The Kocho massacre

Wherever you look today you will find reports of Islamic State fighters putting to death many (up to 100 according to some reports) Yazidis in the village of Kocho some 30 miles away from Mount Sinjar. Eyewitnesses tell of  ISIS members arriving and attempting to indoctrinate them for five days. They were then assembled in a school where they were asked to either convert to the Sunni religion or be executed. The rebels were said to have arrived in vehicles and have commenced the massacre in the afternoon.

The men who refused to do so were executed in the afternoon, which witnesses said lasted for about an hour, while women and children were boarded in buses and taken to an unknown destination. Survivors also speculated that the women may have been brought to the city of Tal Afar, where the ISIS group is said to be currently gathered.

The killings come not long after President Obama's planned evacuation of Yazidi survivors in Mount Sinjar had been put off on the grounds that it was too risky for US troops or that those who perished in Kocho were under no immediate threat. To compound the (call it what you will) madness there are some who are keen to arm the Kurds and point them at the IS fighters!

Will we never learn?

Will we stop reporting 'potential genocide' and start recognising that what we have is 'actual'?

I was quite convinced by Richard Dannatt's call for direct action on the grounds that the UN needed to act and how those who have contributed to the situation (and they surely know who they are) and the ceding of 'legacy military equipment' to the IS forces all conspire to present a scenario that demands integrity and compassion. Pity those who should be hearing it apparently aren't :-(

Made me smile : The US and . . .

Iraq

Or Gaza

Or . . .

Whichever way - it made me smile

Frankenstorm - Who you gonna call?

I love this too - for having prayed I can also enjoy the compilation image and remember some very good films to boot!

So who you gonna call America?

Obama

Romney

or perhaps . . . . .  Ghostbusters?

Knowing when to stop fighting

I see Rick Santorum has left the race for presidential candidate by proclaiming that he has not stopped fighting and yet in doing so has indeed dine just that, well at any meaningful level anyway. What his departure indicates is that the job of President of the good old US of A is the best job money can buy, for this is indeed what Mitt Romney has done.

Seems that the best way to get the job is to have loads of money and so we'll have Romney in the White House if this is true:

Mind you, the more I see and hear of Romney the more I feel that he's not really in touch with the average American and he looks exceedingly shaky when it come to real life things.

Not that keen on the opposition but at least he promised little before being elected and has delivered it!

I just love American politics, makes the British variety look so much better with its dark Machiavellian characters and the almost Roman brotherly-love theme to enhance it - and the coalition is doing what it promised (even though Lib Dems haven't quite got the idea that power also brings responsibilities) :-)