Tag Archives: ISIS

Senator Says U.S. Vulnerable To ISIS

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said that the United States is “certainly vulnerable” to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said those who support ISIS see them as a “winning organization” so the U.S. has no other choice but to completely defeat the group.

“The best strategy the U.S. can employ to defeat this is actually defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria so that the reality is conveyed that this is not a winning organization, it is a losing organization,” Johnson said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Johnson cited the recent failed attack on a cartoon contest in Texas as an example of ISIS supporters seeing them as “winning” despite the attack failing in its goal.  Johnson said it’s also difficult because they can’t easily deal with those who are activity promoting ISIS.

“The problem is, what do you do with the not-guilty-yet? We do have laws, we have a Constitution, and it’s extremely difficult for law enforcement officials when you might have tens of thousands of sympathizers — how do you track them all?” Johnson asked.

Johnson said that up to 90,000 twitter accounts in the United States were promoting ISIS although Twitter has begun to delete them.

FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that the terrorists are trying to recruit “hundreds, maybe thousands” of potential terrorists in the U.S.  Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the U.S. is in “more serious circumstances today than we were after 9/11.”

“Remember, back then we thought about al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and a few other places? Well, we’ve seen al-Qaeda metastasize,” Ridge told CNN. “It is now a global scourge. And you have the ascendancy of ISIL. The combination of those two groups — their appeal to the lone wolfs and we see them acting in Belgium and in France and in Canada and the United States, so the threat factors and the nature of the threats are far more complicated and far more serious today than on Sept. 12, 2001.”

Threat Condition Raised At Military Bases

Security conditions at U.S. military bases were raised overnight because of potential threats of a jihadist attack.

The official move from U.S. Northern Command comes hours after FBI Director James Comey said there are thousands of ISIS followers in the United States.

“We have a general concern, obviously, that ISIL is focusing on the uniformed military and law enforcement,” Comey told reporters Thursday.  “It’s like the devil sitting on their shoulders, saying ‘kill, kill, kill.”

“We have the same concern about the potential threat posed by violent homegrown extremists,” said Captain Jeff Davis, spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command which oversees all U.S. military installations in the continental U.S.

CNN reported that an official confirmed “Force Protection Bravo” status, defined as an “increased and predictable threat of terrorism.”  The last time military bases in the homeland had this condition for any significant length of time was the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

“We are doing this as a prudent measure due to a lot of things in the news lately,” Davis said. “While this change is not tied to a specific credible threat, recent events have led us to recognize the need to take prudent steps to ensure that our security measures can be increased quickly.”

FBI director Comey said the biggest problem is that these people “go dark” like Elton Simpson, one of the two terrorists who attempted the Texas Mohammed Cartoon contest attack.

“The haystack is the entire country,” Comey said. “We are looking for the needles, but increasingly the needles are unavailable to us. … This is the ‘going dark’ problem in living color. There are Elton Simpsons out there that I have not found and I cannot see.”

ISIS Warning Claims Terror Cells In 15 States

A man who clams to be an “American jihadist” says Sunday’s terror attack in Texas was the work of ISIS and that “trained soldiers” are currently positioned in 15 states and planning more attacks.

The post on a file-sharing site was signed by Abu Ibrahim Al Ameriki, a man that intelligence sources admit joined a Pakistani terrorist group several years ago.  He has been seen in propaganda videos for ISIS in the past.

“Out of the 71 trained soldiers 23 have signed up for missions like Sunday, we are increasing in number,” read the warning. “Of the 15 states, 5 we will name… Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Michigan.”

The posting appeared to claim the attack at the Draw the Prophet Muhammad contest in Texas was successful despite the fact the attackers were shot dead by security at the event before they could reach anyone actually involved in the event.

The terrorist group posted a video Tuesday night with clips of praise for the two jihadists who committed the attempted assault on the contest.

The attack in Texas seems to back up comments earlier this year from FBI head James Comey who said they had reports of radicalized Americans in 49 states.

“We are focused keenly on who would be looking to travel to join this band of murderers who will have come back from Iraq and Syria and to the United States,” Comey said in a speech to law enforcement officers in Mississippi. “We have opened cases all over the place focused on this threat, so it is not … a Washington thing – it is something we focus on throughout the FBI.”

