Ben Carson Calls for Declaration of War Against ISIS

By Katherine Faulders Dec 15, 2015, 2:15 PM ET

GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson this morning issued a seven-point plan to defeat ISIS -- which he calls "Seven Steps to a Safer America" -- calling for Congress to issue a formal declaration of war on the Islamic State.

“Our country faces grave national security threats,” the retired neurosurgeon said in a statement released this morning. “We must act boldly and decisively to protect American citizens from terrorists at home and abroad.

"We can no longer dawdle while ISIS continues to persecute Christians, enslave young girls, oppress civil societies and perpetrate terrorist attacks against the free world. We must destroy their caliphate and prevent their terrorists from infiltrating our homeland.”

The plan calls for the following actions to be taken:

1. "Congress should immediately issue a formal declaration of war on the Islamic State, which is also known as ISIL or ISIS."

2. "The United States should lead the immediate formation of – and provide substantial advisory, financial and military support to – a military coalition in the Middle East to wage war against ISIS. Such a regional coalition would consist of countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan."

3. "The United States should urge its allies and partners in the Middle East to engage in massive recruitment and training of Sunni Syrian men based in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf and of Sunni Syrian male refugees in Jordan – to establish a military force to destroy ISIS and to establish a protection zone for the victims of the terrorist state."

4. "The United States should deploy its military resources and work with moderate Arab nations – as well as extend strategic support to Kurdish, Christian and Sunni tribes in the free al-Hasakah Province in northeast Syria – to establish a refugee safe zone in the Province. All refugees should be directed to that free area and to other liberated areas later, and be put under international protection."

5. "Congress should immediately establish a war-time emergency visa and immigration policy; establish an emergency inter-agency task force to review all visa and immigration policies; and limit visitor visas to three months with mandatory check-ins for extensions no longer than three months."

6. "President Barack Obama and Congress should immediately deploy the National Guard and military troops to patrol the U.S. southern border as well as designated spots along the northern border."

7. "The Department of State should designate the Muslim Brotherhood and other organizations that propagate or support Islamic terrorism as terrorist organizations, and fully investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and a supporter of terrorism."

"Ben Carson is a failing candidate grasping at straws and seeking payback for CAIR's previous criticism of his anti-Muslim bigotry and his lack of commitment to uphold the Constitution," CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper told ABC News today. "He found that Islamophobia gave him a boost in the past, so he is trying it again."

The plan comes as Carson has experienced a drop in the polls, pointing to his lack of foreign policy experience.

“Well, basically ,people feel that I don’t have foreign policy experience and I understand why that would be the case because they listen to the narrative that only politicians can fix this,” Carson said recently on “Good Morning America.”

“But the fact of the matter is, if you look at all the people who are running, how many of them have had foreign policy experience?"

Recent polling both nationally and in Iowa has shown Carson slipping, most recently down to 9 percent in Monday’s Monmouth University poll – the first time he has been in the single digits since mid-August. His drop comes in light of a new focus on national security in the Republican presidential field, bolstering the campaigns of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.    ABC News

Fundamentalism is 'a disease of all religions': Pope says it is not just Islam that has extremist factions

Pope Francis today said fundamentalism is not just an Islamic problem and is something which exists in all religions, including the Catholic church.

The Argentine pontiff was speaking as he flew back from Central African Republic after a three-nation tour of Africa.

He said: 'It is a disease of all religions.We Catholics, we have a few, even many fundamentalists.

'They believe they know absolute truth and corrupt others. I can say this because this is my church.' 

In his last few hours in the country he visited a mosque in the Muslim PK5 area of Bangui, where he was given a rapturous reception by thousands of people. 

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics called on Christian and Muslim 'brothers and sisters' to end the sectarian conflict that has torn the country apart. 

'Together, we must say no to hatred, to revenge and to violence, particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself,' he said.

Speaking later in the day as he flew back to Rome, Francis said Islam was not the only religion to suffer from violent extremists, such as the ones behind the deadly attacks in Paris which were claimed by the Islamic State.

He also visited Kenya on his trip, where he denounced the radicalisation of young people, citing 'barbarous attacks' by Islamic extremists in Nairobi, Garissa and Mandera.

Kenya has been on the rough end of a number of attacks since it sent its army into Somalia in 2011, following the kidnappings it blamed on Al-Qaeda's east Africa wing - the Shebab.

He hailed Africa as 'the continent of hope' and made a powerful impression on both Muslim rebels and Christian militias in Central African Republic.

In extraordinary scenes before he held a papal mass at the capital's Barthelemy Boganda stadium, a group of Muslim rebels from the PK5 area leapt out of two pickup trucks, all wearing T-shirts bearing the Pope's image.

As they pushed through the crowd in an area where Muslims usually do not dare to venture, people cheered and shouted: 'It's over'.

'We thought the whole world had abandoned us, but not him. He loves us Muslims too,' said Idi Bohari, an elderly man.

The landlocked Central African Republic descended into bloodshed after longtime Christian leader Francois Bozize was ousted by rebels from the mainly Muslim Seleka force in March 2013.

