Mark-1 Plumbing Ford F-250 sold to Autonation in Houston, Texas. Ends up in Syria being used as a weapons platform with US company signage intacty!

Texas plumber wants $1 million from dealership that sold his truck to jihadists

Published time: 14 Dec, 2015 19:48

 

 

A December 2014 photo of the Ford truck used by jihadists in Syria. The "Mark-1 Plumbing" sign is clearly visible © Twitter

 

 

A Texas plumber has dealt with death threats and abusive phone calls after the Ford truck he sold to a local dealership showed up in the hands of jihadists in Syria ‒ with his company sign intact. Now he is suing for at least $1 million in damages.

 

 

TrendsSyria unrest

 

Mark Oberholtzer, who runs Mark-1 Plumbing in Galveston, Texas, says that Autonation Ford Gulf Freeway, a dealership in Houston, resold his 2005 Ford F-250 pick-up without removing the decal with his company’s name and phone number. After the truck ended up in the hands of a Syrian rebel group, a photo of it showed up on Twitter and was featured on the final episode of Comedy Central’s ‘Colbert Report’.

Colbert joked that Syria “is going down the toilet, but for the first time, they know who to call to unclog it.”


By the end of that day, “Mark-1's office, Mark-1's business phone, and Mark's personal cell phone had received over 1,000 phone calls from around the nation,” ranging from degrading to expletive-laced death threats, according to the lawsuit filed in Harris County by Oberholtzer’s attorneys. Up to 200 calls per day continued to come in over the next three weeks, and the plumber still gets calls to this day, especially after Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) commits an atrocity somewhere, the lawsuit said.

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In the complaint, Oberholtzer says the dealership stopped him from removing the decal, claiming that doing so would damage the paint. At no time did anyone at the dealership inform Oberholtzer that they would  

“leave the decals on the truck, which would be transferred in some fashion to international jihadists conducting warfare upon innocents in Syria,”

the lawsuit stated, calling what happened an “incomprehensible and horrific eventuality.”

 

Noting that the plumber had sold several of his old trucks to dealerships in Texas over the years, the lawsuit goes on to add:

 “On none of these occasions have any of those dealers transferred to international jihadists the traded-in vehicle with Plaintiffs’ identifying marking still upon them.”

According to Carfax vehicle history reports, attached to the lawsuit as evidence, the truck was sold at an auction on November 11, 2013. It was exported from Houston and ended up in Mersin, a port in southeastern Turkey. On December 15, 2014, a photo of the truck posted on Twitter showed it being used as a weapons platform by a jihadist group in Syria – with the “Mark-1 Plumbing” sign still there.



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slamic State warns the heart of other countries will suffer the same fate as Paris, including Washington

Islamic State threatens attack on Washington, other countries

Reuters

 

An ISIS operative holds

a shoulder-fired anti-aircr

aft missile on the background of a black ISIS flag

(Picture sent by ISIS via Twitter)

slamic State warned in a new video on Monday that countries taking part in air strikes against Syria would suffer the same fate as France, and threatened to attack in Washington.

The video, which appeared on a website used by Islamic State to post its messages, begins with news footage of the aftermath of Friday's Paris shootings in which at least 129 people were killed.
The message to countries involved in what it called the "crusader campaign" was delivered by a man dressed in fatigues and a turban, and identified in subtitles as Al Ghareeb the Algerian.

"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France's and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," the man said.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video, which purports to be the work of Islamic State fighters in the Iraqi province of Salahuddine, north of Baghdad.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security would not comment on the video but said it has not received information indicating a potential attack.

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Paris vowed to destroy the group as French fighter planes drop 20 bombs on the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria. Investigation Updates

 

France launches air strikes in Syria; Paris investigation widens

Reuters

 

By Emmanuel Jarry and Robert-Jan Bartunek  

 

Islamic State billboards are seen along a street in Raqqa, eastern Syria, which is controlled by the Islamic State, October 29, 2014. The billboard reads: "We will win despite the global coalition". REUTERS/Nour Fourat

 French warplanes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria on Sunday as police in Europe widened their investigations into coordinated attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Friday's suicide bombings and shootings, which have re-ignited a row over Europe's refugee crisis and drawn calls to block a huge influx of Muslim asylum-seekers.

