, it is politics and money that is involved.
I agree with you; terrorism is everywhere and happens among all kinds of people. Look at what happen in Oklahoma almost 20 years ago. That was a US citizen killing US citizens in a government building. Look at what US citizens are doing to the police that protect them.
It’s an extremely vague word too.
“the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.” – from google.
It’s applicable to so many events. It’s just devolved into a buzzword for “omg muslim danger” now.
It’s supposed vagueness should not be a cover for excusing the majority of acts which fit the bill…and are done in the name of Islam…….really, this culture of apologism and excuses are most tiresome when the evidence sticks itself in your face on a daily basis.
Terrorism is commonly defined as violent acts (or the threat of violent acts) intended to create fear (terror), perpetrated for a religious, political, or ideological goal, and which deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (e.g., neutralmilitary personnel or civilians). Another common definition sees terrorism as political, ideological or religious violence by non-state actors. Some definitions now include acts of unlawful violence and war. The use of similar tactics by criminal organizations for protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism, though these same actions may be labeled terrorism when done by a politically motivated group. Usage of the term has also been criticized for its frequent undue equating with Islamism or jihadism, while ignoring non-Islamic organizations or individuals.In the international community, terrorism has no legally binding, criminal-law definition.
The word “terrorism” is politically loaded and emotionally charged, and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise definition. A study on political terrorism examining over 100 definitions of “terrorism” found 22 separate definitional elements (e.g. Violence, force, fear, threat, victim-target differentiation). In some cases, the same group may be described as “freedom fighters” by its supporters and considered to be terrorists by its opponents. The concept of terrorism may be controversial as it is often used by state authorities (and individuals with access to state support) to delegitimize political or other opponents, and potentially legitimize the state’s own use of armed force against opponents (such use of force may be described as “terror” by opponents of the state). At the same time, the reverse may also take place when states perpetrate or are accused of perpetrating state terrorism.The usage of the term has a controversial history, with individuals such as ANC leader Nelson Mandela at one point also branded a terrorist.
A broad array of political organizations has practiced terrorism to further their objectives. It has been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political parties, nationalistic groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments. The symbolism of terrorism can exploit human fear to help achieve these goals.
dont forget govts like US and UK
I think terrorism has become synonymous with islam because people carry out such acts site Islam as their inspiration.
I understand but unfortunately people the world over are sick and tired of having to deal with and hear about radical nut jobs killing in the name of religion and looking to impose sharia law in its most extreme state.As a Catholic i used to have a little sympathy for the IRA and what it stood for.However that little sympathy soon disappeared when they started putting nails in bombs and just hearing about the bombing.Yes, there are nut jobs the world over trying to justify their crimes, but nothing on the scale of those using radical islam.If you are a muslim, stand up for your religion and denounce the nut jobs.Every bit helps.
and muslims bombing and murdering muslims occurs a little bit more nowadays don’t you agree ?
No greater heretic than being a Muslim from the wrong sect….
Correct OBL did not experience hopelessness. There was no Iraq war or Afghanistan being invaded by the west when he started.
However I disagree with the Americans bombing IS. That is what they want. Leave them to it, let them kill, rape and slave trade, it’s not the west’s problem.
Oh and I forgot the imposition of jiyza, pure discrimination against non Muslims and again typical of the early muslim conquests.
So when the Emir says it’s hopelessness he’s partly right, it’s religion being used to pray on the unfortunate to be used as weapons of violence and conquest for a dream that doesn’t even exist
Afghanistan was invaded by the russians at the time. The less aid about the americans the much better.
The Americans helped the afghans at that time with the Israelis, Egyptians, Saudis and Pakistanis.
The U.S. made the mistake of trusting religious fanatics.
He is name……………. Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
Respect…
Is Arshlikan a Turkish name? I feel no need to use his full title. Besides, respect has to be earned. Too early for that yet.
İf u are not feeling respect Why u are here. Get out this country…
He is a public figure, it is common in this language to refer to public figures by their family name. I’m sure that you have referred to Obama as Obama. It is also common to refer to non-public figures by their family name. ‘See Jones in Accounting and then see Smith in HR’ – perfectly acceptable. If you don’t like, try another language.
He is name Barack Hussein Obama We respect all President
I call him POTUS 🙂
President of the United States
Nice approach
Do you like Barack Hussein Obama?
No, I like women, men are not my thing.
Good for you…
Even Erdogan?
are you mean Recep Tayyip Erdogan ?
Yep, how does he compare to Ataturk?
Well then you are a sheep.
why u have pain ?
Deleting for going off topic and personal attack.
You’ve no idea whether I’m in the country or not!
i don’t care where u are just i said one thing respect this hard work for you?
