The British connection to ISIS beheadings

He has beheaded again. The tall,
masked British man with the London accent,
working with ISIS.
His first two victims were American journalists.
His third was a fellow citizen, British aid worker
David Haines.
British Prime Minister David Cameron hastily
assembled a meeting of his top national security
advisers in the early hours of Sunday morning to
discuss what can be done.
According to British officials, Cameron knows the
identity of the British executioner.
ISIS executes David Haines, Cameron vows
justice
He also knows that the executioner
has already killed two citizens of his
country's closest ally and he knows
that the executioner holds at least two
other American citizens.
Cameron knows that the executioner
holds other hostages from additional
Western countries and that he is part
of a larger group of British hostage-
takers working for ISIS, nicknamed
"the Beatles" by their captives. And he
knows that the lives of the remaining
hostages are in grave danger.
It is a real crisis for Cameron, and it
underlines a sobering fact: British
citizens have volunteered to go to
Syria to fight at 25 times the rate that Americans
have done so, when adjusted for population size.
Some 500 British citizens have traveled to Syria
to fight, as have 100 Americans. The population
of the United Kingdom is about a fifth of that of
the States.
A British government assessment by the Office of
Security and Counter-Terrorism provided to CNN
shows that the British have already arrested 69
people this year for "Syria related terrorist
offences" that include terrorist financing,
preparing an act of terrorism, and attending a
terrorist training camp.
In 2013, 25 people were arrested in
the UK on similar charges, bringing the
total number of arrests to 94,
according to the British government
assessment. By contrast, only eight
have been arrested for similar Syria-
related terrorist crimes in the States.
ISIS execution videos strikingly similar
The war in Syria is attracting British
fighters from all kinds of ethnic
backgrounds, not just those of Syrian
descent. A British official told CNN
that the vast majority of British
fighters going to Syria do not have
any real links to the country other
than a desire to fight in a holy war
against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Alarmed by the threat posed by its
citizens fighting in Syria, the British
government has already refused to
issue or has cancelled 23 passports
and has also revoked the citizenship of eight
British citizens, according to the Office of Security
and Counter-Terrorism.
The British agency also underlines the threat
posed by other European citizens who have
traveled to Syria, who can freely travel around the
European Union, including the UK, and who can
also travel to the States without visas as they are
from so-called "visa waiver" countries.
Statement from the family of David Haines
According to the British government, 700 fighters
have traveled to Syria from France; 400 from
Germany; between 300 and 500 from Belgium;
130 from the Netherlands; over 100 from
Denmark; 100 from Austria; 80 from Sweden; and
between 50 and 100 from Spain.
The British government also estimates that 100
Canadians have left Canada to "support or train
with terrorist movements abroad. The majority of
these are likely to be in Syria." And it estimates
that there are 60 Australians fighting in Syria and
Iraq and about 100 Australian "facilitators"
helping to make this possible in Australia.
This brings the total number of Westerners who
have fought in Syria to between 2,620 and 2,870,
according to the British Office of Security and
Counter-Terrorism assessment obtained by CNN,
which is likely the most authoritative estimate
yet.
Despite the fact that the British government has
identified the executioner of the two American
journalists and of David Haines, it is not making
his name public "for operational reasons."
That's because the only likely hope for the
remaining hostages is some kind of rescue
operation similar to the one that the U.S. Joint
Special Operations Command mounted on July 4,
which didn't achieve its purpose because the
prisoners had been recently moved from the
location where they were being held in Syria.
A rescue operation is a long shot, but at this
point it may be the only real chance of saving the
lives of the remaining hostages. David Cameron
knows this -- and so does President Barack
Obama.

NIGERIA'S AIRFORCE DECLARES ITS ONLY FIGHTER JET PARTICIPATING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS MISSING

The Defence authorities have declared missing
an
aircraft of the Nigerian Air Force in Adamawa.
The
Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris
Olukolade, said in an electronic mail in the early
hours of Sunday that the aircraft, an Alpha jet,
has been missing since Friday, September 12,
2014.
Olukolade said that the aircraft left Yola by
10.45
am on an operational mission and was expected
back to base by 12PM same day but has not
been
found. He said that the aircraft had two pilots on
board. The Defence spokesman said that the
military had started search and rescue efforts
meant to establish contact with the crew.
"An Alpha Jet (NAF 466) belonging to the
Nigerian Air Force is missing around Adamawa
State. The aircraft, with two pilots on board, left
Yola at about 10:45am on 12 September, 2014
on a routine operational mission and was
expected back by 12:00 noon. Since then all
efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have
not yielded any positive result. Meanwhile,
search
and rescue effort is ongoing to establish contact
with the crew," he said.

