Details are sketchy and the reports appear to be mainly coming from the Austrian press/media who got the news from Cardinal Schönborn. While no formal confirmation has yet come from the Holy See, it has been rumored for a while that ISIL was planning on doing this.
Source
Update: The Indian Government is throwing cold water on the report. Let us pray they are right. Source
ISIL has no air force, no navy, and no ability to project power beyond a rapidly shrinking patch of mesopotamian backwaters. What they do have power to do, however, is tie themselves to horrendous outlandish acts with which they have a tenuous organisational relationship at most (eg, saying ISIL organised the San Bernadino attacks is akin to saying Jodie Foster was behind Hinckley's attempt to shoot Reagan). This latest story is a great example of this: a tenuous relation to ISIL, a tenuous relation to reality... but it will nonetheless serve to rile up domestic audiences-- Mission Accomplished!
ReplyDeleteOsama bin Laden said his plan was to destroy the US Empire by drawing them into wasteful wars around the globe. Bin Laden is thankfully long gone, but ISIL continues in his place, egging-on the Western powers to self-immolation.
Your analogy is risible. Jodi Foster did not encourage anyone to kill President Reagan. ISIL is a highly organized criminal/quasi military organization that projects power by acts terrorism aimed at creating mass casualties. They are actively training people with that aim. They also have a remarkably effective low tech military arm that has repeatedly defeated local military forces. And they have one of the most powerful recruiting tools on their side, religious fanaticism.
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree.
ReplyDeleteThe Jodi Foster analogy is perfect because there is 0 evidence that anyone from ISIL was in contact with the San Bernadino murderers. The fact that one of them posted a pro-ISIL statement on Facebook and that ISIL then belatedly took credit is not proof of an international organisation with the ability to project power; it's proof of an organisation that is media-savvy enough to manipulate Western leaders who thrive off of negligent security threats.
Yes they are highly organised and quasi-military (mostly ex-Iraqi soldiers fired under the US occupation government). And we both agree that they are effective locally-- which makes it all the more inexcusable that the US has hindered the most effective local forces fighting against them (Assad, Iran, PKK and Putin).
Then again, these are features, not bugs. There is a clear symbiosis between ISIL which wants to appear bigger than it is, and neo-cons in the US who need permanent threats to justify their overseas adventures.
Praying the story is false and that Father Thomas is rescued from those barbarians.
ReplyDeleteAnthony
It was the assault on this facility, and the killing of the nuns who had been working with this priest, that provided the impetus for my letter to the Pope.
ReplyDeletehttps://orthosphere.wordpress.com/2016/04/01/an-open-letter-to-pope-francis/
There is no bold voice against these atrocities, and few seem willing to even report them!