Two Islamists Dead After Attacking “Draw Muhammad” Contest

A man who had been investigated as a terrorist by the FBI and his roommate attempted to storm a “Draw Muhammad” contest near Dallas with automatic weapons but were gunned down by security before they were able to harm any civilians.

Elton Simpson had been the subject of a terrorism investigation and had been convicted five years ago of lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Somalia.  A judge said that they couldn’t officially prove that he was attempting to join a terror group and given probation.

The gunmen had been living in Phoenix.

ISIS terrorists have been calling for an attack on the contest for more than a week.  An ISIS fighter posted on Twitter after the attack “two pro-ISIS individuals” had carried out the attack.

‘They Thought They Was Safe In Texas From The Soldiers of The Islamic State,’ added the tweet.

A security guard was hit by the terrorist’s shots but was treated and released from a local hospital.  Moments after the start of the assault, a Garland, Texas police officer shot both terrorists dead.

‘With what he was faced with and his reaction and his shooting with a pistol, he did a good job,’ Harn said of the officer.

‘He did what he was trained to do, and under the fire that he was put under, he did a very good job and probably saved lives. We think their strategy was to get into the events center and they were not able to get past that outer perimeter.’

Elton Simpson’s father released a statement saying that his son “made a bad choice.”

“We are Americans and we believe in America,” Dunston Simpson said. “What my son did reflects very badly on my family.”

Tony Blair: Islamic Extremism a “Poison”

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says that Islamic extremism is a “poison” that “must be eradicated.”

Blair said the world does not understand the depth of the problem and that it might be too late by the time the world sees the true goal of the terrorists.  Blair also referenced the slaughter of Christians at the hands of the terrorists that has gone largely unanswered by the West.

“If we allow these things to continue, then in the end, the extremists will carry on believing they can get away with this,” Blair told John Catsimatidis’ “Cats Roundtable” radio show.  “We need to mobilize a huge amount of support wherever this type of terrorism and extremism is happening, to go make sure it’s defeated.”

Blair said that he doesn’t believe the extremists represent the whole of Islam but that it was created from within the religion.

“We need to make sure that young people in many of these countries who have been educated to a close-minded view of the world instead get an education toward tolerance and respect for people of different faiths,” Blair said.

Blair had warned in September 2014 that it would be unlikely that ISIS could be defeated in Syria and Iraq without deployment of ground troops.

“Unless you’re prepared to fight these people on the ground, you may contain them but you won’t defeat them,” Blair had said.

Saudi Arabia Arrests 93 in ISIS Crackdown

Saudi Arabian officials announced the arrests of 93 people who are connected to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

The Saudi Press Agency reported the arrests took place between December and April with all but five of those arrested Saudi nationals.  The group had set up training sites and planned suicide bombings.

One of the reported targets was the U.S Embassy in Riyadh.

Intelligence officials say that two Syrians and one Saudi national had planned to drive a car loaded with explosives into the embassy.  The revelation explains why the State Department mysteriously shut down Saudi embassies in mid-March citing security concerns.

The largest cell consisted of 65 Saudi nationals who plotted an attack “on residential areas, and operations to incite sectarian sedition.”  Another 15 member cell was focused on bombing security headquarters and soldiers.

Security officials said they arrested Nawaf al-Enezi for the killing of two police officers in Riyadh earlier this month.  The ISIS operative was detained after a shootout with police about 60 miles east of the capital city.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stated in November that ISIS should focus efforts on attacking Saudi Arabia and the ruling Saudi family.

California Airports Increased Security Over ISIS Threat

A number of California airports increased security measures over the weekend after intelligence officials intercepted messages about a possible terror plot against the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security did not release details of the threat other than saying they had intercepted chatter and other information that raised concerns.  They also confirmed the chatter was connected to ISIS.

“Over the last few months, we have made a number of security adjustments, including enhanced screening at select overseas airports and increasing random searches of passengers and carry-on luggage on flights inbound to the U.S., reflecting an evolving threat picture,” a spokesman with the department told CNN.

In addition to the airport security upgrades, DHS confirmed they had been increasing security at federal installations since February.

“The department has conducted significant outreach efforts … with state and local law enforcement partners regarding these trends and engaging in a series of meetings and events with local community leaders across the country to counter violent extremism,” the spokesman stated.

The TSA alerted local law enforcement that the airlines might not be the target but rather an individual actor focusing on uniformed personnel at various locations.