Britain vows to 'confront' the ISIS 'menace' after killing of David Haines

The killing of British aid worker David
Haines "will not lead Britain to shirk our
responsibility" to work with allies to take on ISIS,
British Prime Minister David Cameron said
Sunday.
Instead, he said, "it must strengthen our resolve."
Speaking a day after the Islamic terror group
posted a video showing Haines' beheading -- the
latest in a string of such videos -- Cameron
vowed to work with the United States to support
its "direct military action." He also emphasized
that "this is not about British troops on the
ground."
"We have to confront this menace," Cameron
said. "Step by step we must drive back,
dismantle, and ultimately destroy ISIL and what it
stands for." Together with allies, he said, "we will
do so in a calm, deliberate way but with an iron
determination."
The group, which calls itself the Islamic State, is
also known as ISIS and ISIL.
"This organization poses a massive threat to the
entire Middle East," Cameron said, making a
public statement before an emergency meeting of
security and intelligence officials.
The European Union joined Cameron in
condemning Haines' "atrocious
murder" and said it was committed to
fighting terror.
"Together with international and
regional partners, the EU will spare no
effort to ensure that an end is put to
this atrocious terrorist campaign and
all perpetrators are held accountable,"
the EU statement said.
Cameron listed five points in the
British strategy: to work with the Iraqi
government and Kurdish regional
governments and help them protect
minorities being slaughtered by ISIS;
to work at the United Nations "to
mobilize the broadest possible
support" against ISIS; to contribute to
U.S.-led military action; to assist in
humanitarian efforts; and to "reinforce
our formidable counterterrorist effort
here at home."
Some British Muslims have joined ISIS, and the
militant who killed Haines and two Americans --
James Foley and Steven Sotloff -- may be British.
'Not Muslim, but monsters'
The video of Haines' killing looks very similar to
those that showed the beheadings of Foley and
Sotloff , and the masked militant sounds like the
same man.
"It falls to the government and to each and every
one of us to drain this poison from our society
and to take on this warped ideology that is
radicalizing some of our young people," Cameron
said.
"Islam is a religion of peace," Cameron insisted,
saying of the ISIS militants, "They are not
Muslim, they are monsters."
Britons "need to know that this is a fanatical
organization" that plans attacks across Europe
and in the UK, Cameron said.
"It was an ISIL fanatic who gunned down four
people in a museum in Brussels," he said referring
to Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman from Roubaix
in northern France, accused of killing four people
at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in May.
Nemmouche recently spent a year in Syria and is
a radicalized Islamist, the chief prosecutor of
Paris said in June. French journalist Nicolas
Henin said last month that Nemmouche tortured
prisoners he guarded while fighting for ISIS in
Syria.
"He did beat me a number of times. I don't know
of any bad treatment to any other foreign
hostages coming from him specifically but I
witnessed him torturing local prisoners."
'Your evil alliance with America'
The video of Haines' death shows a masked ISIS
militant placing his hand on another captive,
whom he identified as Alan Henning, a British
citizen.
On Sunday, Henning's family distributed an image
of him holding a child at a refugee camp on the
Syria-Turkey border. The family asked media to
use this image rather than the one of Henning in
an orange jumpsuit kneeling beside his captor.
ISIS which controls large areas of northern Syria
and Iraq, previously publicized grisly videos of the
beheadings of American journalists Foley and
Sotloff. It has also brutally slaughtered large
numbers of Syrians and Iraqis in the territory it's
seized.
In the two previous videos, the killer directed his
comments at the United States, which had begun
airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq. But the latest one
singles out Britain.
"Your evil alliance with America, which continues
to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently
bombed the Haditha Dam, will only accelerate
your destruction and claim the role of the
obedient lap dog," says the militant.
The United States launched airstrikes on ISIS
positions near Haditha Dam in western Iraq a
week ago and is working to build a coalition of
countries to support its efforts to combat the
terrorist group.
"Cameron will only drag you and your people into
another bloody and unwinnable war," says the
killer, dressed all in black with only his eyes and
hands showing. He calls the beheading "a
message to the allies of America."
Like them, Haines appears kneeling
beside the executioner in a barren
desert landscape, dressed in a bright
orange jumpsuit. He had been shown
briefly in the earlier video of Sotloff's
killing.
'Just another bloke'
Haines, 44, went to Syria to help
organize the delivery of humanitarian
aid to a refugee camp in Atmeh, close
to the Turkish border. He was
abducted near the camp in March
2013.
"David was most alive and
enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles,"
his brother, Mike, said in a statement .
"His joy and anticipation for the work
he went to do in Syria is for myself
and family the most important
element of this whole sad affair."
Before becoming an aid worker, Haines worked for
the Royal Mail. He was an aircraft engineer with
the Royal Air Force before he went to work with
ScotRail, a Scottish train company, his brother
said. A stint with the U.N. in the Balkans would
change Haines' life path.
"There are many accolades from people in that
region that David helped. He helped whoever
needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion,"
his brother wrote. "During this time David began
to decide that humanitarian work was the field he
wanted to work in."
His brother also described Haines as an ordinary
man -- "just another bloke" -- who grew up with
strong family values that he carried into
adulthood.
"David was a good brother, there when I needed
him and absent when I didn't. I hope that he felt
the same way about me. He was, in the right
mood, the life and soul of the party and on other
times the most stubborn irritating pain in the ass.
He would probably say the same about me," Mike
Haines wrote.
David Haines had more than a decade of
experience doing aid work, helping victims of
conflict in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East.
He was in Syria as a logistics and security
manager for ACTED, a French aid group that was
helping to provide food, tents and water for tens
of thousands of people who had fled to the Atmeh
camp amid the vicious civil war.
When he wasn't working in troubled areas, Haines
lived in Croatia with his wife, Dragana, and their
4-year-old daughter, Athea.
He grew up in Scotland, and his first marriage
was to his childhood sweetheart Louise,
according to his brother.
His teenage daughter from that marriage,
Bethany, talked about how much she misses her
father in comments on a social network, Ask.fm,
late last year.
Asked what she wanted at that time, Bethany
replied simply, "For my daddy to come home."
'Warped ideology'
The British government said earlier this month
that it had attempted to rescue one of its citizens
held by ISIS "some time ago" but had failed. It
didn't provide any further details.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who announced
last week that U.S. airstrikes would go after ISIS
in Syria, condemned "the barbaric murder" of
Haines.
"The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder
tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and
resolve," he said in a statement late Saturday.
The murderous, meteoric rise of ISIS has caused
alarm across the Middle East and beyond.
The Muslim Council of Great Britain issued a
statement Sunday condemning Haines' killing
"unreservedly."
"David Haines went out to the region to help the
people of the region," said Shuja Shafi, the
council's secretary general. "That extremists
chose to murder him only shows once again the
depravity of their warped ideology."
ISIS members "claim to be acting in the name of
Islam," Shafi said. "But there is nothing in our
faith that condones such behavior."
U.S. building anti-ISIS coalition
In his statement, Obama reiterated his intention
"to degrade and destroy this threat to the people
of our countries, the region and the world."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has spent
recent days in the Middle East trying to build
support for the U.S. strategy to combat ISIS.
Those efforts are expected to continue Monday in
Paris, where France is hosting an international
conference on the crisis in Iraq.
Countries in the Mideast and outside the region
"are prepared to engage in military assistance, in
actual strikes if that is what it requires" to fight
ISIS, Kerry told CBS' "Face the Nation" on
Sunday.
Some nations "are clearly prepared to take action
in the air alongside the United States and to do
airstrikes if that's what they're called on to do,"
he said. Some nations have offered to put troops
on the ground, "but we're not looking for that at
this moment anyway," Kerry added.
Pressed for more specifics, Kerry said, "It's not
appropriate to start announcing, 'Well, this
country will do this, this country will do that.'"
Australia is preparing to deploy as many as 10
planes, most of them combat aircraft, to the
United Arab Emirates in response to a U.S.
request to contribute to the coalition, Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday.
It will also put together a team of special
operations personnel who could act as military
advisers to Iraqi forces and others fighting ISIS,
Abbott said in a statement .
"We are not deploying combat troops but
contributing to international efforts to prevent the
humanitarian crisis from deepening," he said.
In a Sunday interview, White House chief of staff
Denis McDonough declined to say if any members
of the emerging coalition would put troops on the
ground, but he said that there will be a focus on
training Syrian rebels and Iraqi and Kurdish
fighters to take on ISIS with coalition backing.
That backing will come in the form of airpower,
intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance and
training, he told CNN's "State of the Union," and
it will be especially important to draw Sunni
fighters into the battle.
Asked if American involvement could make things
worse, given the nature of ISIS threats against
the West, McDonough said that with Haines'
execution came a reminder that ISIS is inhumane,
barbaric and depraved.
"The thought we could make them more so is
faulty," he said.

