by Jon Sutz, Editor, SaveTheWest.com
Background of the U.S. military’s April 13, 2017 MOAB strike against ISIS in Afghanistan
Summary
A petition drive, created by SaveTheWest.com, to urge Hollywood celebrities to:
- Stop condemning the U.S. for using military force, instead of “love, compassion and understanding” to protect ourselves — particularly in regards to the April 13, 2017 “Mother Of All Bombs” strike on an ISIS complex in Afghanistan
- Go to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq to personally lecture top ISIS and Al Qaeda leaders on their non-violent philosophy — via a “Celebrity Love Jihad”
Learn the details below, and go sign our petition at Change.org!
Background of the U.S. military’s April 13, 2017 MOAB strike against ISIS in Afghanistan
On April 13, 2017, news broke that the U.S. military had dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal, the 21,600 lb GBU-43B, or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, nicknamed the “Mother Of All Bombs,” on an ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan. And as the Los Angeles Times reported that morning, President Trump was not involved in the decision:
The U.S. military dropped the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal Thursday on a cave and tunnel complex that it said was used by Islamic State fighters in eastern Afghanistan. […]
President Trump… indicated that he had given the Pentagon a free hand to use the weapon as part of his vow to step up the war on Islamic State. “We have given them total authorization and that’s what they’re doing and frankly that’s why they’ve been so successful lately,” he told reporters at the White House. “If you look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what’s happened over the past eight years, you’ll see there’s a tremendous difference, tremendous difference.”
The next day, April 14, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson, confirmed that it was U.S. military forces — not President Trump — who had ordered the strike on the mountainous tunnel network that ISIS was using. As reported in Stars & Stripes:
“Since early March, we’ve been conducting offensive operations into southern Nangarhar,” Nicholson said, referring to the eastern province where hundreds of Islamic State-Khorasan Province fighters have been holed up. “However, this was the first time we encountered an extensive obstacle to our progress.”
Nicholson said militants had taken over a network of tunnels and caves in Nangarhar province. They used the base to attack Afghan and U.S. forces involved in Operation Hamza, a multimonth effort to defeat the group. The militants also surrounded the caves with “a belt of IEDs,” or improvised explosive devices, Nicholson said, making it difficult to overtake the stronghold. A Special Forces soldier was killed on April 8 as part of an offensive operation there.
On April 15, Afghanistani government officials and tribal leaders — both of whom strongly praised the strike — claimed the bombing had killed nearly 100 ISIS terrorists, if not more, and completely destroyed this complex. Below is a video from the cockpit-eye view of the blast:
Conclusion: Faced with the choice of (a) leading an assault on the ISIS stronghold using hundreds or thousands of American and coalition soldiers, many of whom were likely to be wounded or killed, or (b) dropping the MOAB to wipe out all the terrorists in one stroke, the U.S. military opted for the latter.
As documented below, however, the U.S. military’s decision to drop the MOAB on this ISIS stronghold did not sit well with certain influential celebrities, who took to Twitter to condemn America, the U.S. military and President Trump, while advocating “love and compassion” to deal with terrorists.
Examples of celebrities condemning America’s use of military force to protect us from Islamist terror — and advocating love and compassion, instead
Josh Fox
On April 13, movie director Josh Fox (bio) took to Twitter to express outrage at the U.S. military for dropping the MOAB on the ISIS stronghold. Fox called our military’s action “[an] atrocity, murder [and an] abomination,” claimed that “only love stops hate,” and that such “bombings only create more ISIS”:
Atrocity. Murder. Abomination. When will we learn that only #love stops hate, and bombings only create more #ISIS? #moab #stoptrump
— Josh Fox (@joshfoxfilm) April 13, 2017
Note that by saying “Stop Trump,” Fox either ignored, or was unaware of the fact that President Trump did not order the MOAB strike. In either case, he (a) never corrected or apologized for this statement, and (b) served only to bolster ISIS’s and Al Qaeda’s condemnations of the U.S. president.
Alyssa Milano
In response to Fox, conservative author Katie Pavlich Tweeted, “This…is really stupid.”
Then, actress Alyssa Milano replied to Pavlich, asking “Are you saying you’d rather fuel war and terrorism than be at peace through compassion?”
@KatiePavlich Hi, Katie! Are you saying you’d rather fuel war and terrorism than be at peace through compassion?
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 13, 2017
Richard Gere
Similarly, less than one month after the 9/11 attacks, actor Richard Gere publicly claimed that the best way to defend America from Islamist terrorism is through “the medicine of love and compassion”:
“In a situation like this, of course you identify with everyone who’s suffering,” the actor told ABCNews Radio in an exclusive interview. But, he said, we must also think about “the terrorists who are creating such horrible future lives for themselves because of the negativity of this karma.
If you see it from a much wider point of view, we’re all in this together… [I]f you can see them [the terrorists] as a relative who’s dangerously sick and we have to give them medicine, and the medicine is love and compassion. There’s nothing better.”
– “Gere Says Love, Don’t Hate, the Terrorists,” ABC News, October 10, 2001
Gere has expressed similar moral views ever since — most recently, in regards to Israel’s efforts to protect itself from Islamist terrorists.
These are just a few examples of many other Hollywood celebrities who advocate love and compassion as the best approach to reduce or eliminate Islamist terror.
Sign our petition to urge these celebrities to stop badmouthing America, and go personally explain their theories to Islamist terrorists
It’s easy for these wealthy celebrities to express such views from their gated California mansions, often with personal security teams. But would they be willing to personally go to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, to lecture top ISIS and Al Qaeda leaders on their theory of love and compassion, to persuade them to stop their terrorism, murder and rape slavery? And ideally, to give up their underlying motivation: to murder, forcibly convert or enslave all Christians, Jews, Yazidis and other non-Muslims, until the entire world is ruled by fundamentalist Islam?
If you think it’s time for these influential celebrities to begin lecturing America’s enemies, instead of us, then you’ll want to sign SaveTheWest’s petition, asking them (and others who share their views) to go personally implement their “Celebrity Love Jihad.”
Please go to Change.org to sign our petition, and share it with your friends!!!
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