ISIS Cartoon Garners Blasphemy Accusations For Indonesian Newspaper Editor

In so-called moderate Indonesia, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat- the editor of  The Jakarta Post (an English-language newspaper)- could spend 5 years in jail for blasphemy. Why? Because a cartoon the newspaper published this past July offended the hard-line Islamists.

The cartoon- quite obviously critical of ISIS- shows a bunch of armed jihadists, one of whom is pointing a gun at the head of a blindfolded man kneeling next to other blindfolded men (we've all seen those videos and photos), and another one hoisting a black flag with a picture of a skull and crossbones with "There is no God but Allah" written in Arabic.

An apology on the front page wasn't enough to appease the easily offended..

Following an outcry from Islamic groups, the Jakarta Post issued a front-page apology and retracted the cartoon five days later, insisting it was meant to “critique the use of religious symbols” and as a “reproach” to ISIS, a brutal Islamist group which holds vast swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq.

A group called the Jakarta Muslim Preachers Corps filed a complaint to the police and on Friday, Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto, who goes by one name, said that Suryodiningrat had been officially named a suspect the previous day.

“The status of MS has been upgraded to suspect,” said the spokesman, using the editor’s initials, the usual practice in criminal cases in Indonesia.

It's proof that there are more radical Muslims out there than people would like to admit. Anyone who supports a violent, terrorist group like ISIS is one step from being a terrorist themselves.

More here.

Interview With US Army Vet Battling ISIS in Kobani

 A few brave American souls have taken it upon themselves to make the trek over to northeastern Syria to help the embattled Kurds beat ISIS.

Here is an interview with U.S. Army vet Jordan Matson, 28, who traveled from Wisconsin to Syria when he heard about the horrors ISIS was committing against Christians and minorities in Mosul, Iraq.

"For over a year, people were being slaughtered by ISIS," the 28-year-old Sturtevant, Wisconsin, native told RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI), using another acronym for IS.

"Anyone who didn't conform to their way of life could either convert, be killed, or get driven off their land. So when Mosul fell and IS drove all the Christians and minorities from the town or killed them, I thought that enough was enough and I decided to come here to fight," Matson said via Skype.

For two months, Matson has fought in northeastern Syria alongside the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). He said he decided to join the Kurdish militia after searching the Internet for a way to fight IS.

"I found that the YPG was the only force in the area that would let Christians and Muslims live in peace together so I decided to join them," he said.

Like most of the foreign Islamic jihadists, Matson entered Syria from Turkey, and has much praise for the Kurdish people. Shortly after arriving in Syria, he sustained injuries to his arm and eye during a battle in Rojava.

He related how Kurdish locals took care of him while he was recovering in the hospital. Kurdish families would visit him there, bringing food to share with him and other wounded fighters, he said.

"There's a lot of love in the community. It's something you can't really find in the United States; it's very different and I love it," Matson added.

He is now fighting in Kobani, and ever thankful for the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga troops who have entered the fray to help.

But to finish off ISIS he had this to say:

"To put an end to IS, we are going to need boots on the ground," he said. "If we increase the bombing campaign and put boots on the ground to help give support to the YPG fighters, it would help push IS back to the Syrian borders. Troops could save many lives here," Matson told RFI.

And like ISIS, Matson has been trying to recruit more fighters to help out through social media outlets. According to YPG's Kandal Amed, other foreign fighters have joined forces with the People's Protection Unit to fight ISIS.

"Foreign fighters are in all fronts with the People's Protection Units. Germans and Russians, others, wanted to be part of the new spirit that was created for the peoples of the Middle East. Among our ranks, you will find Americans, Germans, and others, all men, but we expect the arrival of foreign women, too,"

In tandem with the Iraqi Peshmerga forces, they are trying to help the Yazidis, many of whom are still stranded in Iraq's Sinjar Mountain.

"Now in the Sinjar Mountain there are families, civilians, and our comrades living in difficult humanitarian conditions. We talked to them by phone today," he said on November 5, "They suffer from the extreme cold, where during the last week about seven to eight children died because of the cold and hunger. We are now working with the Peshmerga forces to open a corridor to save these families."

