Lawmakers tell Obama ‘we must go after ISIS’ after new video surfaces

Congressional lawmakers urged the Obama administration to crank up the offensive against the Islamic State after another video surfaced purporting to show the graphic execution of an American journalist.
Two weeks after American James Foley was beheaded by his Islamic State captors, a video emerged Tuesday afternoon claiming to show freelance journalist Steven Sotloff being executed in the same way.
The White House and State Department said intelligence officials are working quickly to determine the video’s authenticity. If it is genuine, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “We are sickened by this brutal act.”
But U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle urged tough and swift action in response.
“Let there be no doubt, we must go after ISIS right away because the U.S. is the only one that can put together a coalition to stop this group that’s intent on barbaric cruelty,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said in a statement.
Nelson added that he plans on filing legislation next week that would give President Obama authority to order airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. 
Sotloff had been held since last year by Islamic State militants. As before, the executioner in the video claimed the act was a message to the United States in response to airstrikes.  
“I am back Obama, and I am back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State,” the person in the video said.
The administration, while launching another humanitarian mission in northern Iraq in recent days and sustaining a campaign of airstrikes around the Mosul Dam and elsewhere, continues to deliberate over the next steps – and whether to expand airstrikes across the border into Syria, where the Islamic State has a stronghold.
The president, drawing criticism from some GOP lawmakers, acknowledged last week that his team does not have a strategy yet for confronting ISIS in Syria.
With the president en route to Europe for meetings with allies and a NATO summit, it’s unclear whether the latest video might change, or accelerate, the administration’s planning.
Without commenting specifically on whether the U.S. military should go into Syria, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said Tuesday that the U.S. needs to be “acting urgently” to arm the Kurds in northern Iraq and target the Islamic State with drone strikes.
“Sadly, ISIS is bringing this barbarity across the region – beheading and crucifying those who don’t share their dark ideology,” he said. “The threat from this group seems to grow by the day.”
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., a member of the House intelligence committee, also said in a statement that “we cannot afford to allow these terrorists to continue their march.”
Asked Tuesday about the terror group, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said the U.S. “absolutely” has a strategy for the Middle East and a “clear” mission in Iraq.
“We are there to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces as they take the fight to ISIL.  We are there to provide humanitarian assistance where and when we can,” he said.  
Psaki said the U.S. wants to see the group “destroyed” but it won’t be “an overnight effort.”
Analysts and others, though, said some elements of the approach will have to change.
Former U.N. ambassador Bill Richardson, speaking with Fox News, called for a “kitchen sink approach” and – like in Iraq years ago – a “coalition of the willing” to increase training, military aid and airstrikes.
Michael O’Hanlon, with the Brookings Institution, said the Obama administration made the right decision to launch airstrikes in northern Iraq, but said more might be needed.
He urged the government to consider sending up to several thousand special forces and “mentor teams” into Iraq to help the Iraqi army in its fight against the Islamic State.
And he suggested the latest brutal act might spur more countries in the region to align with Baghdad and Washington.
“I think this will shake some sense into countries that wanted to have it both ways up until now,” he told Fox News.

Obama to send approximately 350 additional military personnel to Iraq

President Obama announced Tuesday he is sending approximately 350 additional military personnel to Iraq to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities and workers in Baghdad.
The White House said in a press release that the personnel will not serve a combat role, and are fulfilling a request from the State Department for more protection as the country fights an insurgency from the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
The White House said the additional personnel will be able to provide a “more robust, sustainable security force” and will allow previously deployed personnel to leave the country.
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement that Obama's authorization will result in a net increase of approximately 350 military personnel. Kirby said 405 personnel will be sent to Baghdad, and 55 will leave, leading to the net increase. 
Additionally, the White House said the U.S. is continuing to support the Iraqi government against the terror group, which it says “poses a threat not only to Iraq, but to the broader Middle East and U.S. personnel and interests in the region.”
“The president will be consulting this week with NATO allies regarding additional actions to take against ISIL and to develop a broad-based international coalition to implement a comprehensive strategy to protect our people and to support our partners in the fight against ISIL,” the release stated.
According to Kirby, the latest deployment means the number of U.S. forces responsible for providing security support in Baghdad will total approximately 820. 
Defense officials told Fox News that once the latest forces arrive, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq will be 1,213. 
The announcement came after U.S. military officials said Tuesday that an airstrike against Islamic State militants in Iraq had damaged or destroyed 16 armed vehicles near the Mosul Dam.
In a statement from U.S. Central Command, officials said an airstrike conducted Monday in northern Iraq involved fighters and attack aircraft.
By Central Command's count, that's the 124th airstrike in Iraq since operations against the Islamic State group began in early August.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

