Breaking: Alan Henning Dead

[ChillDoubt]

Just breaking via Sky app by all accounts.
Expected but very sad all the same.

[janbee]

Another great tragedy. I know we all really expected this, after all, that IS lot aren't even human, but it's still very sad news. Poor man.

[Svejk]

And people condemned Assad for standing up to these creatures.

[mikey4444]

Dreadful news but entirely expected. The free world cannot reason with these monsters...they need to be dealt with asap. The murder of a few Western men has made the news worldwide but IS has been murdering 10,000 of men, women and children for a long time now. So we need to act.

And if that means "boots on the ground" so be it.

[Hypognosis]

@Svejk,

is there a "rehabilitating/re-evaluating Assad" thread yet? I'd need to read such a thing before I could be fully onboard with what you're saying here.

My limited understanding was that Syria started as Assad (Alowite, a minority "elite") versus "Syrian rebel" (anti-Alawites) and IS came into the fray as a third side (Sunni, anti-everything-else).

[naomi24]

//Was it three days in he was kidnapped?//

“Mr Henning’s ambulance was “about half an hour into Syria” when he and his fellow drivers were abducted.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11111301/Alan-Henning-the-taxi-driver-beheaded-by-Isil.html

[mallyh]

just heard this on the tv ,can't believe those animals killed him .He was helping people in syria .

[BlackadderV]

God rest his soul.

[Svejk]

Its my understanding that under Assad there was singing, dancing, smoking and drinking. Freedom of religion and dress. Two years ago asylum seekers were reporting horrific, barely believable stories of life in areas 'liberated' by the Syrian rebels.
I was, therefore, amazed 12 months ago at the idea of our troops joining said rebels to help them subjugate the whole country. Two weeks ago Cameron was talking about arming the 'good' rebels and committing us to regime change in Syria.
I know middle-eastern politics are very convoluted but I don't think we should be supporting any Islamists anywhere no matter how expedient it appears to us.

[Hypognosis]

His "compatriots" were allowed to go free. I can't wait to hear of their efforts to remonstrate with the psychopaths and persuade them to let their friend go.

(give or take that they wouldn't have dared to cross paths with the Sharia court* who went on to clear him of spying charges, by which time they would have got too geographically separated to intervene with him becoming a hostage)


* for fear of their own lives, obviously

[Svejk]

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out he was handed over by his 'fellow' charity workers. Many of these Islamic 'charities' are cover for radical Islam.

[naomi24]

Svejk, neither would I.

chris1957au said: //In history that how it was done, the victor generally wiped the looser off the face of the earth, so that they would not come back again later, sadly that is the long term plan the extreme Muslims have for the non believes, so do we wait till they have the upper hand or strike while we have the upper hand? choices will need to be made or force on us and people will need to take sides and stand either side of the line, as nobody will be able to avoid the fall out when it really starts.//

Will it eventually come to that?

[Hypognosis]

@Svejk

//I know middle-eastern politics are very convoluted but I don't think we should be supporting any Islamists anywhere no matter how expedient it appears to us.//

For once, I agree with you.

With our 20:20 hindsight, we can see that the ones with most to gain from the sarin gas attack were the rebels (or ISIS, if one and the same).

Obama defined nerve gas/WMD as a 'red line' trigger for boots on the ground. He hasn't followed through on that rhetoric, perhaps on word from his advisors that this is precisely what the terrorists want.

In fact, they're so keen on reaching paradise (must be death in battle) that the cruellest thing we can do to them is to let them live long enough to die of old age.

Assad's hands are not 100% clean of the gas attack but it is a weapon of last resort and he wasn't exactly on the ropes, at the time.

9/11 conpiracists hark to 'false flag' attacks (9/11 conspiracies popular among radical Muslims too, apparenty) and the gas attack could have been an actual example of cynically using your own people as victims to justify a war you want to initiate.

Sidebar: awakwardnesses over Ukraine aside, are the Russians showing signs of helping the world out with this problem or are they buying crudely refined petrochemicals from them, or what?

[maggiebee]

My heart goes out to his family and friends. God rest Alan.

[Zacs-Master]

So how do the troops (boots on the ground) differentiate between the 'good' charities and the 'bad' charities (i.e. Those using the charity as a cover)? Or don't we care? Can you imagine the headlines when any troops from any country kill a bunch of charity workers?
A precise reason why boots on the ground is a very bad idea and plays into the hands of IS.

[murraymints]

get outta there folks NOW....don`t know the answer but do not be there if you can help it

[lady-janine]

RIP alan henning. my thoughts go to your family after your murder.

please no troops on the ground. we have seen enough deaths of our troops in that area and afghanistan already thanks to blair, brown and bush.

[Svejk]

Maybe Assad could/would supply the 'boots on the ground' to exterminate this filth if we stopped supporting his enemies on other fronts.

[Hypognosis]

@Svejk
re: Assad

What enemies on what other fronts? {consults atlas}

Borders with Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and… oh, I see what you mean.

[TWR]

The kettle is Boiling, our thoughts are with you the Henning's family, Alan, I have never met you RIP, but to others that are trying to help the people out there, think of your family's first.

[anotheoldgit]

'Boots on the ground' has been suggested once again, this is just what these butchers want, and they have openly requested it, why grant them their wish?

The only 'boots on the ground' that we should allow are Cameron's, since he has been reported thus :

/// David Cameron has said he will "hunt down" the terrorists who were responsible for the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning. ///

All British citizens including aid workers should be ordered to leave, and the bombing should be increased, perhaps on a WW2 type thousand bomber raid level.