I think attacks in the US are likely.

 

(This was posted on 21 November, 2015 on Sic Semper Tyrannis)

There is a lot of "bleeding heart silliness" being spouted in the media as US networks try to convince themselves that IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE!  Well, IMO that is incorrect and it probably will happen here.

The US and Saudi Arabia, are, I think the two most important target areas for IS.  The US because it represents the new Rome, the great Satan and Saudi Arabia because IS sees the royal family as sinners who should not be in charge of the Haramayn.

We have pretty solid police in the US and robust external border controls at crossing points, but, in fact we have a large and potentially recruitable disaffected segment in our population among racial minorities, resident Muslim youth and the like.  Remember.  It only takes a few people to pull off such attacks.  Weapons are easy to obtain in the US and the materials with which to make explosives are everywhere.

Four of the Paris attack group had entered Europe in the last few months, two on Syrian passports as part of the migration and two on Turkish passports simply traveling within the Schengen area without much trouble.  You never know what you don't know and we don't know how many others IS has sent toward targets in Europe and North America, especially before the Paris attacks.

PM Trudeau and his political colleagues are going to admit at least 25,000 "Syrian" migrants to Canada in the next few months.  There is no possibility that the Canadian authorities will be able to adequately screen that number of people for identity or prior associations.  It will anger Canadians here for me to say so but the US/Canada border is a joke.  You can walk across it in thousands of places outside the ken of authorities on either side.

The pattern is clear, IS sends in fighters to reinforce local adherents.

IS has announced its intention to attack New York City and Washington, DC.

We should take this statement of intention very seriously.  pl

http://globalnews.ca/news/2352983/60-of-canadians-disagree-with-liberal-plan-to-accept-syrian-refugees-ipsos-poll/

Comments

[Amir]

Why all the historian about a self-created threat that is at the very worst as bad as an average school shooting. Why is no one advocating banning guns (and gunpowder and other explosives...) which would truly limit the degree that any damage can be done.

[Valissa]

Oy vey... are you a Jewish mother?... 'cause that's the only legitimate excuse I can think of for such a whiny lecture-y comment.

[Fred]

Col.,

I would like to know where are this matter of principle on the left regarding refugees was when the Yazidi's were being slaughtered on Mt. Sinjar? I don't recall Senator Sanders of She Who Must Be Elected or their supporters mounting a campaign demanding the US open its borders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinjar_massacre

Refugee exceptionalism seems to be coincident to our presidential election.

I sure hope the secret service has an actual idea of how to protect these candidates during campaign rallies. Does anyone know if any of the campaigns are doing any checks on just who might be allowed access (shocking racial/religious profiling I know.) Don't forget this episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Chapman_attack

[Fred]

Kim Sky,

A Savage War would be the Border Wars of New England. Some of the emasculating crowd cringe if anyone suggests defending their homes the same way now:
https://archive.org/details/borderwarsnew00drakrich

Let's Not watch, let's act.

[Tyler]

Brunswick,

Lmbo you can't actually believe this.

"YOU SEE IS OPPOSES OUR GLOBALIST ATTEMPT TO OVERWHELM EUROPE WITH THE 3RD WORLD"

[sans racine]

Nightsticker,
Agree with you there - by minimising the reaction you minimise the potential 'benefit' of an attack. Not that this will stop attacks, but the aim now has to be to contain polarisation in public opinion (as David Habbakuk pointed out recently) as this is likely to feed back into additional alienation of susceptible individuals in ethnic groups under suspicion, and a vicious cycle of escalation.

[BrotherJoe]

I suspect that the first attack will be Thanksgiving evening at around 8-9 pm on the East coast. Probably in a movie theater.

This would be a double blow as it would attack one of our most
hallowed secular feast days and at the same time would would strike at Black Friday shopping.

[mbrenner]

Putting some emotional distance between ourselves and the events in Paris, it is hard to see any objective change between the threat today and what was on November 12. After all, we all knew that this sort of incident could happen and would happen sooner or later. It has antecedents: London, Madrid, Charlie Hebdo. They all were carried out by locals with, perhaps, the partial exception of Madrid (don't remember). They all did have external connections but there is no evidence that there is a central command (a General Staff or Morgan Chase Executive Committee) plotting and directing campaigns. It's diffuse motives meeting opportunity and means.

