So we were told:
"Militants hold Jordanian pilot, complicating coalition attacks" by Omar Akour and Diaa Hadid, Associated Press December 25, 2014
AMMAN, Jordan — Islamic State militants captured a Jordanian pilot after his warplane crashed in Syria while carrying out airstrikes Wednesday, making him the first foreign military member to fall into the extremists’ hands since an international coalition launched its bombing campaign against the group months ago.
Yeah, and what a Christmas present for the propagandists!
Images of the pilot being pulled out of a lake and hustled away by masked jihadis underscored the risks for the United States and its Arab and European allies in the air campaign.
I'm getting that same old psyop feeling again, folks.
The capture — and the potential hostage situation — presented a nightmare scenario for Jordan, which vowed to continue its fight against the group that has overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq and beheaded foreign captives.
The cause of the crash was disputed, with the Islamic State insisting on social media that militants had shot down the jet. The US military rejected that.
That's a tough call the the U.S. military is a proven liar, and the CIA-Duh contracted IS is no better.
‘‘Evidence clearly indicates that ISIL did not down the aircraft as the terrorist organization is claiming,’’ US Central Command said in a statement, using an acronym to describe the militant group.
US Army General Lloyd J. Austin III, who is overseeing all coalition military operations in Iraq and Syria, condemned the pilot’s capture, saying in a statement: ‘‘We will support efforts to ensure his safe recovery and will not tolerate ISIL’s attempts to misrepresent or exploit this unfortunate aircraft crash for their own purposes.’’
Yeah, only we can do that!
A coalition official, who was not authorized to discuss the episode publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the pilot was in an F-16 and was able to eject.
Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani earlier said the plane was believed to have been shot down.
‘‘It is our expectation that the plane went down because of fire from the ground, but it is difficult to confirm that, with the little information we have,’’ he said.
The Islamic State group is known to have Russian-made Igla antiaircraft missiles.
You know, I somehow knew it would be their fault.
Related: Airdropped weapons seized by extremists
Also see: ISIL Pakistani operative admits to getting funding through US
What's worse, "the Wall Street Journal is offering
some of the most stark details of a failed program, which failed to get
those so-called moderate rebels any real gains, and indeed has seen a
large number of them abandoning the battlefield, or joining ISIS and
other Islamist groups outright."-- CIA’s Failed Syria Rebel Arming Program in Tatters
That's all TAX DOLLARS WELL SPENT, and what if the "terrorists" are fiction created out of whole cloth?
The shoulder-fired weapon has long been in the Syrian and Iraqi government arsenals; it was used during the 1991 Gulf War by Iraqi forces to bring down a British Tornado jet, for example. More recently, militants in Chechnya have used them to down Russian helicopters.
US pilots have expressed fears about the threat of the surface-to-air missiles and other ground fire — particularly after the recent downing of an Iraqi helicopter gunship. But US pilots typically fly well above 20,000 feet — outside the range of most of the missiles — to carry out missions.
The warplane went down near the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants.
Images showed the pilot — in a white shirt, naked from the waist down and sopping wet — being pulled by gunmen out of what appeared to be a lake. Another picture showed him surrounded by more than a dozen fighters, some of them masked. The images were published by the Raqqa Media Center, a monitoring group that operates in areas under the extremists’ rule with the group’s consent.
Then the simple fact is we don't know who was in the movie, 'er, video. All we know is what the lying ma$$ media is telling us regarding who they are.
The plane’s glass canopy was taken by militants and put on display in the main square of Raqqa, according to the media center.
Jordan identified the pilot as First Lieutenant Mu’ath Safi al-Kaseasbeh. His cousin Marwan al-Kaseasbeh confirmed to Associated Press that the photos were of Mu'ath.
Jordanian news outlets spoke with the captive pilot’s father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, who said Jordanian officials had informed his family that the military was doing it all it could to ensure his return.
The pilot’s brother, Jawad al-Kaseasbeh, said by phone that Jordan’s monarch, King Abdullah II, met with his father Wednesday in a show of solidarity but that the family had no more information than what they had heard in the media.
The pilot is in his mid-20s and married. “He was very happy,” he said.
The United States and several Arab allies have been striking the Islamic State in Syria since Sept. 23, and US and other international warplanes have been waging an air campaign against the extremists in Iraq for even longer.
