Quick Analysis on the France Terror Attacks
I pounded out some quick thoughts/observations here on the Paris attacks while taking a short break from putting finishing touches on my upcoming book, Inside ISIS: Beheadings, Slavery and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam, due out March 16. In short, I fear this is only the beginning:
-- The Paris terrorists reportedly were directed by Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen. That would make sense, in that such a high profile attack would put AQ back in the headlines and bring it out of ISIS's shadow, at least temporarily. Incidentally, ISIS also threatened France in a video message two months ago (France is part of the Coalition carrying out airstrikes against ISIS).
-- Al Qaeda is battling ISIS for terrorist supremacy. A major, headline-grabbing attack in a major Western city like Paris is the perfect way to do just that. It makes AQ relevant again in the public consciousness. Remember, AQ hasn't had massive operational success in the West since 9/11.
Now, AQ and its allies and affiliates have had some horrific bursts of success against Western targets, for sure (the Madrid and London bombings, in '04 and '05, respectively, the Benghazi attack in '12, plus various lone wolf AQ sympathizers like Fort Hood jihadi Nidal Hassan and plenty of foiled attempts/plots on U.S. and European soil) but no signature attack that it can use as a recruiting tool and give it the street cred it so desperately needs, especially as ISIS is capturing territory, declaring a caliphate, dominating social media, and capturing the imagination of young jihadists everywhere.
If the Paris terror mayhem was indeed directed by AQ--and we can't say for certain just yet, although that seems to be the case--it makes AQ a serious player once again. Not that it ever left--it has remained highly formidable (contrary to President Obama's dishonest assertions) and via affiliates and offshoots, covers more geographical ground today than it did on 9/11. It's just that ISIS is such an overwhelming monster that it has overshadowed every other jihadist group over the past year, including Al Qaeda.
-- There is no question that ISIS has raised the bar for terrorist brutality. Between the mass executions, beheadings, sex slavery, rapes, attempts at genocide and systematic abuse of women and children, there is literally no unspeakable depth of evil ISIS won't stoop to. Absolutely nothing is off limits now in the world of jihad--which was already an insanely brutal and nasty place.
There are no rules of engagement here, whether its slaughtering teenage girls in Nigeria, schoolchildren in Pakistan or worshipers at a Jerusalem synagogue. Audacious acts of brutality capture world attention, intimidate enemies and attract new followers (especially here in the West) who are drawn to--rather than repulsed by--all the sadistic violence. If you're a jihadist, sadism works and is good for your cause, as disturbing as that is to consider. ISIS are looked at as the baddest boys on the block, fearless and tough defenders of Islam--revivers of the beloved caliphate--and some very dark-minded people want to be a part of that.
-- Since ISIS is unquestionably the most brutal player on the jihadist scene today, look for other terror groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban to continue use more imaginative, shocking and horrific tactics like we saw in Paris this week. We have not even seen the worst of some of the horrific things they have planned--from schools to malls to random beheadings on the street, nothing is off limits. And again, in many ways, the rise of ISIS has sent all of this into overdrive.
It's like their appearance on the scene opened the gates of hell and inspired every jihadist group to look to "one up" the other on who can be the most demonic.
-- Could a Paris-style attack happen here in the United States? Absolutely. First of all, citizens of Western Europe can travel to the United States without a visa. You would hope that we would snag people on the terror watch list when they enter our country, but nothing is guaranteed.
Secondly, we have already had cases here in the U.S. of terrorists who had been interviewed by the FBI (including one of the Boston bombers) or who had been espousing radical views in the run-up to carrying out attacks (Nidal Hassan, the NYC hatchet jihadi and others) slip through the cracks. We even had a U.S. citizen from Florida return to America from fighting in Syria--and then head back to Syria a few months later and blow himself up on behalf of Al Qaeda. Our system is not fool proof, to say the least.
-- Lastly, the wild card in all of this is, what do we do when some American "lone wolf" jihadist, likely a recent Islamic convert, who has never been overseas and doesn't have a radical paper trail, decides to become a one man jihad and act independently in the name of the jihadist cause, shooting up a shopping mall? How do you catch all of those types of cases before its too late? That is the sort of atmosphere we're in right now, thanks largely to the inspiration drawn from ISIS.
-- With Western leaders, led by President Obama, showing weakness and throwing out PC platitudes (French President Hollande, following Obama's lead, said today that the Paris attacks "had nothing to do with Islam." Really?), this problem is going to increase.
The jihadists are emboldened. And if European leaders don't step up forcefully, you could see European citizens start to take action. We are getting to the point where we could start to see major civil unrest in Europe (we're already seeing signsin Germany) as people become fed up with the Islamist insurrections in their midst.
We are living in perilous times, folks. But God still sits on the throne and works all things for good for those who love Him. Hang in there, keep the faith, and never forget that we have a blessed hope!
No comments:
Post a Comment