Killing at least 80 with an explosives-laden truck on BastilLe Day today in Nice, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] hit another soft target, striking revelers watching a Bastille Day firework show. After striking Paris Nov. 13, 2015 killing 137, injuring 358, in three coordinated terror attacks around Paris, ISIS showed it global reach, especially its ability to radicalize locals to commit mass murder. Paris attacks followed the mass shooting by ISIS terrorists of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoon studio Jan. 7, 2015, 10 months before after posting pictures of the Prophet Mohammed. Today’s attack in Nice shows that French authorities haven’t done enough to stop the growing threat of Islamic terrorism in France. After the second Paris terror attack, 61-year-old French President Francois Hollande promised the French people that he would take extraordinary measures against ISIS.
Ten months later, today’s ISIS attack in Nice proves that neither the U.S. nor the European Union have done enough to stop ISIS as a global menace. “On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France which killed and wounded dozens of innocent citizens,” said President Barack Obama, spewing the same platitudes that have allowed ISIS to fester into the world’s most deadly global threat. Announcing 560 more U.S. advisors in Iraq, bringing the total to 4,647, expecting the Iraqis, Kurds and local Sunni groups to do the heavy lifting, Obama continues a failed policy. Obama’s strategy supports local groups to do the fighting, letting ISIS arm-and-consolidate its power base, after seizing some 30% of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Obama’s ISIS strategy, using Iraqis, Kurds and local Sunni militias, has failed.
Since pulling combat troops out of Iraq Dec. 15, 2011, ISIS, al-Qaeda and other Wahhabi terror groups, were given free reign to run amok in Iraq and Syria. By the time ISIS captured Mosul and Raqqa Syria in 2014, ISIS had a global terror reach with both cities serving as command-and-control. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a full recovery for the many wounded,
said Barack offering little hope of defeating ISIS. Watching France hit again, three times in the last year, Obama reveals the abysmal failure of U.S. counter-terrorism strategy. Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry continue the feckless U.S. policy of letting Iraqis, Kurds and local Sunni groups fight their Sunni brothers in ISIS and al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra front. Only today did the U.S. and Russia announce attempts to coordinate strategy against ISIS.
Since reluctantly starting air strikes against ISIS in Iraq Aug. 8, 2014 and in Syria Sept. 23, 2014, Obama has no real plan how to defeat ISIS, other than backing local militia groups. Today’s attack in Nice shows that the current White House and European Union Strategy hasn’t done enough to reverse ISIS’s global terror reach. Extending France’s state of emergency, Hollande offered no real change in France’s commitment to fight ISIS. “The terrorist nature of this attack cannot be denied,” said Hollande, calling the attack “Islamic Extremism.” Neither Obama nor Kerry refer to “Islamic extremism,” insisting it disgrace Islam as a peaceful religion. Watching Bastille Day carnage should stand as glaring proof that neither the U.S. nor EU have an effective counter-terrorism strategy against ISIS, al-Qaeda or other Wahhabi terror groups. Today’s attack in Nice calls for a new strategy.
Democratic presumptive nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed outrage over the attacks but cautioned against U.S. boots on the ground. Hillary called for more intelligence but not military force to fight against terror attacks.” Continuing President Barack Obama’s pre-Sept. 11 terrorism policy, Hillary proves she has no plan to deal with ISIS or any other terror group that threatens U.S. national security. Watching more terror attacks on U.S. soil, like the June 12 massacre in Orlando, Florida that killed 50, injuring 53, shows that Obama’s counter-terrorism strategy has failed. Hillary still thinks that today’s global terrorism is best left to law enforcement agencies, not the U.S. military. After Sept. 11, former President George W. Bush understood that the U.S. must take the battle to the enemy, mobilizing the U.S. military to fight terrorism.
Nearing his much-awaited running mate announcement, 70-year-old real estate mogul Donald Trump contrasted his approach to terror with Hillary. “This is war,” Trump declared to Fox News host Bill O’Reilley. Trump has promised at nearly every campaign stop he will actively pursue to eliminate ISIS and other terror groups that threaten U.S. national security with the U.S. military. “On behalf of all Americans, and especially the great many with close ties to France, I offer our deepest condolences to the friends and families of those who were killed and our hopes for a speedy recovery to those were injured,” said Kerry, offering only lip-service to a failed White House counter-terrorism strategy. No one, on either side of the Atlantic, can possibly think that letting ISIS and other terror groups have safe haven in Iraq and Syria over the last eight years hasn’t caused today’s problem.