Deleting for personal attack.
I am legend
Good for you :)))
“Hopelessness knows no state or religion”. I respectfully beg to disagree. Atrocities carried out in western countries by non-muslim citizens are thankfully very rare, and in recent years have been limited to far-right extremists and pupils who have an issue with their school.
They’re as rare as extremism in the middle east when not counting war zones, if we’re going to count war zones of the west, check out the east of Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia are not, nor have they ever been, part of the ‘West’. For
years, the goal was to protect the ‘West’ from folks like the Russians and Ukrainians. They were, for many decades,as foreign and fear-inducing as Arabs are today.
What about England ?
It doesn’t fit into the scope of the article.
England does not have an airforce.
U are not see the big Picture
Religion poisons everything and in fact if you look at Islamic state or daesh they are adhering to early islam, so you could say it’s a pure form of Islam. Beheadings, Islamic conquest of terrority, slave trading, child marriages are all practises of the early muslims. Prophet Mohd himself was a slave owner and trader and beheaded the men of the Jewish tribes he conquered as well as marrying a six year old. Therefore these peolle called to jihad by various Islamic groups have plenty of justification for their actions in the koran and their prophet.
We need to stop pretending this is all the fault of western foreign policy or these people being disadvantaged in any way. Muslim leaders need to take the lead in reforming islam and rejecting some of the earliest practises.
child marriage was prevalent the world over at the time.
That is true but most of the world moved on. Time for an Islamic reformation to bring it out of the dark ages. We don’t burn people for being witches anymore so why say Mohd marrying a six year old is right. Taking away a kids childhood is a crime against humanity
It’s utterly ridiculous that the United States believes that they will achieve anything with these Air Strikes. The ONLY thing they will achieve, is to justify their enormous defence budget to their own citizens. And that, I believe, is their No1 priority with these actions.
When did the USA last have a lasting positive outcome from miltary action?
1. Korea: fail
2. Vietnam: fail
3. Iraq: fail
4. Afghanistan: fail
Their troops are like Lemings, flinging themselves off Political Cliffs.
You greatly underestimate American military power and resolve. Without US army, naval and air bases throughout europe – Germany, UK, Italy, etc, the Soviet Union would have overrun europe. Now American power defends against potential Russian expansionary ambitions. Ditto Australia and Japan – the US defends Asia see eg Korea 30000 US troops on the korean border. Need I remind you that American air and naval power prevents an Iranian take-over of smaller nations such as…Qatar. Do you think saudi could dfend itself against Iran? As to your references above Korea – the north was stopped at the line and they have failed to take over south korea – win. Vietnam – if you saw what the US military did to n vietnam I would hardly call it a fail. US opinion forced the politicians to leave because of mounting US casualties. The US simply “lost the will” to fight in an Asian jungle with no real threat to the US. But man for man, tank for tank, jet for jet, the US smashed north vietnam. – win. Iraq and Afgan – wre total wins the US left what do you expect to stay there indefinitely? Saddam Hussein is gone from Iraq and Afgan is more or less a US client state. win win
well there it is. The worst mass killer in the present era are the americans followed by their stooges the Brits. Dont forget those SAS mercenaries active in different countries of the world trying to destabilise the regimes.
You cannot factually disprove my point so you resort to childish accusations.
awww… do me a favour. So we’d all be history without the good ‘ole USA to save us? You can’t possibly be naive enough to believe there’s even an ounce of truth in that. You can tell that kind of story to 5 year olds in school and they might believe you, but don’t repeat it to adults. You’ll just get laughed at.
America isn’t the Leader of The Free World. If anything, it’s becoming it’s enemy.
What is incorrect? Do you deny that Germany was overrunning euroland in ww2 and would have but for American GIs? London was bombed day and night by the Luftwaffe and the Brits couldnt do a thing. America saved europe from the german military. What about the Cold War – Soviet migs and T-72 could have walked in and taken europe but for American military power. And now – who removed Saddam – USA. Who stops Iran from exerting control or invading – American carriers and air power.
You say America is not a leader but whose tech corps dominate – Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft – all American tech.
USA ALL THE WAY!!
BTW Mr James your pic of a male cat (I presume) humping a male sesame street character indicates you have issues. You should replace the character with a female character – and have her hands tied when you take the pic.
I see a cat playing with a soft toy.
You some weird sexual thing?
You’re definitely 100% American 🙂
and proud of it.
fully agree and that is why the west should not be involved in this mess again.
I agree not their problem. These guys have been killing each other for the last 2500 years. Let them get on with what they do best. It’s a regional problem fostered by the many religions in this area
How about CIA?
This is my last comment here. i just want to said Peace And Love… easy way.
Closing the thread for getting way off topic.