‘Not just suspicion’
Abbott says the participants in the alleged ISIS plot to kidnap and kill Australian members of the public showed clear intent to commit ‘demonstration’ beheadings in Sydney:
The exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country. So this is not just suspicion, this is intent, and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have.
‘No-one can stop Scotland using the pound’
Salmond says that an independent Scotland would continue to use the pound:
All this stuff about being able to be vetoed from using the pound actually isn’t true. No one can stop us from using (it) … It’s sensible – England is our biggest trading partner, and Scotland is England’s second-biggest trading partner after the U.S. There will be a common sense agreement for a common currency.
Son comments on Hall of Fame induction
Bearer’s son (D.J.) comments on inducting his father into the WWE Hall of Fame and the process.
We were either in the hotel sleeping or we were at the arena or rehearsing or doing something. It was more walk-through than anything because with it being Wrestlemania 30, they want everything perfect so they’re going to go through it a million times and make sure everything’s right for tv. But what an emotional weekend….what an honor it was, what a weekend it was.
Foley mission ‘riskiest ever’
Gen. Dempsey tells the Senate that the mission to rescue Foley – which ultimately failed – was the riskiest ever attempted:
Having been at this some time, it was the most complex, highest risk mission we’ve ever undertaken.
He says this may provide some solace to Foley’s family, who have said that the government did not offer them enough help.
Letter to public
Salmond writes an open letter to the Scottish public, saying that now the campaigning is almost over, the focus is on the people of the country and how they will decide:
So in these last days of the greatest campaign Scotland has ever seen, I want to ask you to take a step back from the arguments of politicians and the blizzard of statistics. The opportunity for our Parliament to gain real job creating powers, the ability to protect our treasured National Health Service and the building of a renewed relationship of respect and equality with our friends and neighbours in the rest of these Islands.
But for all that, the talking is nearly done. The campaigns will have had their say. What’s left is just us – the people who live and work here. The only people with a vote. The people who matter.
‘Won’t look like shock-and-awe’
Dempsey says strikes on ISIS in Syria will be different from the ‘shock-and-awe’ tactics of the Iraq War:
This won’t look like a shock-and-awe campaign because that’s not how Isil is organized.
The U.S. will work to ensure a Syrian chain of command is in place to lead forces against ISIS in what he says will be a persistent campaign.
Hagel: ‘We are at war’
Defense Secretary Hagel says that the U.S. is fighting a war against ISIS:
This will not be an easy or a brief effort … We are at war with Isil, as we are with al-Qaeda.
Murdoch criticizes SNP, Salmond
Murdoch criticizes the SNP just days before the Scottish Sun is expected to issue its editorial stance on the independence referendum. On a stop-off in a Glasgow pub during a tour of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Fife Murdoch says he is ‘considering’ giving the Yes campaign the Sun‘s backing – he later publishes several tweets critical of what he says is Salmond’s pro-EU, pro-welfare stance:
SNP not talking about independence, but more welfarism, expensive greenery, etc and passing sovereignty to Brussels.
Scotland. Have to worry about some of Salmond's allies. Far left socialists and extreme greenies. Must change course to prosper if he wins.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) September 14, 2014
Syrian airstrikes ‘may be illegal’
Officials in the House of Commons Library warn that airstrikes against ISIS in Syria may be difficult to justify under international law, despite Cameron’s view that the Assad regime is illegitimate and does not need to give permission for military operations. A briefing paper prepared for Members of Parliament:
Action in Syria will be difficult to justify legally without a request for assistance from the Assad government, and it is unlikely that the West could be seen to be responding to such a request. The British Government has said that any action in Syria will comply with international law, and the most likely way to achieve this would be to claim that military action is for humanitarian purposes, using the Responsibility to Protect doctrine. This remains controversial, however, without a United Nations Security Council resolution to authorise it.
‘Al Qaeda requested Henning’s release’
U.S. journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem, a film-maker who has reported extensively from Syria, says he interviewed a commander of the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda, who confronted ISIS to demand the release of Henning. Kareem says ‘anyone of any influence,’ including Al Qaeda, has sought to intervene on behalf of Haines, as he was a volunteer seeking to help Muslim refugees in the town of Dana and his abduction is ‘wrong under Islamic law’:
Four days after he was captured, the emir went to Al-Dana and said: ‘Look, what you are doing is wrong. You have no business what you are doing. You have no right to abduct him. You have no reason to detain him just because he is not Muslim’.
There were initial hopes that Henning would be released:
But then Henning was removed from his prison in Al-Dana and never heard of again.
