A coalition of Maine immigrants is urging Maine’s 2nd District congressman and Republican Gov. Paul LePage to “check their facts” and reconsider their support for efforts to block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the U.S. In a statement issued earlier this week, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition said it was deeply saddened by the […]
syria
Posted inOp-Eds
U.S. lacks leadership against terrorism
Just hours before the terrorist attacks in Paris last week, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility, “Good Morning America” broadcast an interview with President Obama. In it, the president told host George Stephanopoulos, “I don’t think they’re gaining strength. What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Gov. Paul LePage wants to block Syrian refugees
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage said Monday that he will oppose any effort by the federal government to settle Syrian refugees in Maine after Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris. LePage joined other Republican governors in condemning President Barack Obama’s goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, saying to do so “without knowing […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Pentagon ‘reasonably certain’ U.S. drone killed ‘Jihadi John’
UPDATED 11:47 A.M.: WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military spokesman Steve Warren says officials are “reasonably certain” they have killed the Islamic State militant known as Jihadi John with a Hellfire missile fired from a drone. Warren says the world is better off without the man believed to have beheaded several Western hostages, whom the spokesman referred […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
U.S. to deploy commandos in Syria
WASHINGTON — A small number of U.S. special operations forces will be deployed to northern Syria to work with local ground forces in the fight against Islamic State militants, senior U.S. officials said Friday, marking the first time American troops will be working openly on the ground in the war-torn country. U.S. officials said President Barack […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Iran marches, Russia rules, Obama watches
WASHINGTON — Guess who just popped up in the Kremlin? Bashar al-Assad, Syrian dictator and destroyer, now Vladimir Putin’s newest pet. After four years holed up in Damascus, Assad was summoned to Russia to bend a knee to Putin, show the world that today Middle East questions get settled not in Washington but in Moscow, […]
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Turkey challenged by Kurdish issues
After suffering two recent attacks by terrorists based in Syria, Turkey has ordered its military forces to prepare to enter Syria en masse and establish a “buffer zone.” Turkey, seeking NATO-wide diplomatic affirmation for this risk-ridden decision, then demanded a NATO Article 4 consultation. Almost four years ago, Turkey publicly mulled a buffer zone to […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
ISIS hostage’s family hopeful she’s still alive
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — The parents of a 26-year-old American who ISIS extremists say was killed in an airstrike in Syria said in a statement addressed to group leaders that the claim of their daughter’s death concerned them but they were still hopeful she was alive. The Islamic State group said on Friday that Kayla Jean […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Obama announces air strikes in Syria against ISIS
WASHINGTON — Opening a new military front in the Middle East, President Barack Obama authorized U.S. airstrikes inside Syria for the first time Wednesday night, along with expanded strikes in Iraq as part of “a steady, relentless effort” to root out Islamic State extremists and their spreading reign of terror. “We will hunt down terrorists […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Video purports to show beheading of US journalist
BEIRUT (AP) — An Internet video posted online Tuesday purported to show the beheading by the Islamic State group of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, who went missing in Syria last year. The extremist group, which has claimed wide swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and declared itself a caliphate, said Sotloff’s killing was retribution […]