The campaign aims to push back the jihadi group after it took over much of Iraq and Syria and declared a ‘‘caliphate.’’
US officials have lauded the contributions of their Arab allies but also acknowledge that most of the strikes have been carried out by the United States, with its partners often playing a supporting role.
Must have been the pilot then.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates are participating in the Syria airstrikes, with logistical support from Qatar.
Jordan in particular has come under heavy criticism from militants for its participation.
It remained unclear whether the capture would affect the participation of Jordan and other Arab countries. But the Islamic State probably will try to use it to its advantage; in the past, it has used hostages to demand ransom and distributed grim propaganda videos of its fighters beheading Americans and Britons in what it has called revenge for their countries’ actions.
Videos which have been all shown to be fake, fake! It's all a propaganda psyop.
Jawad Anani, a former foreign minister, said he expected most Jordanians to continue to back the government’s participation in the anti-Islamic State coalition.
“If something — God forbid — happens, then it will rally people behind the idea that ISIS must be fought against with all means possible,” he said. “It will also strengthen Jordan’s resolve to fight ISIS.”
They must have needed such a thing, thus this psyop prop.
But Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political analyst and reform activist, said the capture could cause domestic opinion to shift against participation in the war, especially if the jihadists killed the pilot.
Really? Then his head should be off before I finish this sentence, if ISIS is real.
“It is natural for people to express such feelings: ‘Why should our children go and get killed and captured by the enemy? For what cause?’” Kamhawi said.
That is a universal feeling no matter where you live. Must be why the war-promoting papers and their ma$ters have to tell so many lies to trick you into them.
--more--"
Nothing for over a month, and then:
"Secret talks in Jordan try to win release of two hostages" by Zeina Karam and Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press January 28, 2015
BEIRUT — Secret talks were underway Tuesday in Jordan in the presence of a Japanese envoy to secure the freedom of a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State extremists and purportedly threatened with death within 24 hours.
Also see: Jagged Japanese Post
If you can get through it you will see that all the beheadings are theater productions to shock the public into submission.
The global efforts to free Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto and Jordanian Lieutenant Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh gained greater urgency with the release of the apparent ultimatum from the Islamic State group.
Ah, urgency. That means we are getting a shovelful of propaganda.
The video matched a message released over the weekend, though neither bore the logo of the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm. The AP could not independently verify either video. However, several militant websites affiliated with the Islamic State group referenced the latest video and posted links to it Tuesday.
Think about that for just a minute.
The "terrorists" are nothing more than a massive propaganda operation, folks.
Related: No new information, but ISIS distributed photos online, the United States and several Arab allies have been striking the Islamic State in Syria since Sept. 23, and U.S. and other international warplanes have been waging an air campaign against the extremists in Iraq for even longer. Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, began bombing Islamic State targets this year in an attempt to weaken the group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq. On Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government airstrikes in another Syrian stronghold of the Islamic State killed at least 21 people -- including children."
Terrorist children, but you know.
In the message, the extremists say....
I'm sick of propaganda being shoveled into my ear.
--more--"
"Jordan may free suicide bomber to rescue pilot; Swap would be first orchestrated by Islamic State" by Taylor Luck and William Booth, Washington Post January 29, 2015
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan said Wednesday that it was prepared to swap an Iraqi prisoner sentenced to death for her role in a string of 2005 Amman hotel bombings in exchange for a Jordanian pilot shot down last month and captured by Islamic State fighters in Syria.
The sensational offer to free the suicide bomber, whose device failed to explode, illustrates the tremendous pressure on King Abdullah II and his government.
Odd. I was told when this first started something bad would rally the people to government.
An exchange of prisoners would be a first for the Islamic State, which has beheaded a number of captives, including US and other Western journalists and aid workers. Previously, the group had reportedly released European captives in exchange for ransom.
The offer could undermine the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State by encouraging hostage-taking. The Islamic State, a radical Al Qaeda offshoot also called ISIS or ISIL, has seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria in its bid to create a Muslim caliphate.
Al-CIA-Duh offshoot, huh?
Information Minister Mohammad al-Momani said in a statement Wednesday that ‘‘Jordan is ready to release the Iraqi prisoner, Sajida al-Rishawi, if the Jordanian pilot, Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh, is released unharmed.’’
He did not offer details or say whether the government was talking with Islamic State leaders or if the swap was scheduled.