French police have launched an international hunt for a Belgian-born man they believe helped organize the assaults with two of his brothers. One of the brothers died in the attacks, while the second one is under arrest in Belgium, a judicial source said.

A further two French suicide attackers have been identified, police said, while the identity of four other assailants, who all died in the violence, was still under review.

France has been bombing Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria for months as part of a U.S.-led operation. Following Friday's mayhem, Paris vowed to destroy the group. Underlining its resolve, French jets on Sunday launched their biggest raids in Syria to date, hitting its stronghold in Raqqa.
"The raid ... including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Twenty bombs were dropped," the Defence Ministry said. Among the targets were a munitions depot and training camp, it said.

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Sky News

France Drops 20 Bombs On IS Stronghold Raqqa

French jets carry out their biggest bombing raid in Syria after Islamic State gunmen massacre 132 people in Paris.

23:03, UK, Sunday 15 November 2015

French fighter planes have dropped 20 bombs on the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria.

The bombers hit a jihadi recruitment centre, training camp and arms depot run by the extremist group, according to the French defence ministry.

A spokesman described it as a "massive" attack and France's biggest to date in Syria.

The aerial raid was launched from air bases in United Arab Emirates and Jordan, and involved France's 12 fighter bombers based there.

It follows Friday's terror attacks which left 132 people dead in the French capital.

 
Video: France Hits Raqqa With 'Iron Fist'

IS fighters said they carried out the gun and bomb massacre - calling Paris "the capital of prostitution and obscenity".

Sky's Sam Kiley, in northern Iraq, said the French airstrikes should not be seen as a "wanton act of revenge" or carpet-bombing campaign.

"I think it's very clear that the French and the wider coalition have decided in a sense to give France the iron fist at least for the next 24 hours or so," he said.

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Paris Attackers Communicated With ISIS, Officials Say

By ALISSA J. RUBIN and KATRIN BENNHOLD  NOV. 15, 2015

French Warplanes Strike Islamic State Militants in Syria

 

 

© Olivier Hoslet/European Pressphoto Agency Police officers in the Molenbeek area of Brussels on Saturday.

 

PARIS — French warplanes struck Islamic State militants in Syria on Sunday, a French government official said, two days after attackers linked to the terrorist group carried out a coordinated assault on Paris that killed 129 people.

Prior to the attack on Paris, France had been sparing in its strikes against targets in Syria.

News reports in France said the airstrikes were focused on Raqqa, the city in northern Syria that is the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State.

The attackers in Friday’s terrorist assault in Paris communicated at some point beforehand with known members of the Islamic State in Syria, officials on both sides of the Atlantic say, adding evidence to the assertions that the radical group coordinated or helped carry out the attacks rather than simply inspired them.

President François Hollande of France has characterized the attacks as “an act of war” carried out by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. He provided no specific information, but the Islamic State released statements on Saturday claiming responsibility for the attacks, part of increasing indications that the group is becoming more capable of extending its reach far beyond its base in Syria and Iraq.

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Sky News

Police 'Let Fugitive Suspect Go After Attacks'

A manhunt is under way for Saleh Abdeslam after he was reportedly questioned and released despite being identified by authorities.

21:29, UK, Sunday 15 November 2015

A man wanted over the Paris terror attacks had been questioned and released by police hours after the massacres, it is claimed.

Salah Abdeslam, 26, reportedly helped with logistics and rented a black Volkswagen Polo used by the gunmen who stormed the Bataclan concert hall and killed at least 89 people on Friday night.
He was apparently spoken to by officers on Saturday morning when they pulled over a car carrying three people near the Belgian border.

Police then checked Abdeslam's ID and subsequently let him go, officials told the Associated Press.
The incident came just hours after authorities had identified him as the person who rented the Polo which was abandoned at the scene of the attack.

Video: Acts Of Remembrance Across Paris
 

One of his brothers, Ibrahim Abdeslam, was reportedly among the seven suicide bombers in the co-ordinated assaults targeting six sites across the French capital.

