Wednesday, September 17, 2014
From: Gary L. Bauer
Terror Warnings Abound
In the past 24 hours, postings in online jihadi forums have appeared encouraging Islamic State sympathizers in America to attack major tourist destinations such as Las Vegas and Times Square. According to one report, the postings involve “a comprehensive guide to building pipe bombs using easily obtained materials like match heads, sugar and Christmas lights.”
The information in the messages isn’t necessarily new. They are similar to some that appeared nearly a month ago.
But as New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters yesterday, “This is the first time ISIS has used this medium to inspire a ‘lone wolf’ type attack.” Bratton added that ISIS seems much more capable than Al Qaeda ever was in using social media to recruit and inspire acts of jihad.
There is no doubt the enemy is among us. Federal officials in New York announced the indictment of Mufid Elfgeeh, a naturalized U.S. citizen, yesterday. Originally from Yemen, Elfgeeh is facing three terrorism related charges for his efforts to help recruit jihadists for ISIS. In addition, he also paid undercover FBI agents for guns and silencers so he could murder U.S. soldiers.
Meanwhile overseas, British media reported yesterday that ISIS is plotting to assassinate Pope Francis. Habeeb Al Sadr, Iraq’s ambassador to the Vatican, warned, “The threats against the Pope are credible. I believe they could try to kill him during one of his overseas trips or even in Rome.” Pope Francis is scheduled to travel to Albania (a majority Muslim nation) this weekend and Turkey later this year.Â
The New York Times reported this week that Turkey — a NATO nation — has become “one of the biggest sources of recruits” for ISIS. Islamism is on the rise in Turkey. And in spite of all of Obama’s outreach to Turkey, President Recep Erdogan is refusing to join Obama’s Arab coalition to fight ISIS.
Obama’s failure to corral allies, not to mention members of his own party, behind a clear strategy may explain why the latest CBS/New York Times poll finds that Obama’s approval ratings for his handling of terrorism (41%) and foreign policy generally (34%) are at record lows.
Border Security IS National Security
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, acknowledged yesterday that at least one radicalized American ISIS fighter was able to leave the country and return home. Thankfully, he left again to wage jihad in Syria rather than here in America.
“There was an American that went over and he was radicalized, trained to be a suicide bomber and he came home to see his parents, left, went back and when he went back he killed himself and a lot of people,” Rep. Ruppersberger said. “What’s concerning to us is when you have a passport, you can go back and forth with impunity.”
What is the State Department doing about this? Not much. A State Department spokesperson recently admitted that fighting for a terrorist group “does not automatically mean your passport will be revoked.”
In the better late than never category, Senator John McCain seems to have had an epiphany on immigration reform. Yesterday the senator told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto:
“The fact is our southern border is not secure. They [ISIS] have already announced on Twitter and on Facebook that they want to do everything they can to attack the United States of America. So if the southern border is not secure, obviously that would be one of the avenues to achieve that. And which leads me to believe that we have to have … control of the border … before we move forward with comprehensive immigration reform. This new ISIS threat has really heightened, in my view, the necessity for a secure border which we don’t have.”
With all due respect to Senator McCain, many conservatives have been making that very point for years. The first obligation of government is to provide for our national defense and that begins by securing our borders.
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