The Islamic State is desperately lashing out in Europe because its base in the Middle East is rapidly eroding, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday in Brussels, where he traveled to demonstrate the United States’ support for Belgium three days after bombs killed 31 people, including at least two Americans.
“We will not be intimidated, we will not be deterred,” Mr. Kerry said, directly addressing Islamic State militants who have struck Paris; Ankara, Turkey; Tunis; San Bernardino, Calif.; and elsewhere. “And we will come back with greater resolve, with greater strength, and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of this earth.”
Mr. Kerry, standing next to Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium, said that 66 nations, including Belgium, had joined a coalition devoted to fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
“The very reason that Daesh is resorting to actions outside of the Middle East is that its fantasy of a caliphate is collapsing before their eyes,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the organization. “Its territory is shrinking every day, its leaders are being decimated, its revenue resources are dwindling, and its fighters are fleeing,” he said.
Mr. Kerry said that “basic decency and humanity” were the most effective responses to terrorism. He singled out Dr. Laura Billiet, an American who rushed to a police station after bombs ripped through Brussels Airport, and who immediately set up triage operations, tending to victims with burns and shrapnel wounds, with limited supplies at hand. “No statement could be simpler, and yet no statement could really be more powerful,” he said.
Mr. Kerry confirmed that at least two American citizens were among thedead in Brussels, although their names have not been made public.
I guess if the Eiffel Tower is blown up it would mean ISIS is defeated….
More at the NY Times, if you can stop laughing long enough to click on it.
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kitt
8 years ago
Wait a minute I havent finished celebrating the killing of a couple of top cockroaches by toasting the event with my kool-aid and now this news! Filler-up, this is like VJ day. Get the ticker tape ready.
another vet
8 years ago
@kitt: They told us the same crap after OBL was killed. Now AQ has been assessed to be stronger than at any time since 9/11. This administration has no credibility.
another vet
8 years ago
It really looks like the caliphate is collapsing and they can’t wage their campaign in the ME.
@another vet: But… But the Tango and and …(cup drop) Darn it that was cherry Kool-aid nuthing on the planet gets those stains out. Oh wait what about a carpet bomb. 😛
Randy
8 years ago
Kerry was made the Sec of State to make Hills bungles look good! Looks like they will have to nominate Debbie W Shultz to make Kerry look good,.
Greg
8 years ago
What Kerry says is true. ISIS has been under a continuous military assault since August 2014. Twenty to thirty-thousand of their fighters have been killed. Their leadership cadre have been methodically targeted and annihilated. Their economic base is under attack.
This sort of war can’t be won the way wars between nation states are won. Any leader who imagines that it can be, and who acted accordingly, would be setting our nation up for another prolonged blood-letting. Some part of it would be actual blood, but most of it would be economic. We could easily divert trillions more into another decade of economically draining effort, only to find ourselves exactly where we started at the end. That’s the way Rome falls.
The entire point of the terrorist attacks is to lure the West into the sort of confrontation that it can’t win. How the West can win is by staying firm in its resolve, while representing the sort of life that’s plainly better in every way. That’s what scares the crap out of a pack of medieval religious fanatics; knowing that, in the end, everything they stand for will be hated and rejected by any reasonable human being.
Arriving at that point will take a long time. None of us will likely ever see it. This is the time we’ve been given. There have been far worse and worse may be yet to come. That’s the truth, as I see it.
Randy
8 years ago
It is truly amazing how many ignorant people continue to drink the Kool-Aire. Kerry’s logic is like pouring water on the neighbor’s house while your own house is burning. Because we are using a lot of water and firemen next door, then your house will not burn? How stupid is that strategy! I think that the Dems should be concerned with the gun laws they are proposing. If people with mental deficiencies will not be allowed to have a gun, John Kerry and a whole lot of others will be defenseless.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, the U.S.-led coalition’s deputy commander for operations and intelligence, said recent airstrikes against ISIS cash storage facilities have “fractured” the group.
“In every single way their morale is being broken, in every single way their capability to wage war is broken, and in every single way way we will take this fight and eradicate this cancer,” he added. Gersten also said the desertion rates among ISIS fighters have risen.
