Syria

[HairOfTheDog]

These chumps are not afraid of America.

I think that's true.

I don't believe that the IS fighters are afraid of any country's leadership or military -- not Syria's, not Iraq's, not the US's, not the UK's, not Russia's, not China's... They don't give a shit about NATO or the UN either, IMO. What is there to be afraid of when you welcome your own combat death and don't value the lives of others?

I don't know if that "kill or gloriously die for the caliphate" bullshit is something their very wealthy financers and profiteers would truly welcome for themselves, from their safe comfortable homes -- doubt it. But, I do believe the fighters are a fearless gang.

Anyway, today several world leaders publicly denounced IS again, following the authentication of the Sotloff beheading video. Among them...

UNITED KINGDOM:
"This country will never give into terrorism ... a country like ours will not be cowed by these barbaric killers," UK Prime Minister David Cameron said. Cameron and his Foreign Minister also confirmed that they've sent rescue ops to Syria, but were unable to locate the hostages.

UNITED STATES:
"Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget ... that our reach is long and that justice will be served," President Obama said.

Obama addressed his much criticized statement last week that he has no strategy on ISIS. He said he was referring to a military strategy in Syria that "might" require congressional approval.

"Our objective is clear. That is to degrade and destroy (ISIS) so it's no longer a threat," he said. "We can accomplish that. It's going to take some time, it's going to take some effort."

"We've been putting together a strategy that was designed to do a number of things. ... What we have to make sure is we have a regional strategy in place," Obama said.

Sec of State Kerry said the latest video shows ISIS' "unfathomable brutality" and he confirmed that rescue ops had been sent to Syria but had been unable to locate the hostages. VP Biden promised that the US will get justice and "follow IS killers to the gates of hell".

AUSTRALIA:
Australian PM Tony Abbott: “We’ve seen in the century just gone, the most unspeakable things happen, but the atrocities that were committed by the Nazis, by the communists and others, they were ashamed of them, they tried to cover them up.

“This mob, by contrast, as soon as they’ve done something gruesome and ghastly and unspeakable, they’re advertising it on the internet for all to see which makes them, in my mind, nothing but a death cult and that’s why I think it’s quite proper to respond with extreme force against people like this.”