‘Dedicated to Syria cause’
The organizer of the British volunteer convoy that Henning was traveling with when he was kidnapped by ISIS militants says that he was dedicated to aid work in Syria. Bolton aid worker Kasim Jameel:
Alan is an amazing guy. He is the best of the best. He is my best friend and I am praying for him. He loved the cause so much that when he went to Turkey on holiday with his family, he had a big tattoo across his arm saying ‘aid for Syria’ – he was that dedicated. The cause had literally changed his life around – it meant that much to him.
‘Barbaric murder’
Obama says the killing by ISIS of British aid worker Haines is a ‘barbaric murder,’ and reiterates plefges to ‘degrade and destroy’ the group.
"The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of UK citizen David Haines by the terrorist group ISIL." pic.twitter.com/iscj8GSB5h
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) September 14, 2014
Salmond: ‘Unspeakable barbarism’
Salmond says the execution by ISIS militants of British aid worker Haines is an ‘unspeakable act of barbarism.’ He indicates that an independent Scotland would favor combating ISIS as the murder of Haines underscores the growing threat the group poses to UK citizens, after the group threatened British volunteer Alan Henning in the video of Haines’s death. But unilateral action would not be considered:
You can’t have a strategy where you bow to terrorism. There’s an urgent requirement to get back to collective [action] under the United Nations.
Family statement
Haines’s family issues a statement following his death. The aid worker, who spent 12 years with the Royal Air Force and served with the United Nations, has two daughters – Bethany, 17, and Athea, four, who lives with his Croatian second wife, Dragana. His brother:
David was like so very many of us, just another bloke. Born in 1970 to parents who loved us both, our childhood was centred around our family. 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. David served with the UN in the Balkans, helping people in real need. There are many accolades from people in that region that David helped. He helped whoever needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion. David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles. 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. He was and is loved by all his family and will be missed terribly.
Condemns third beheading
Cameron:
This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal. We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.
Obama:
The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of UK citizen David Haines by the terrorist group ISIL.
‘Third world war’
Pope Francis says that conflicts around the globe represent a third World War. During a Mass held at Italy’s largest war memorial, a Fascist-era monument where 100,000 soldiers who died in World War One are buried, the pontiff appears to be referring to the recent conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Ukraine and Africa. The homily:
Humanity needs to weep and this is the time to weep … War is madness. Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction … War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying. Greed, intolerance, the lust for power. These motives underlie the decision to go to war and they are too often justified by an ideology.
‘Kinetic military action’
Kerry says the U.S. is not fighting a war against ISIS, but is engaged in a counterterrorism campaign. Commenting after Obama’s primetime speech indicates the government is considering expanding airstrikes into Syria:
Look, we’re engaged in a counterterrorism operation of a significant order. And counterterrorism operations can take a long time, they go on. I think ‘war’ is the wrong reference term with respect to that, but obviously it involves kinetic military action
‘Discussed infiltrating Mexican border’
A counter-terror official says ISIS militants have discussed the possibility of entering the U.S. via the Mexican border over social media, but says the Department of Homeland Security believes the border currently remains safe. Francis Taylor, DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis:
There have been Twitter and social-media exchanges among ISIL adherents across the globe speaking about that as a possibility. [DHS is] satisfied that we have the intelligence and the capability at our border that would prevent that activity.
Not ‘at war’
The Secretary of State repeatedly neglects using the term “war” when describing the military conflict of the United States against ISIS, explaining why the term “war” is not appropriate to use. Kerry:
What we are doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. It’s going to go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with ISIL, they can do so, but the fact is it’s a major counterterrorism operation that will have many different moving parts.
The comment generates confusion on Capitol Hill. McCain:
It’s hard to find a response to that. Then what was the president talking about [Wednesday] night?
‘Obama strategy is credible’
Gen. Petraeus says that Obama’s strategy to counter ISIS will likely be successful, although the battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria take years. ISIS is not as great a threat as Al Qaeda was during the height of the Iraq War:
This is not the kind of Iraq on fire, complete desperation we had during the surge. [ISIS] has nowhere the roots and the structure of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The formation of a more inclusive government will address sectarian tensions:
It’s a new Iraqi government now. There’s new hope, there’s outreach.
This could be vital in ensuring the strategy is a success, as ISIS capitalized on sectarian divisions and chain-of-command vulnerabilities when routing the Iraqi military in the group’s initial offensives:
The third failing was the population was not happy with sectarian and loyalist leaders.
In Syria, opposition to ISIS is less cohesive and the Assad regime may have to be removed before a credible force can be assembled against ISIS:
This is going to be years, not months.