A third brother was apparently arrested in Belgium and questioned before being released.
Salah Abdeslam, who was born in Brussels, is described as 1m 75cm (5ft 8in) tall and has brown eyes.

Police released a photo of him and warned the public he is dangerous and said "do not intervene yourself". There are reports he may have fled to Spain.

Another man, Bilal Hadfi, has been named as among the attackers and he also lived in Belgium as did Salah and Ibrahim Abdeslam, said the Washington Post.

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Paris Bloodshed May Be the Latest of
Many ISIS Attacks Around the World

By KAREN YOURISH, DEREK WATKINS and TOM GIRATIKANONUPDATED Nov. 14, 2015

 

 

Major events: Attacks directed by/linked to ISIS Attacks inspired by ISIS Arrests of suspected ISIS militants or supporters

 

Outlined countries are where ISIS is conducting regular military operations.

IRAQ

Libya

Egypt

See Detailed Map Here

ISIS Declares Provinces Across the Region

 Countries and regions in yellow are where ISIS has declared provinces.

 

Algeria
Lybia
Egypt
Syria
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
YemenAfghanistan
Pakistan
Nigeria

See Detailed Map Here


If investigators determine that the Islamic State is responsible for the catastrophic attacks in Paris, as the group claims and France alleges, the assaults represent a major leap in the group’s abilities.
Until now, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has relied mainly on “lone wolf” followers to attack the West, with relatively low-tech assaults — shootings, the taking of hostages, hit-and-runs — that draw wide attention but do not cause mass casualties.

“This is much different than a normal lone wolf inspired attack,” said Patrick M. Skinner, a former C.I.A. operations officer now with the Soufan Group, a security consultancy. “This was choreographed.”

“The fact that they could do this, especially in Paris, where the intelligence service is really good, clearly there’s a hole somewhere,” Mr. Skinner said.
The Islamic State has been expanding beyond its base in Iraq and Syria since it declared a caliphate, or Islamic state, in June 2014. The group is focused on three parallel tracks, according to Harleen Gambhir, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War:

• inciting regional conflict with attacks in Iraq and Syria;
• building relationships with jihadist groups that can carry out military operations across the Middle East and North Africa;
• and inspiring, and sometimes helping, ISIS sympathizers to conduct attacks in the West.

 

“The goal,” Ms. Gambhir said, “is that through these regional affiliates and through efforts to create chaos in the wider world, the organization will be able to expand, and perhaps incite a global apocalyptic war.”

 

 

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France’s, Le Figaro newspaper, recent poll has indicated that at least 72 percent of participants say Syrian President Bashar Assad should remain in power. US / Allies say he must go.

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Le Figaro poll: Over 70% want Syria’s Assad to remain in power

Published time: 31 Oct, 2015 12:53Edited time: 31 Oct, 2015 15:36

 

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad © SANA / Reuters

 

 

A recent poll carried out by France’s Le Figaro newspaper has indicated that at least 72 percent of respondents want Syrian President Bashar Assad to remain in power.

 

The survey, published on Thursday, asked: “Should world powers demand Bashar Assad to leave?” At least 28 percent from 21,314 respondents have voted “Yes” so far, while the majority – 72 percent – have said “No”. 

The poll was conducted ahead of the Vienna talks, where 19 global powers gathered to find a solution for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria. The fate of Assad remained the stumbling block during discussions.

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U.S. claims it would make preparations to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the upcoming fiscal year.

 

Macedonian policemen try to keep migrants and refugees under control before they cross the border line from Greece into Macedonia, near the Greek village of Idomeni, Sept. 10, 2015.

US Urged to Do More on Mideast Refugee Crisis

VOA

US Criticized On Refugee Crisis

William Gallo

September 11, 2015 7:39 AM

Since the start of Syria's civil war more than four years ago, the U.S. has taken in just over 1,400 Syrian refugees — a barely detectable fraction of the four million who have fled the country. On Thursday, White House officials signaled they were ready to do more: they announced the U.S. would make preparations to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the upcoming fiscal year. "The president has directed our team to consider how we can further scale up our response," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "And one thing the United States can do is to begin to admit more Syrian refugees."