White House confirms authenticity of ISIS video showing beheading of reporter

The White House has confirmed that an Internet video purporting to show the beading of American reporter Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State extremist group is authentic.
"The U.S. Intelligence Community has analyzed the recently released video showing U.S. citizen Steven Sotloff and has reached the judgment that it is authentic," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement released early Wednesday. "We will continue to provide updates as they are available."
The global terror intelligence firm SITE first reported the release of the 2-minute video, titled "A Second Message to America," in which Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance journalist, speaks to the camera before a cloaked Islamic State fighter begins to decapitate him.

“I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing,” Sotloff said under apparent duress. "Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for preservation of American lives and interests, so why is it that I am paying the price of your interference with my life?”

The video then cuts to the masked militant warning that as long as U.S. missiles “continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.” He also threatens the life of British captive David Cawthorne Haines.

"I'm back, Obama," said the left-handed executioner with a British accent who appears to be the same man who killed Foley. "And I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State."

The gruesome video then shows Sotloff's severed head lying next to his body.

"The family knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately," Barak Barfi, a spokesman for the Sotloff family, told The Associated Press Tuesday. "There will be no public comment from the family during this difficult time."

The grim video comes just days after Sotloff's mother, Shirley, directly addressed the leader of the Islamic State last week, saying her son shouldn't pay for U.S. government actions in the Middle East and that he cared about the weak and oppressed as a journalist.

"I want what every mother wants, to live to see her children's children," she said last week. "I plead with you to grant me this."

Shirley Sotloff cited by name the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has described himself as a caliph intending to lead the Muslim world. She had asked him to show mercy and follow the example of the prophet Muhammad in protecting people of Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths.

Sotloff was last seen in August 2013 in Syria. He was recently threatened with death by the militants on a video unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the group in Iraq. The same video showed the beheading of fellow American journalist James Foley, 45.

Several U.S. officials, including U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., have said they were working behind the scenes to find out more about Sotloff and try to secure his release.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest could not confirm the reports when asked about the video at Tuesday’s press briefing. He noted the administration has been monitoring his situation carefully since threats were first made.

“The United States, as you know, has dedicated significant time and resources to try and rescue Mr. Sotloff,” he said, adding “thoughts and prayers” are with the family.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the intelligence community will work “as quickly as possible” to determine the video’s authenticity.

"If the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act taking the life of another innocent American citizen,” she told reporters.

Pressed by Fox News, Psaki would not say whether this would constitute an act of war. She said the prior execution of journalist James Foley was a “horrific terrorist act,” and was a “motivating” factor for creating a coalition to address the Islamic State.

A spokeswoman for the National Security Council confirmed that the agency had seen the purported video.

"The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity," spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement. "If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends.  We will provide more information when it is available.”

At University of Central Florida, where Sotloff studied journalism from 2002 to 2004, President John Hitt said the school is mourning the loss.

“Our UCF family mourns Steven’s death, and we join millions of people around the world who are outraged at this despicable and unjustifiable act,” said Hitt.

Obama Cartoon

Dozens of police agencies report loss of Pentagon-supplied military weapons

Just tell the bad guys to come on in!

Images showing high-powered military rifles in the hands of law enforcement in Ferguson, Mo., after the police shooting of an unarmed black man focused attention on a controversial Pentagon program that supplies that kind of weaponry to local police departments. Now reports reveal how some of those guns have been lost by law enforcement officials who received the weapons.
Take Huntington Beach, Calif., which was given 23 M-16 rifles and has reported one missing.
“Bottom line is the gun is not here and we were suspended from the program, haven’t received anything since 1999,” Huntington Beach Police Department Lt. Mitchell O’Brien told ABC News Friday.
O’Brien told the network the lost weapon could have been melted down, but that’s uncertain.