The increase in DHS actions and security comes after the head of the FBI admitted they have intelligence of people in all 50 states with sympathy toward the terrorist organization ISIS.

“Those people exist in every state” Comey said at a law enforcement event. “I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state. Until a few weeks ago there was 49 states. Alaska had none, which I couldn’t quite figure out. But Alaska has now joined the group, so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states.”

ISIS Reportedly Selected Replacement For Wounded Leader

The terrorist group ISIS reportedly has a new commander after an airstrike severely wounded their previous leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Iraqi government advisor Hisham al Hashimi told Newsweek that al-Baghdadi was injured during a March airstrike and has not been able to return to day-to-day leadership of the terrorist group.  Hashimi said that Abu Alaa Afri has been running the group in al-Baghdadi’s absence.

“After Baghdadi’s wounding, he [Afri] has begun to head up Daesh [arabic term for ISIS] with the help of officials responsible for other portfolios,” Hashimi said. “He will be the leader of Daesh if Baghdadi dies.”

“He was a physics teacher in Tal Afar [northwestern Iraqi city] in Nineveh, and has dozens of publications and religious (Shariah) studies of his own,” the government adviser said. “He is a follower of Abu Musaab al-Suri [prominent jihadi scholar].”

U.S. military officials say it’s next to impossible for them to be able to confirm that al-Baghdadi was seriously wounded despite the claim of the Iraqi official.  Al-Baghdadi was rumored to have died in an airstrike in November before releasing a new recording condemning those who oppose ISIS.

The news comes on the heels of ISIS releasing another video last Sunday showing them beheading Christians from Ethiopia.

ISIS Rise Masterminded By Former Saddam Hussein Officer

A German magazine has uncovered an ISIS document that says their rise has been guided by a former intelligence official for Saddam Hussein.

The “blueprint”consists of 31 pages of information that showed handwritten notes and charts from Samir al-Khlifawi.  Khlifawi was a colonel in the air force intelligence service of the former Iraqi dictator.

“Even his best-known pseudonym, Haji Bakr, wasn’t widely known. But that was precisely part of the plan. The former colonel in the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein’s air defense force had been secretly pulling the strings at IS for years,” according to the report. “Former members of the group had repeatedly mentioned him as one of its leading figures. Still, it was never clear what exactly his role was.”

Bakr was killed last year.  However, the group continued to use his plans as guideline for their operations according to the report in Der Spiegel.

“What Bakr put on paper, page by page, with carefully outlined boxes for individual responsibilities, was nothing less than a blueprint for a takeover,” the Spiegel article added. “In addition, months of research undertaken by Spiegel in Syria, as well as other newly discovered records, exclusive to Spiegel, show that Haji Bakr’s instructions were carried out meticulously.”

The report says that in 2013, Bakr moved to a town outside of Aleppo called Tal Rifaat.  His home then became the first stronghold for the terrorists.

ISIS Attempting to Eliminate Last Christian Speakers of Aramaic

Islamic terrorist group ISIS is attempting to eliminate any Christian that speaks the ancient language Aramaic in an attempt to wipe out the language that was spoken by Christ.

The Associated Press reported that thousands of Christians in Syria have fled their homes in Syria because of the terrorists but that ISIS has placed a bounty on them.  These Assyrians are so valued by ISIS that kidnapped Assyrians are being held for $100,000 each.

“Assyrians remain the last Aramaic-speaking people of the world. So the disappearance and displacement of these people pretty much spells the closing chapter of Aramaic use in the world,” Middle East historian Eden Naby told the AP.

Pockets of Assyrian communities existed in Turkey and Lebanon, but the majority of the Aramaic speaking Assyrians lived in Syria and Iraq.  The communities belong to Eastern Rite churches that we’re founded by the apostles Thomas, Thaddeus and Bartholomew.

The community of Assyrians has fallen from 1.4 million to an estimated 400,000.

Middle East watchdogs say that ISIS is involved in a systematic cleansing of Assyrians although they do not acknowledge their actions.

“They don’t care what it’s called; they are just following their ideology and that means getting rid of churches and minorities. It is the Islamic State, and there’s no room for anyone else,” said MEMRI Director Steven Stalinsky.

“This has been going on for some time, a systematic campaign to rid the region of any vestiges of Christianity.”