The puzzle for me is the discrepancy between the formidable capabilities of the terrorists groups and the very limited operations that they have conducted in the West. As to plots foiled, in the US we can infer that there have been none of consequence since even the most insignificant (usually hatched by the FBI) is played up and its importance exaggerated. The optimistic conclusion is that the risk is not that great. The pessimistic conclusion is that if these guys ever get their act together we're in real trouble - since there really is no defense.

One hypothesis in favor of the former is that there are in fact very few candidates in the West for taking on suicidal missions. Were those attracted to ISIL truly fanatical believers, wouldn't that number be much higher? By contrast, if they are mainly thrill-seekers, borderline sociopaths, and sexually repressed teen-agers excited by the prospect of sex slaves and/or an alternative outlet for their raging hormones - then it is understandable that they would lack the fortitude and conviction to kill and to be killed. This is especially true in their home, Western settings where there is not the intense emotional encouragement and example of their salafist fellows.

That may help to explain why the two mass killings in the US (Dr. Hussain and the Boston brothers) were by people who exhibited relatively little religious passion. They seem closer to the nihilistic mass killers that have killed many more in schools, theaters and post offices. What they seem to share is an emotional emptiness, a void where souls are supposed to reside. One can't but wonder how much of this derives from immersion in the video game/disengaged/virtual culture that is contemporary society's hallmark.

[Herodotus]

2013 US Refugee Admission Stats..

http://m.state.gov/md228666.htm

[AEL]

I am fully confident that ISIS is less dangerous to me than the flu. I went and got my flu shots to mitigate the danger.

Even if the screening fails, it is likely that traffic collisions will kill more than terrorists that month. Fear of dying in a flaming car crash does not prevent me from driving. Fear of terrorists should not prevent our society from building itself.

Canada's previous experience with refugees demonstrates that they make fine Canadians.

BTW, Canada has been making lists of refugees for quite a while. We typically do not start processing thema until they have been referred by the UNHCR. It isn't as if we are scooping them off the beaches in Greece.

[Babak Makkinejad]

In my opinion, the simplest explanation is that the Terrorists and Jihadists believe that they are fighting for Islam. And yes, they are young, therefore not jaded but idealistic.

[Babak Makkinejad]

UN just condemned Iran's record of Human Rights through a Resolution sponsored by Saudi Arabia. UN has been irrelevant; it is another relict of the Peace of Yalta that no one has yet tried to put out of its misery.

May be it is because of all those African dictators who need UN General Assembly to look like "They have arrived."

In Iran and in Iraq only the feeble minded have respect for UN.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I think for any victim of terrorism, her family, her relations, her friends and acquaintances, even one terrorist being able to carry out a single attack is one too many.

People have a right to live in Peace & Tranquility and go about their business of every day life. One has the right to expect one's spouse or child or uncle or brother will be back home at the end of the day.

The state has the responsibility to defend her citizens by all means available and necessary; in my opinion.

Doing otherwise is a serious dereliction of duty.

[The Twisted Genius]

I think IS is making the refugee issue into the shiny thing they want us all to be focused on while they execute their attacks wherever they can, including the U.S. We better be looking at all those crossing our borders as tourists, students and business travelers. Our local and state police will have their hands full investigating those already here who need investigating.

[turcopolier]

AEL, TTG, mbrenner

Yes, they are filling the void in their souls with the jihad, this jihad. Yes, we nee to look at everyone crossing our borders but the Canadian border is particularly vulnerable. Canadians seem intent on self-delusion so we should look to our northern border. pl

[Herodotus]

I guess we will find out if this is a false flag using the name of anonymous to discredit it. Or if some hacker is going to tell us how anonymous has saved the day. I find it interesting that this is "just" a warning and not the take down of a computer network an anonymous trademark.

[annamaria]

How reliable is this devastating report that accuses the CIA of arming Al Qaeda?
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/04/real-benghazi-story.html

"A highly classified annex to the report [by Seymour Hersh], not made public, described a secret agreement reached in early 2012 between the Obama and Erdoğan administrations... By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria....
[T]he U.S. supported opposition which overthrew Libya’s Gadaffi was largely comprised of Al Qaeda terrorists... Incidentally, Gaddafi was on the verge of invading Benghazi in 2011, 4 years after the West Point report cited Benghazi as a hotbed of Al Qaeda terrorists. Gaddafi claimed – rightly it turns out – that Benghazi was an Al Qaeda stronghold and a main source of the Libyan rebellion. But NATO planes stopped him, and protected Benghazi."
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/05/its-dishonest-to-talk-about-benghazi-without-talking-about-the-syrian-war.html