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O'Malley: U.S. should accept 65,000 Syrian refugees

By Eugene Scott, CNN

Updated 3:24 PM ET, Fri September 4, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)

"I support the call from humanitarian and refugee organizations for the United States to accept at least 65,000 Syrian refugees next year," he said in a statement Friday. "If Germany -- a country with one-fourth our population -- can accept 800,000 refugees this year, certainly we -- the nation of immigrants and refugees -- can do more."

Syrian refugees are flooding Europe following the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Syrians due to ethnic violence in the Middle East. The migrant crisis has engulfed Europe, leading many to ask whether the U.S. would take refugees from the continued fighting in Syria.

Read More Here

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Queue for food in Syria's Yarmouk camp shows desperation of refugees

Huge crowd of Palestinians is photographed waiting for aid in Yarmouk, which has been under blockade for month

• Click here to see the full picture

• Harriet Sherwood
• 
  
• The Guardian, Wednesday 26 February 2014 12.52 EST

Refugees queue for food parcels in Yarmouk. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

It is a vision of unimaginable desolation: a crowd of men, women and children stretching as far as the eye can see into the war-devastated landscape of Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus.
A photograph released on Wednesday by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, shows the scene when thousands of desperate Palestinians trapped inside the camp on the edge of the Syrian capital emerged to besiege aid workers attempting to distribute food parcels.
More than 18,000 people are existing under blockade inside Yarmouk, enduring acute shortages of food, medicines and other essentials. Much of the camp has been destroyed by shelling, and attempts to deliver aid to those inside have been hampered by continued fighting in Syria's three-year-old civil war.
United Nations workers have delivered about 7,000 food parcels over recent weeks, following negotiations between the Syrian government, rebel forces and Palestinian factions within the camp. The most recent delivery, of 450 parcels, was on Wednesday. The UN acknowledges that the level of aid is a "drop in the ocean".
Yarmouk has been cut off since last July. Many residents are now weak and severely malnourished, as well as being exposed to the risk of disease, or death and injury from fighting.
Filippo Grandi, the head of UNRWA, described the camp as a ghost town after visiting this week. "The devastation is unbelievable. There is not one single building that I have seen that is not an empty shell by now. They're all blackened by smoke," he told reporters.
He said he was even more shocked by the camp's residents, who flooded towards aid distribution points. "It's like the appearance of ghosts. These are people who have not been out of there, that have been trapped in there not only without food, medicines, clean water – all the basics – but also probably completely subjected to fear because there was fierce fighting … They can hardly speak. I tried to speak to many of them, and they all tell the same stories of complete deprivation."

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UN chief ‘deeply disturbed’ by refugee camp in Syria

Thursday, February 27, 2014

The chief of the UN relief agency supporting Palestinian refugees said he is “deeply disturbed and shaken” by the despair and destruction he had seen in a besieged camp in the Syrian capital.

By Albert Aji, Syria

The Yarmouk refugee camp, located in southern Damascus, is an opposition enclave under the tight blockade of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

More than 100 people have died in Yarmouk since mid-2013 as a result of starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or lack of medical aid, according to UN figures.

Filippo Grandi, commissioner general of UNRWA, was visiting Yarmouk as the relief agency resumed food distribution there. Shipments to the camp have been disrupted for months, sometimes cut off for weeks at a time, and Yarmouk has suffered from crippling shortages of food and medicine.

“I am deeply disturbed and shaken by what I observed,” Grandi said. Palestinian refugees to whom he spoke in Yarmouk were “traumatised by what they have lived through.”

The extent of damage to the refugees’ homes was shocking, he also said, adding that many Palestinians in Yarmouk need immediate support, particularly food and medical treatment.

Yarmouk is the largest of nine Palestinian camps in Syria. Since the camp’s creation in 1957, it has evolved into a densely populated residential district just five miles from the centre of Damascus. Several generations of Palestinian refugees have lived there.