“Bottom line is the gun is not here and we were suspended from the program."- Huntington Beach Police Department Lt. Mitchell O’Brien

“Probably, [it was] one of those things where we used it for parts and the spare parts probably got discarded at some point -- but again, it’s inconclusive,” he said. “But we are pretty confident nobody got into our armory and took it.
The program O’Brien was referencing is the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which gives away surplus military weapons to local police departments. In a report Friday the Cox Washington Bureau said Huntington Beach is one of 145 local law enforcement agencies across the country that has been suspended from the program.  Three states — Alabama, North Carolina and Minnesota — also have been suspended.
Cox named some of the banned agencies.
The Daytona Beach Police Department was suspended after reporting a lost M-16 in January.
“We still have not been able to find it,” Daytona Beach Police spokesman Jimmie Flynt told Cox.
The Napa County Sheriff’s Office was banned after someone stole a rifle from an employee’s personal vehicle.
“If I knew where it was, I’d go get it,” Undersheriff Jean Donaldson told Cox. “It’s equipment we can obtain at no cost to our budget, so the taxpayers don’t get taxed twice.”
KARK-TV in Arkansas said three law enforcement agencies in the state have been suspended for losing weapons or having weapons stolen: the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, the Woodruff County Sheriff’s Office and the Judsonia Police Department.
James Ray, who oversees the 1033 program in Arkansas, told the station officials are worried the missing weapons could end up in the wrong hands.
“I have no reason to believe that, but if we don’t know where they are then hopefully we can get them back,” he said. “I mean they’ve been reported stolen by the law enforcement agencies….”
“It just appears that the Pentagon’s not minding the store, that once the inventory is gone, it’s out of sight, out of mind—and we can’t afford to have weapons of this type walking around the streets,” Steve Ellis, vice president of Tax Payers for Common Sense, told ABC.
A Pentagon spokesman told the station that 8,000 law enforcement agencies participate in the 1033 program and that 98 percent remain in good standing.

Islamic militia group says it has 'secured' US compound in Libya

An Islamic militant group said Sunday it has “secured” a U.S. Embassy compound in Libya’s capital city of Tripoli.
American personnel evacuated the area roughly a month ago amid ongoing fighting in the country.
An Associated Press journalist walked through the compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an umbrella group for Islamist militias, invited onlookers inside.
Windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched.
The breach of a deserted U.S. diplomatic post likely will reinvigorate debate in the U.S. over its role in Libya, more than three years after supporting rebels who toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
A commander for the Dawn of Libya group said his forces had entered and been in control of the compound since last week.
"We've seen the reports and videos and are seeking additional details." a senior State Department official told Fox News late Sunday. "At this point, we believe the Embassy compound itself remains secure but we continue to monitor the situation on the ground, which remains very fluid."
"We continue to work with the Government of Libya and other parties on issues of concern. Our Ambassador and other officials remain engaged both in Washington and from our Embassy in Valetta, Malta, where Embassy staff from Tripoli were recently relocated," the official said.
No U.S. military or assets were guarding the property after the State Department pulled out.
On Sept. 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, and State Department information management officer Sean Smith were killed in a terror attack on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.
A video posted online showed men playing in a pool at the compound. In a message on Twitter, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones said the video appeared to have been shot in at the embassy's residential annex.
However, two sources with first-hand knowledge of the embassy and other U.S. facilities in Libya say the YouTube video in which the militia members are diving from a roof into pool was taken at the CIA annex in Tripoli that was abandoned when U.S. Embassy personnel and the ambassador pulled out July 26. It is about a mile away from the U.S. Embassy in Libya.
When CIA abandoned the annex in July, it would no longer be considered sovereign US territory.
Jones also said the compound appears to be "safeguarded," not "ransacked."
The fighting prompted diplomats and thousands of Tripoli residents to flee. Dozens were killed in the fighting.
On July 26, U.S. diplomats evacuated to neighboring Tunisia under a U.S. military escort. The State Department said embassy operations would be suspended until the security situation improved.
The Dawn of Libya militia is deployed around the capital and has called on foreign diplomats to return now that the fighting has subsided.

Strategy Cartoon

Israeli soldier succumbs to wounds; Israel's Gaza death toll rises to 72

JERUSALEM –  The Israeli military says a soldier wounded in fighting in the Gaza Strip has died, bringing the Israeli military toll in the recently concluded conflict to 66.
The military says 20-year-old Sergeant Shachar Shalev died Sunday. He was wounded on July 23, six days after Israeli ground forces entered the densely populated coastal strip.
Six civilians were also killed on the Israeli side, including one agricultural worker from Thailand.
More than 2,100 Palestinians, mainly civilians, were killed during the 50-day war.
Israel and Hamas agreed last Tuesday to an open-ended truce. The cease-fire brought an immediate end to the fighting but left key disputes unresolved.