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In reply to the discussion: Afraid of ISIS? [View all]Turborama
(22,109 posts)105. American Jihadists in Syria Could Bring Fight Home U.S. Official (Olsen) Warns *cough*
What he was saying at the end of July, before he was seemingly handled...
ASPEN, Colo. The top U.S. counterterrorism official said that the brutal Syrian civil war poses an increasing threat to the American homeland after a recent spike in the number of foreign fighters engaging in the conflict, gaining battlefield experience they could potentially use against the United States and Europe.
=snip=
The counterterrorism chief said that the U.S. intelligence community's persistent difficulty in collecting detailed information about the fighting in Syria made it hard to trace the American and European militants once they made it to the battlefield.
Those challenges continue when the fighters return home. Olsen said it was difficult to identify and track those militants because they included both Syrians living in the United States and fighters from other ethnicities and nationalities. He said the Islamic State, which is leading the fighting in Syria, runs sophisticated English-language websites designed to help radicalize even larger numbers of Westerners and potentially convince them to join the battle.
Olsen said that once there, the militants would find a growing swath of territory inside both Syria and Iraq that is rapidly turning into a safe haven for militants interested in launching attacks both there and elsewhere in the world. He said there were senior al Qaeda leaders in Syria training foreign fighters and taking advantage of their ability to plan attacks elsewhere with little interference.
Syria, Olsen said, was providing safe havens that were starting "to be reminiscent of what we faced before 9/11 in Afghanistan."
Full article: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yoN-SMnha5oJ:complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/25/american_jihadists_in_syria_could_bring_fight_home_us_official_warns+&cd=1&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch
=snip=
The counterterrorism chief said that the U.S. intelligence community's persistent difficulty in collecting detailed information about the fighting in Syria made it hard to trace the American and European militants once they made it to the battlefield.
Those challenges continue when the fighters return home. Olsen said it was difficult to identify and track those militants because they included both Syrians living in the United States and fighters from other ethnicities and nationalities. He said the Islamic State, which is leading the fighting in Syria, runs sophisticated English-language websites designed to help radicalize even larger numbers of Westerners and potentially convince them to join the battle.
Olsen said that once there, the militants would find a growing swath of territory inside both Syria and Iraq that is rapidly turning into a safe haven for militants interested in launching attacks both there and elsewhere in the world. He said there were senior al Qaeda leaders in Syria training foreign fighters and taking advantage of their ability to plan attacks elsewhere with little interference.
Syria, Olsen said, was providing safe havens that were starting "to be reminiscent of what we faced before 9/11 in Afghanistan."
Full article: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:yoN-SMnha5oJ:complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/25/american_jihadists_in_syria_could_bring_fight_home_us_official_warns+&cd=1&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=ch
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Well, installing Saddam Hussein *did* keep radical-Muslims in check, didn't it?
BlueCaliDem
Sep 2014
#63
So then we went in and executed a million of THEM. Mostly Sunnis in the beginning.
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#7
Sorry about your hand, Polly, hope it heals quickly. Your posts are gold on this forum.
sabrina 1
Sep 2014
#95
and apparently it's also some people's duty to pretend there are no threats whatsoever.
KittyWampus
Sep 2014
#18
No, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pretend there is no possible threat.
KittyWampus
Sep 2014
#23
Well, more like coordinated limited military action and intelligence operations designed to
msanthrope
Sep 2014
#84
It is difficult to tell when the wolf is real, but having been deceived often does not mean
uppityperson
Sep 2014
#17
isis is not a secular state actor like saddam. its far more akin to al qaeda and emerged
La Lioness Priyanka
Sep 2014
#19
yeah a friend was just on facebook saying that they were "terrified of 9/11"
Horse with no Name
Sep 2014
#20
* "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" -- Presidential Daily Briefing. August 8, 2001
Nuclear Unicorn
Sep 2014
#33
For someone who supposedly makes his living through writing and analysis
Nuclear Unicorn
Sep 2014
#46
Islamic State is ABSOLUTELY an existential threat to the domestic security of the United States.
MohRokTah
Sep 2014
#41
Exactly. And for all we've given up to fund our "security state" in financing for social
suffragette
Sep 2014
#101
It is in the back in the mind when I am on the subeays, bridges, and crowds but
hrmjustin
Sep 2014
#50
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm more afraid of the RW crazies with
sinkingfeeling
Sep 2014
#51
American Jihadists in Syria Could Bring Fight Home U.S. Official (Olsen) Warns *cough*
Turborama
Sep 2014
#105
Yeah, there's also a strong possibility none of them plan to ever go back to the US
Turborama
Sep 2014
#122
Not only that, but those bloodthirsty Sandinistas are just a day's drive from Harlingen, Texas!
RufusTFirefly
Sep 2014
#70
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist."
pampango
Sep 2014
#82
If I thought we we were really innocent in all of this I might be dumbfounded too.
Live and Learn
Sep 2014
#104
Not in the least, and I'm about 4000 miles closer to them than you are.
Spider Jerusalem
Sep 2014
#109