Suzi ... Thanks for starting this thread.
You, and all of us, should find this latest Radical Islamic group known as ISIS (aka ISIL and Islamic State) “scary” because they truly are. In reading the responses to this thread, it seems that most recognize we have a huge threat on our hands with ISIS.
Here are some painful truths:
• Radical Islam is the enemy of the United States as well as the rest of the West. We all need to stop debating this point and accept the obvious.
• It’s pointless to “blame America” for their hatred and say it’s our fault etc (not saying you are doing this btw). Islam has always been a violent and martial religion ever since the 7th Century.
• ISIS is a medieval nightmare come true. Among other things ISIS has
o Literally crucified some of the people they captured
o In other cases beheaded their captives, and still others, placed the heads on pikes
o In other instances ISIS lined their prisoners up in trenches and shot them point blank
o Kidnapped hundreds of Yazidi women of various ages and who are now literally sex slaves for Jihadi “warriors” … ie at least until they are killed.
o Declared war on Christianity and Christians wherever they can find them to destroy or kill
o Captured 100s of millions of dollars in Iraqi banks .. .which will be used for terror attacks
o Captured low grade uranium quite suitable for “dirty bomb” attacks (ie not a mushroom cloud but they can now spread radioactive material that will contaminate areas for a long time .. .think Washington, New York etc)
o Rapidly exerted control over about 1/3 of Iraqi territory
o Several hundred American and European fighters with passports … making them candidate to sneak into the US
Some other points to ponder
• Al-Baghdadi is the leader of ISIS. He is charismatic, holds a Masters and Doctorate in Islamic Studies. He is beyond ruthless. He has proclaimed himself “Caliph” … basically the head of state of all Muslims worldwide (eventually …ie that is his goal).
• He was in US custody for a while but was released. His parting words were “see you in New York”. Rather chilling.
• Put into different terms, this guy is truly the most likely successor to our generation’s version of a Hitler or Stalin. We cannot ignore it.
• It truly doesn’t matter if we dp not want to get involved, or consider the US the source of the problem, or if we insist on keeping our nose out of it etc. You see, ISIS absolutely WILL attack the US, regardless of what any of us want or think or hope, and I’m talking the homeland. IMHO it will take them 1-2 years to get the infrastructure and training up to speed.
• These guys are ORGANIZED and actually produce an annual report, just like a regular company. I can only imagine the staff meetings they have. It’s also clear that only the boldest and most innovative plans, and warriors, will “advance” and get promoted. They use metrics and what seems to be impressive organizational skill. Unreal but see this link.
http://understandingwar.org/sites/de..._Reports_0.pdf
• I will bet money ISIS will infiltrate Jihadis across what used to be our Southern Border. It’s a no brainer for them. While the US public is wrapped in a knot over “the kids”, they will see this as a huge opportunity to get not just people in here but, more importantly, the actual weapons and such.
• My guess is they will use IEDs (of course) but also dirty bombs likely in a coordinated way.
• The first two targets are same as before … New York City and Washington DC. However, I think they will also branch out and go after utility plants (ie reduced electricity means reduced economy) and other targets to attack us economically such as shopping malls, interstates etc.
• ISIS is very social media savvy. It’s become “cool” to be an ISIS guy amongst the disaffected Muslim youth of Europe, and in some cases the US.
• They are recruiting impressionable young European women to come to the Middle East to serve as wives for Jihadi. They are apparently getting some takers go figure.
What do we do?
Suffice to say that right now, even with the limited airstrikes, our strategy is that of an ostrich …our head is still largely in the sand. We are already in a war with these ISIS guys, we just haven’t been able to face up to that yet. I have some recommendations for actions the US needs to take, but this post is already too long so I’ll defer that for now.