RFE/RL has a video of Matson.

Turkish Nurse Fed Up Of Treating ISIS Terrorists

More proof that Islamic State terrorists are availing themselves of Turkish hospitality, including medical attention.

One nurse at a private hospital in the coastal city of Mersin, Turkey- about a 260 mile hike from Aleppo, Syria- is so fed up and "ashamed" of treating ISIS jihadists, she finally contacted members of Parliament and the National Police Department.

According to the Taraf Daily, E.G. (as she is being identified as) said:

 “We treat them, and they go on to decapitate people. I am sick of treating wounded ISIL militants.” 

And it's not just E.G. and the rest of her colleagues who are disgusted at having to help people who "chop off heads," others in Mersin and surrounding areas close to Syria are also troubled by having to treat wounded jihadists. Which means it's a rampant problem.

In the letter she wrote to Parliament and the Police Department, E.G. said she has been employed at a private hospital in Mersin for a long time. She said her hospital has treated many wounded Syrians so far, who have introduced themselves as “opposition members.”

However, she noted that she had found out that most of the Syrians recently admitted to the hospital were ISIL members. “I was extremely distressed about this. I am very sorry about this situation. I am disturbed by the fact that these people are being treated in our hospitals while our people are being held by them,” she wrote, according to Taraf's report.

ISIL has been holding 46 Turks, and three consulate staff who are not Turkish citizens, as hostages for the past three months.

Back in August, her hospital treated and ISIS commander:

 “The ISIL commander named Muhammet Ali R. who was admitted to our hospital on Aug. 7 was treated at room number 323.

Many of his bodyguards kept watch around the hospital. Many other ISIL commanders like him and soldiers have been treated at our hospital, and returned to war after the completion of their treatment. I don't want to help these people. I want you to inspect these hospitals. And I am referring the owners of the hospital and its management to God.”

How do these injured militants cross back into Turkey from Syria, without the Turkish authorities knowing? It  means the Turks are complicit.

H/T Tarek Fatah

American Joins Kurds To Fight ISIS In Syria

Brave Brian Wilson is one of a few Americans who has been inspired to travel to Syria to help the Kurd's fight the Islamic State. He says there are Armenians, Chechens, Arabs, and Christians and Muslims fighting side by side with the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Unit),

He says all they need are better weapons and technology. So we're arming the FSA, and other rebel Syrian groups, and those arms are probably winding up in the hands of ISIS, and used to fight the Kurds.

Video interview of him on VOA.

American Joins Kurds In Fight Against ISIS

There have been a slew of foreign fighters joining the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, quite a few from the United States, so here's a twist- three Americans, including Jordan Matson, have allegedly joined the Kurds in their battle against ISIS.

A U.S. citizen has joined Kurdish forces fighting against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in northern Syria, a spokesman for the main Kurdish armed group in the country said on Thursday.

The Kurdish official said that Jordan Matson had joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), who are mainly battling advances by ISIS close to Syria’s borders with Turkey and Iraq.

“Yes it is true,” YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said in an online message. “He is fighting in the Jazaa area.”

Jazaa is a town in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka province, close to the Iraqi border and has been the site of heavy fighting between the two groups.

According to a report on Al Arabiya and Matson's Facebook Page, he's from Wisconsin, and 28-years old.

A gaming friend of Matson's, Miguel Caron, had this to say:

“He told us in the community that he was getting hired by a private army and he let us know two to three months in advance. He sent me a personal Facebook message on the 16th of September saying ‘hey boss, I’m heading to Syria.’ He told me he dropped his girlfriend and stopped looking for a job."

Matson told Caron that he had been in the military.  According to a Twitter post (that was also posted on Matson's Facebook page, although only viewable by friends) he was slightly wounded while fighting. But from the groups and likes on his page he appears to be a Christian interested in the plight of the Christians in Syria, and the YPG.

And found this on Twitter:

If all of this is true, and he and the other two are really fighting there. God speed.