EFCC Discovered $50m In Account Of PDP's Jarrett Tenebe

The saga of PDP's hopeful in Edo state
continued on September 12, 2014, Friday, as
new information has been leaked by some of the
investigators. According to them, $50 million
(N8,143,459,000) found in Mr. Tenebe's account
were a leftover of deposits from the illegal sale
of crude oil abroad through Saltpond Oil platform.
Jarrett Tenebe arrested by the EFFC in the
beginning of September 2014. Photo:
SaharaReporters
READ ALSO: Crude Oil Theft: EFCC Arrest PDP's
Jarrett Tenebe
In an attempt to clear the air on the initial report
the commission issued a press statement. It
challenged the story on the grounds that the
information did not emanate from its
spokesman.
"For the benefit of members of the public who
may have been misled by the attributions, all
information emanating from the EFCC to the
media are authenticated by the designated
official spokesperson, which is not the case with
this report."
The EFCC failed to explain why Mr. Tenebe was
arrested and put under investigation for close to
one week without making the information public
or charging the suspect to court.
Even then, the EFCC kept the arrest under wraps
until story appeared.
"The agency (EFCC) refused to make his arrest
public as pressure mounted by Tenebe's
accomplices within the Nigerian government and
the PDP party hierarchy," an anti-corruption
activist familiar with Tenebe's arrest said.
READ ALSO: India Becomes Main Importer Of
Nigerian Oil Overcoming US
It would be recalled that information on Tenebe's
arrest by the EFCC emerged on Thursday.
Investigators also reported about the
involvement of several senior government
officials and top politicians, including Mike
Oghiadomhe, a former Chief of Staff to President
Goodluck Jonathan, Tony Anenih, the Chairman
of the board of trustees of the PDP and the
Minister of Petroleum resources, Diezani Alison
Madueke.