Militant urges Muslims to build Islamic state

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of the extremist group that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria has called on Muslims around the world to flock to territories under his control to fight and build an Islamic state.

In a recording posted online Tuesday, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared he wants to turn the enclave his fighters have carved out in the heart of the Middle East into a magnet for militants. He also presented himself as the leader of Islam worldwide, urging Muslims everywhere to rise up against oppression.

The audio message came two days after al-Baghdadi's group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the land it controls. It also proclaimed al-Baghdadi the caliph, and demanded that all Muslims around the world pledge allegiance to him.

His group's forceful seizure of territory and its grand pronouncement of a caliphate have transformed the Iraqi-born al-Baghdadi into one of the leading figures of the global jihadi movement, perhaps even eclipsing al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri.

FULL story at link.


Read more: By RYAN LUCAS

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FILE - in this Monday, June 23, 2014 file photo, mourners bury 15 bodies in a cemetery in the village of Taza Khormato near the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iraq. Violence has claimed the lives of 2,417 Iraqis in June, making it the deadliest month so far this year, the United Nations said on Tuesday, underlining the daunting challenge the government faces as it struggles to confront Islamic extremists who have seized large swaths of territory in the north and west. (AP Photo/Emad Matti, File)

[msongs]

1. "large swaths of territory" = mostly empty desert with no food/water. great empire lol nt

[cosmicone]

2. they should hurry up before the guy is droned n/t

[CanonRay]

3. Maybe this isn't such a bad idea...

put all the religious lunatics in one place in the empty desert, and leave the rest of us alone. Go for it.

[The Stranger]

6. This is a new idea?

I had thought that the religious lunatics had been in various parts of Middle Eastern deserts since the beginning of recorded history.

All of them, in fact.

[Ghost Dog]

8. Also sprach Zarathustra

Zoroastrianism /ˌzɒroʊˈæstriənɪzəm/, also called Zarathustraism, Mazdaism and Magianism, is an ancient Iranian religion and a religious philosophy. It was once the state religion of the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian empires.[1] Estimates of the current number of Zoroastrians worldwide vary between 145,000 and 2.6 million.[2]

Zoroastrianism arose in the eastern region of the ancient Persian Empire, when the religious philosopher Zoroaster simplified the pantheon of early Iranian gods[3] into two opposing forces: Spenta Mainyu (Progressive mentality) and Angra Mainyu (Destructive Mentality) under the one God, Ahura Mazda (Illuminating Wisdom).[4][5]

Zoroaster's ideas led to a formal religion bearing his name by about the 6th century BCE and have influenced other later religions including Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity and Islam.[6]..

/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra

[CanonRay]

9. ISIL seems to be collecting them from all over.

Including from here.

[Hangingon]

12. One man's caliphate is another man's bombing range"?

nt

[lexx21]

4. Another asshole hungry for power. Imagine that.... n/t

[KamaAina]

5. Didn't someone once call for Jews to form a Jewish state?

I wonder how this al-Baghdadi fellow feels about Israel.

[The Stranger]

7. Yes, he is channeling Theodore Herzl.

They go way back.

[quadrature]

10. are we, for or against Assad in Syria? ...nt

[Throd]

11. Fuck Islamic State! I'm an Islamic Tech guy through and through.

[Rhinodawg]

13. Let them have an Islamic State.

Why..what would happen?