The coup plunged the former French colony into its worst crisis since independence in 1960, and more than 100 people have been killed in the capital since late September alone.

After flying back home to Rome today, the Pope spoke in front of his weekly audience in St Peter's Square, Vatican City.

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The similarities of Isis and Christianity

Posted: 12/02/2015 11:53 am EST 

Who's to blame for ISIS? The political left holds President George W. Bush responsible because of the American invasion of Iraq. The right faults President Obama for pulling American troops out of Iraq. Both left and right agree that ISIS is so appalling and indescribably cruel it even gives terrorism a bad name. I'm a leftist and blame Bush more than Obama, though I also have problems with Obama's purported strategy.

Why does ISIS succeed in recruiting so many dedicated members for its cause? There are many reasons, including one that I call Theological Terrorism.

ISIS bases its apocalyptic ideology on Muhammad's prophesies of a final battle against Western infidels, which will end the world in victory for an established caliphate. "A Caliphate in Accordance with the Prophetic Method" is the slogan on the coins ISIS has minted, on badges its soldiers wear, and on a billboard marking the beginning of ISIS territory. The majority of Muslims in the Middle East believe we are living in the end times, and they want to be on the right side when the Day of Judgment comes. While there are relatively few Muslims who support ISIS, there are many Islamic terrorists (yes, I'm a liberal who uses that phrase) willing to fight and die to establish an Islamic caliphate to hasten the end times.

Many Muslims got the preposterous idea that the world will end soon from interpretations of their holy book, the Quran. But it's not just Muslims who hold that belief. Portions of the Quran are "inspired" by the Christian Bible, many of whose adherents also anticipate an imminent end of the world. Astoundingly, 41% of all U.S. adults, 54% of Protestants, and 77% of Evangelicals believe the world is now living in the biblical end times!

Portions of the Christian Bible are inspired by the Hebrew Bible, some of whose adherents are also waiting for a Messiah to usher in the end of the world. The Talmud (commentary on the Hebrew Bible) states that there is a predestined time when the Messiah will come, but he might come sooner. This "end of time" will be before the Hebrew year 6000 (it's now 5776). So the end might be today, but it will certainly happen within 224 years. Unfortunately, I won't be alive to hear how yet another false end time prediction is explained away.

In the Christian Bible, Matthew 24: 6-8 describes when we will be approaching the end times. There will be wars and rumors of wars, nation will rise against nation, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Sounds familiar. No wonder people for millennia have falsely predicted the end times. Michele Bachmann, a 2012 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, predicted that the rapture will be coming soon because of President Barack Obama's policies on Iran's nuclear program and marriage equality.

Over the years, many religious leaders have specified end-of-the-world dates, and subsequently lost their faithful flock. Some such movements have evolved, including the Millerites led by Baptist preacher William Miller. He proclaimed that Jesus would return to earth by March 24, 1844, and many of his followers gave away all their possessions in preparation for the blessed event. March 25, 1844 is known as the Great Disappointment, but some Millerites reinterpreted the events of the Great Disappointment and formed a new religion in 1845. These Seventh-day Adventists also expect an imminent (but undated) return of Jesus, preceded by a "time of trouble." Current presidential candidate Ben Carson is a Seventh-day Adventist.

The most significant false prophecy in the Christian Bible appears in both Matt 24:34 and Luke 21:32: "All will be fulfilled and Jesus will return before this generation passes away." Still waiting!

End of days scenarios for both ISIS and Christianity have frightening similarities in their holy books, including violent wars and the return of Jesus to fight the antichrist (though different antichrists). Such similarities might help explain why ISIS has had some success in converting young people from Christianity to Islam. They've been taught similar horror stories.

I sometimes think there are more Christians than Jews because Christianity promises a better afterlife. So watch out for Islam, which promises a paradise with sensual young women and unlimited wine. That sounds like an earthly paradise and a lot more fun than an afterlife of sycophantic praises and hallelujahs.

The Bible and Quran both contain ridiculous passages and reasonable passages. People can quote portions of their holy books to justify loving their neighbor or killing their (infidel) neighbor. Both books give justifications for theological terrorism, including genocide, holy wars, slavery, misogyny, and death for crimes like blasphemy, homosexuality, and worshipping the wrong god or even the right god in the wrong way.

That ISIS might have been inspired by biblical passages in no way justifies its horrendous actions. If someone says he follows a holy book, I want to know which passages and how he interprets them. ISIS seems to follow the worst passages of the Quran and interpret them in the worst possible way. My hope is for the world to move away from such theocratic terrorism and toward loving our neighbors as ourselves. We don't need any holy books to justify loving our neighbor.

Herb Silverman

Herb Silverman is founder and president of the Secular Coalition for America and founder of the Secular Humanists of the Lowcountry in Charleston, South Carolina. He ran for Governor of South Carolina in 1990 to challenge the state provision that prohibited atheists from holding public office. After an eight-year battle, he won a unanimous decision in the South Carolina Supreme Court. He is a board member of the American Humanist Association and an advisory board member of the Secular Student Alliance. His latest book is Candidate Without a Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt. Herb is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the College of Charleston.

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