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Palestinians in Syrian camp are ‘traumatized’

More than 100 people have died in Yarmouk since mid-2013, some of starvation

• ap
• Published: 16:25 February 25, 2014
• 

Damascus: The chief of the United Nations relief agency supporting Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday he is “deeply disturbed and shaken” by the despair and destruction he’d seen in a besieged camp in the Syrian capital.

The Yarmouk refugee camp, located in southern Damascus, is an opposition enclave under the tight blockade of forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad. More than 100 people have died in Yarmouk since mid-2013 as a result of starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or lack of medical aid, according to UN figures.

Filippo Grandi, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, was visiting Yarmouk as the relief agency resumed food distribution there. UNRWA shipments to the camp have been disrupted for months, sometimes cut off for weeks at a time, and Yarmouk has suffered from crippling shortages of food and medicine.

“I am deeply disturbed and shaken by what I observed,” Grandi said in a statement. Palestinian refugees to whom he spoke in Yarmouk Monday were “traumatized by what they have lived through.”

Read More Here

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Be The Change : Would you give your jacket to Johannes? SOS Children's Villages Norway [OFFICIAL]

SOSbarnebyerNorge \

Published on Feb 19, 2014

For English, choose English on the captions icon in media player.
What would you do if you saw a freezing child?
We set up a hidden camera and placed Johannes at a bus stop, in Oslo, Norway. This is what happened.

The film is made to raise awareness of the situation for children in Syria, and to raise funds to SOS Children's Villages is their winter-campaign. Children in Syria are freezing and you can help by dontating. For more information: www.sos-barnebyer.no/Mayday/Syria

NORSK: En test utført av SOS-barnebyer bekrefter at det er mye hjertevarme blant folk i Norge. Nå håper vi at engasjementet også når fram til barn i Syria. Bidra du også send SMS SOS til 2160 / http://www.sos-barnebyer.no/Mayday/Syria

SOS-barnebyer i Syria deler ut tusenvis av varme jakker og pledd til barn på flukt, og samtidig mobiliseres givere i Norge for å kunne hjelpe flere barn gjennom givernettverket SOS MAYDAY.

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Would YOU offer to help a child freezing in the street? Hidden cameras capture reactions of people faced with dilemma... and what they did will warm your heart

• An 11-year-old boy was filmed as he struggled against the cold without a coat in Oslo
• But the kindness of those who saw his heartbreaking situation and handed him their clothing is inspiring
• It was a stunt for a charity helping freezing Syrian children who are fleeing the civil war

By Sam Webb
PUBLISHED: 14:38 EST, 20 February 2014 | UPDATED: 05:17 EST, 21 February 2014
A boy shivers in the harsh Oslo winter, pathetically wrapping his arms around himself on a bus stop bench. He isn't wearing a coat and temperatures in the Norwegian capital regularly plunge to -10C during winter.
A heartbreaking scene, but the actions of the ordinary people who witnessed the plight of 11 year old Johannes Lønnestad Flaaten is both joyous and inspiring.
A young blonde woman who sat next to the boy and notices him rubbing his arms. She immediately asks him: 'Don't you have a jacket?'

This 11 year old boy was filmed as he sat shivering without a coat at a bus stop in Oslo, Norway. The actions of people who saw his discomfort will bring a smile to even the most jaded souls

Caring: This young woman asks him why he has no coat in such cold weather. He replies that it was stolen

Warm heart: She takes off her own jacket and wraps it around the freezing boy

No, someone stole it,' he replies. She questions him and discovers he was on a school trip and was told to meet his teacher at the bus stop. She asks him the name of his school and where he's from as she selflessly drapes her own coat around his shoulders.

Later, another older woman at first gives him her scarf, then wraps him in her large padded jacket.
Johanne's predicament was a hidden camera experiment by Norwegian charity SOS Children’s Village as part of their winter campaign to gather donations to send much-needed coats and blankets to help Syrian children get through the winter. Many of the refugees have left their homes without winter clothing.
Throughout the day, more and more people offered Johannes their gloves and even the coats off their backs as they waited for their bus. One man even sat shivering in his t-shirt so Johanne could be wrapped up in his warm coat.

Sacrifice: This man endured the savage temperature in just a T-shirt so the boy could get warm

Read More Here


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