[SanchoPanza]

Just over a month ago at least 50 Han Chinese mine workers had their throats slit by Uighur militants that had infiltrated the camp in the dead of night(the number of dead was undoubtedly higher and was suppressed by state media). While this casualty figure is extraordinary, knife attacks like these have occured on frequent occasions for the past year in the country, with notable cases involving the perpetrators doing it after being stymied in their goals to leave for Syria. This melee weapon phenomenon is mirrored in the case of school attacks in the country as well,with the unhinged attacking schoolchildren with knives and cleavers in a frequency that only the USA puts to shame worldwide.
People that have the goal of killing will kill, from the examples of the vegetable peeler-weilding Palestinians to the aformentioned

[The Twisted Genius]

Abu Sinan,

Hackers and criminals have been using gaming machines for communication for, at least the last ten years. I doubt the intelligence agencies just discovered that terrorists use them as well. All this talk about terrorists going dark sounds bogus to me. I and many other huminters conducted cross border operations in Europe where going electronically dark was standard operating procedures. Of course we didn't have the internet and cell phones back then. Even when they came out, many of us thought cell phones were anathema to secure ops. Now it seems everyone, including clandestine operators and terrorists can't live without them. Damned kids, get off my lawn!

[bell]

canada follows the us into all these stupid wars - against terrorism and etc... if that is a free ride - i will walk on my own, or with a leadership that isn't regularly beholden to the us ideology of a unipolar world where everyone has to fall in line with us think.. too many unvetted wars around the globe thanks in large part us ideology that needs to change..

[bell]

and, at the risk of sounding like a broken record - the refugees are a direct result of this regime change ideology that needs to be challenged..

[ex-PFC Chuck]

And then there is the toll of premature deaths resulting from tobacco use in the USA. It is the equivalent of a fully loaded, all-economy class Airbus A-380 going down with all aboard killed every day of the year, weekends and holidays included.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/

[Bill Herschel]

I have no problem stipulating that an attack is impossible to prevent.

But these attacks are carefully planned, with abundant resources, against carefully selected targets. 9/11 is the perfect example. A large number of Saudi's placed in this country for I believe over a year coordinating an attack with enormous financial backing. I believe that the Paris attack was well-funded and carefully planned. Just think about the level of coordination and organization to do what was done. The Russian airliner was not a lucky punch, either.

So, I ask. What if an attack doesn't occur? Because I don't believe one will. What would that imply?

That last question will be unanswerable, but the preceding question, What if an attack doesn't occur, will be answered over the next year.

In my opinion, the answer to the unanswerable question lies somewhere near here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/19/qatar-s-a-us-ally-against-isis-so-why-s-it-cheerleading-the-bad-guys.html

I believe what Colonel Lang has said. If American ground and air forces coordinated with the Russian forces already in Syria, ISIS would cease to exist in six months. But the U.S. continues to scold Russia and attempts to marginalize it and ISIS is holding its own. Bottom line: no American troops. And, of course, no attack on U.S. soil, no American troops. Oh, and Hilliary "Council on Foreign Relations" Clinton is calling for a no-fly zone, which, as Colonel Lang points out, is completely ridiculous, but is a convenient distraction from having American troops coordinate with Russia in what would be a very brief war.

Centcom, based in Qatar, is under investigation for cooking the books about the strength of ISIS and the success of American efforts to defeat it. The higher-ups in Centcom.

The focus of this comment is, What if an attack doesn't occur? What does that mean?

[J]

Colonel,

What would happen to the Mutaween if their Saudi Royal underwriters were unseated by ISIS?

[MartinJ]

The Canadian government will accept 20,000 refugees before the end of the year. These people are in Lebanon. There is no direct flight from Beirut to Toronto so they will first go to Amman. They will be screened by the International Organization for Migration who have less than a handful of people to do that.

Screening consists of an interview and asking where they came from and if they ever did anything such as fighting with ISIS. Considering they need to process 4,000 people a day this seems a rather tall order. When it came to screening refugees from Iraq the US government had access to Saddam's security files, Baath records, military records etc.

I'd like to know what IOM, UNHCR, the Canadian government or the US government know about the people of Syria?

Not much. So the screening is basically an opportunity to take a note of a name and fingerprints so they know when something bad happens in Canada (or the US) the authorities will know the route that person took.

There is some kind of collective madness taking over.