Officials: ISIS Has Infiltrated At Least 400 Terrorists Into Europe

The AP, to its great shame, calls them "fighters."

Fighting what? A child's right to have a living mother? A man's right to continue having his leg attached to his torso?

It's repulsive. But we mustn't encourage backlash against... well, terrorists, I guess.

ARIS (AP) -- The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage, officials have told The Associated Press.

An ISIS website is conducting a poll I, saw on Drudge: "What colors will the Eiffel Tower be next?" That is, what country will be going through its Mourning Parties next?

...

Estimates range from 400 to 600 Islamic State fighters trained specifically for external attacks, according to the officials, including Goulet. Some 5,000 Europeans have gone to Syria.

This report says that Belgium had "specific and precise" advanced warning on the coming attacks on both the aiport and metro station, but apparently the warning wasn't shared widely or urgently enough.

I remember last Friday reading a story in the French papers in which officials said they had some warning of an attack -- but said the threat was "pas de imminent" (not imminent).

Two and a half days later, the bombs went off.

Speaking of people who don't take terrorism seriously, Barack Obama once again tells us to chill out, because terrorists can't build things or contribute to the economy. All they can do, he reminds us, is kill lots of us indiscriminately.

That's all they can do?

What a strange criticism to lodge at a group whose sole purpose is to kill lots of us indiscriminately.

Incidentally, he states once again that ISIS is not an "existential threat" to the country, by which he means it cannot kill every single person in the country and destroy the nation.

So, take comfort in that.

Yet still he prattles on and on about how great it is that only some of us will be slaughtered next month.

And speaking of people who think they have ISIS under control -- so did Belgium.

A government document obtained by NBC News shows that just four months before Tuesday's Brussels attacks, Belgian officials believed they were making progress in defusing the threat posed by ISIS terrorists in Belgium.

A confidential U.S. cable describes how the Belgian officials outlined the nuts and bolts of their aggressive new counter-terrorism program in meetings with U.S. counterparts.

...

[T]he trend of fighters departing for Syria "appeared to be slowing," to just six to eight a month, or about half as many as a year earlier, Arnauts said.

The cable said that Arnauts "believed flows had ebbed largely due to a strong city-level prevention network across the country, cooperation with the government of Turkey on justice issues and border controls, and coalition bombings that have reduced the motivation of potential fighters."

Arnauts "attributed the downward trend to the 'apparatus' that was put into place at the local level to track and follow-up with returnees and provide rehabilitation as necessary," said the cable.

Don't worry though -- they're not an existential threat. So kick back, mes amis. Take the rest of the week off. Maybe catch a Cuban baseball game with some old friends from FARC.

Update: Even Tom Friedman wonders if Obama knows what the hell he's doing, or if he's gotten so "obsessed" with defending his approach he's letting the world burn down for his dogmatic ideological hatred of a bucket of water.

Obama should make everyone appreciate the danger of a charismatic demagogue -- just imagine the damage he could do if he had any actual charisma.

posted by Ace at 04:10 PM

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