The rate of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria has dropped to just 200 per month, down from 1,500-2,000 a year ago, a senior military officer from Baghdad told Fox News during a press briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten, the U.S.-led coalition’s deputy commander for operations and intelligence, said recent airstrikes against ISIS cash storage facilities have “fractured” the group.
“In every single way their morale is being broken, in every single way their capability to wage war is broken, and in every single way way we will take this fight and eradicate this cancer,” he added. Gersten also said the desertion rates among ISIS fighters have risen.
Meanwhile, a year and a half behind the curve, Congress considers springing into action:
The announcement came as House lawmakers considered a bill aimed at weakening terror recruitment efforts.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., would urge the Department of Homeland Security to use testimonials from former or estranged jihadis, like the State Department has, to effectively counter the ISIS message.
Yep. Urging the production of testimonials should do the trick. Meanwhile, over a year after it was submitted, the republican-controlled House still hasn’t gotten around to discussing or voting on Obama’s request for authorization to use military force against ISIS.
Wait a minute I havent finished celebrating the killing of a couple of top cockroaches by toasting the event with my kool-aid and now this news! Filler-up, this is like VJ day. Get the ticker tape ready.
@kitt: They told us the same crap after OBL was killed. Now AQ has been assessed to be stronger than at any time since 9/11. This administration has no credibility.
It really looks like the caliphate is collapsing and they can’t wage their campaign in the ME.
http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/world/2016/03/26/82290926/
@another vet: But… But the Tango and and …(cup drop) Darn it that was cherry Kool-aid nuthing on the planet gets those stains out. Oh wait what about a carpet bomb. 😛
Kerry was made the Sec of State to make Hills bungles look good! Looks like they will have to nominate Debbie W Shultz to make Kerry look good,.
What Kerry says is true. ISIS has been under a continuous military assault since August 2014. Twenty to thirty-thousand of their fighters have been killed. Their leadership cadre have been methodically targeted and annihilated. Their economic base is under attack.
This sort of war can’t be won the way wars between nation states are won. Any leader who imagines that it can be, and who acted accordingly, would be setting our nation up for another prolonged blood-letting. Some part of it would be actual blood, but most of it would be economic. We could easily divert trillions more into another decade of economically draining effort, only to find ourselves exactly where we started at the end. That’s the way Rome falls.
The entire point of the terrorist attacks is to lure the West into the sort of confrontation that it can’t win. How the West can win is by staying firm in its resolve, while representing the sort of life that’s plainly better in every way. That’s what scares the crap out of a pack of medieval religious fanatics; knowing that, in the end, everything they stand for will be hated and rejected by any reasonable human being.
Arriving at that point will take a long time. None of us will likely ever see it. This is the time we’ve been given. There have been far worse and worse may be yet to come. That’s the truth, as I see it.
It is truly amazing how many ignorant people continue to drink the Kool-Aire. Kerry’s logic is like pouring water on the neighbor’s house while your own house is burning. Because we are using a lot of water and firemen next door, then your house will not burn? How stupid is that strategy! I think that the Dems should be concerned with the gun laws they are proposing. If people with mental deficiencies will not be allowed to have a gun, John Kerry and a whole lot of others will be defenseless.
From FOX News, April 26, 2016: ISIS foreign recruitment plummets as airstrikes destroy its cash supplies
The rate of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria has dropped to just 200 per month, down from 1,500-2,000 a year ago, a senior military officer from Baghdad told Fox News during a press briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a year and a half behind the curve, Congress considers springing into action:
Yep. Urging the production of testimonials should do the trick. Meanwhile, over a year after it was submitted, the republican-controlled House still hasn’t gotten around to discussing or voting on Obama’s request for authorization to use military force against ISIS.
And another one bites the dust…
May 22, 2016: Taliban Chief Targeted by Drone Strike in Pakistan, Signaling a U.S. Shift
May 25, 2016: Taliban Confirm Death of Leader, Mullah Mansour, in U.S. Drone Strike