The Jordanian military and intelligence agency are fighting alongside US-led coalition partners seeking to turn back the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The Jordanian public, however, has been outraged over the capture of the pilot, whose family and friends have made emotional appeals for his release and criticized Jordan’s participation in the war against the militants.
Ever notice the people of war-making nations are always against war?
The US government has opposed paying ransom for kidnap victims held by the Islamic State. Some have been decapitated by the militants, who have threatened the life of the Jordanian pilot.
The announcement Jordan was ready for a deal came less than a day after the Islamic State issued a 24-hour ultimatum on Tuesday, threatening to execute Kaseasbeh and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Momani made no mention of Goto.
In Tokyo, Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, pleaded with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to save her son, and Japanese news media were abuzz with rumors Goto would be included in the swap.
The exchange would mark a reversal in policy for Jordan.
Rishawi is on death row for her involvement in suicide bomb attacks by Al Qaeda operatives against three Amman hotels in 2005. More than 60 people were killed.
Rishawi was captured after her suicide belt failed to detonate during an attack with her husband on the Radisson Hotel in Amman. Her husband died in the blast. She was sentenced to death in September 2006.
The attacks were masterminded by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, was the precursor to the Islamic State. Rishawi is the sister of a former close aide to Zarqawi, who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2006.
Related: Zarqawi Is A Pentagon Propaganda Psy-Op
Aren't they all?
These connections have made Rishawi a prized detainee for the Islamic State.
‘‘Time and time again, the Islamic State has made clear its desire to see the release of Rishawi,’’ said Mohammed Shalbi, known as Abu Sayyef, head of a hard-line Jordanian salafist movement. His group maintains ties to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Jordan has jailed more than 60 suspected members and supporters of the Islamic State over the past three months. Members of the jihadist movement say those detainees were never part of discussions for the pilot’s release.
Jordan has come under growing pressure to obtain the pilot’s safe return. Protests have been led by Kaseasbeh’s family, members of an influential tribe from Karak who have sought to swing public opinion against Jordan’s role in the war against the Islamic State.
‘‘To this date, we have not seen a real effort by any official to secure Muath’s safe return or to keep our sons out of harm’s way,’’ said Joudat Kaseasbeh, the pilot’s brother. ‘‘The government’s dithering has cost us time and maybe even Muath’s life. Our only choice is to remain in the streets and show the true opinion of the Jordanian people of this war.’’
That always seems to be an afterthought, yeah.
In Karak Wednesday, 200 of Kaseasbeh’s relatives rallied at the governor’s office, blocking roads with burning tires.
--more--"
You know what you do with terrorists in Jordan?
"Jordan hangs 11 men after ending moratorium on executions" New York Times December 22, 2014
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan ended an eight-year moratorium on executions Sunday when 11 men were hanged at dawn. The men were convicted of murder charges from 2002 to 2004, according to a statement released by the Interior Ministry.
The executions were carried out at the Swaqa correction and rehabilitation center, 60 miles south of Amman, the capital, “after taking all required legal measures,” according to the ministry’s spokesman, Ziad Zubi.
Jordan’s last execution took place in March 2006, when the sentence was carried out for a man convicted of killing his wife and baby.
Last month, the interior minister, Hussein Majali, said a committee had been formed to examine whether to reinstate the death penalty. Majali said members of the public believed that a rise in crime was related to the absence of executions.
The total number of crimes and felonies in the country has increased over the past five years, according to Jordan’s Department of Statistics. From 2009 and 2013, the number of crimes and felonies increased to 33,800 from 24,700, but the kingdom is generally seen as one of the safest in the region.
Since 2006, more than 100 people have been sentenced to death, but until Sunday, none of the sentences had been carried out.
On Sunday, the government was heavily criticized by human rights organizations.
“Reinstatement of the death penalty is a major blow to Jordan’s official rhetoric in support of human rights,” said Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The government should immediately reverse course and instead take prompt and decisive action toward a total abolition of this inherently cruel punishment.”
That I agree with on general principles. No way of correcting a farm-up or mistake, and state already murders enough people in one form or another.
--more--"
NDU: Families plead for lives of hostages as swap hopes fade
FURTHER UPDATE: Jordan under pressure to save pilot’s life
Yeah, the Jordanian people are saying ‘‘The sons of Jordan must not be sacrificed for America,’’ in increasingly vocal protests.
