Jihadist Terror Strikes America Once Again
Early Sunday morning, jihadist terror struck America once again.
In the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11/2001, Omar Mir Seddique Mateen – an American citizen born to Afghan parents – walked into an Orlando night club, reportedly yelling “allahu Akbar” as he massacred 49 of our fellow Americans, injuring dozens more. He called 911 and pledged allegiance to ISIS – the Islamic State – as he was carrying out the attack and numerous ISIS entities have celebrated the attack and claimed credit. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
How many more Americans must be slaughtered before we realize that ISIS and other radical Islamic terrorist organizations around the world are at war with us? They want to kill as many Americans as possible.
They want to destroy us because we believe in freedom and pluralism. Until we acknowledge the threat, name the enemy, and move to eliminate this threat, they will continue their war against America.
Until we fix our systemic problems within our failed intelligence agencies and until we are willing to recognize the true nature of the enemy we face, this will keep happening. Just like the terrorist attacks at Fort Hood and San Bernardino, there were security failures in this case leading up to the Orlando terrorist attack.
We now know that Mateen had been under FBI investigation twice and interviewed by the FBI numerous times. The Wall Street Journal has more details on these disturbingly dangerous developments:
Omar Mateen, a U.S.-born son of Afghan immigrants, was already known to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which twice investigated him over hints of radical leanings before closing those cases as inconclusive. …
Mr. Mateen’s call echoed FBI concerns about him in 2013, “when he made inflammatory remarks to co-workers alleging possible terrorist ties,” said Ronald Hopper, an FBI official in Orlando. The bureau, “thoroughly investigated the matter, including interviews of witnesses, physical surveillance, and records checks,” he said, and “ultimately, we were unable to verify the substance of his comments and the investigation was closed.”
What triggered the 2013 investigation, said officials briefed on it, were “wild” claims he made to co-workers about having family and friends in al Qaeda and Hezbollah, and connections to the Boston Marathon bombers. When FBI agents first questioned him, he didn’t admit to making the claims and didn’t have a full understanding of the terrorist groups, they said, suggesting he was making up his claims.
When FBI agents questioned him again, he admitted to making the statements, saying it was simply bluster and he hadn’t known what he was talking about, officials said. Those earlier claims have fueled doubts regarding Mr. Mateen’s assertion about acting on behalf of Islamic State.
The second investigation in 2014 centered on possible connections with Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, the first American who traveled to Syria and carried out a radical jihadist suicide bombing.
Despite making statements about ties to terrorist organizations and possible connections with a known American jihadist, Mateen was able to carry out the largest terrorist attack since 9/11.
This is a fundamental failure that resulted in dozens of lives lost. This is yet another example of the Obama Administration’s refusal to realize we are in an ideological war.
President Obama tells us ISIS is on the run when it is actually on the rise. President Obama tells us that they do not pose an existential threat because Americans, as he puts it, are more likely to be killed in car accidents or bathtubs than they are by ISIS.
Tell that to the victims and their families in Orlando.
It doesn’t matter whether this was ISIS-directed or ISIS-inspired because the ideological hatred of America and the West has resulted in too much bloodshed of our fellow Americans.
We’ve had enough political correctness that results in scrubbing national security briefing materials of terms describing radical Islamic terrorism.
We’ve had enough of the Obama Administration refusing to name our enemy.
We’ve had enough American bloodshed.
We’ve had enough security failures.
It’s time to act decisively and definitively to destroy ISIS and its radical Islamic ideology. It’s time to eliminate these terrorists once and for all.
Stand with the ACLJ and sign on to our Petition to Defeat and Destroy ISIS.