In 2013, the mouth of hell opened and disgorged a new terror group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. First known as ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, it quickly spread its deadly tentacles even farther. The group morphed into ISIL, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and now has been shortened to IS or Islamic State.
A new acronym for the blood-thirsty bunch—Daesh—in Arabic it is: Al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. This roughly translates as “To trample down and crush” or “a bigot who imposes his view on others.” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was among the first to adopt this insulting slang:
This is a terrorist group and not a state. I do not recommend using the term Islamic State because it blurs the lines between Islam, Muslims and Islamists. The Arabs call it Daesh and I will be calling them the “Daesh cutthroats.” Read the article here.
Through all the name transformations, the organization has maintained its original footprint: horrific acts of terror designed to spread fear and revulsion. The ravening beasts smell blood and are on the hunt with the intent to destroy the world as we know it. This again proved to be true when a letter was publicly posted on the doors of various Swedish towns, including Stockholm, the capital city, threatening its citizens with beheading if they did not immediately convert to Islam.
The flyers stated simply but graphically:
In the name of Allah, the merciful, full of grace. You who are not believers will be decapitated in three days in your own house. We will bomb your rotten corpses afterwards. You must choose between these three choices: 1. Convert to Islam. 2. Pay the jizya [religious tax] for protection. 3. Or else, you will be decapitated. The police will not prevent or save you from you being murdered. (Death comes to all of you). Read the article here.
James Wright Foley, a thirty-year-old journalist, was beheaded in August 2014, the first American to face such heinous execution at the hands of ISIL. His death was followed in September by the death of Steven Joel Sotloff, also a victim of beheading. A forty-seven-year-old British aid worker, Alan Henning, and a French tourist and mountaineering guide, Herve Gourdel, were also beheaded by ISIL terrorists. A third US hostage, Peter Kassig, was beheaded by his ISIL captors in November 2014. Kayla Mueller was captured by ISIS operatives while working with Doctors without Borders. She was reportedly killed when the building in which she was held was bombed.
The December attack in San Bernardino, California was the deadliest on U.S. soil since 9/11. The self-radicalized couple, Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, killed 14 and injured 21 others in the deadly attack. Days later, the FBI announced that it had labeled the incident as an “act of terrorism.” While IS hailed the two as “martyrs” and “supporters” it failed to claim responsibility for the assault.
In a joyful press release following the November 2015 Paris massacre that left 130 dead, ISIS celebrated its victory over the city it called, “The lead carrier of the cross.” The group declared, “Allah granted victory upon their hands and cast terror into the hearts of the crusaders in their very own homeland.” Read the article here.
Today, great darkness surrounds the West and the Middle East. Everywhere embedded terrorists pledging allegiance to the IS are watching and waiting for the opportunity spring into action and take the lives of one or hundreds. It matters not to them; even a single instance of terror brings the desired result: fear.
I predicted the rise of the Islamic State in my #1 New York Times bestseller, The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution While the World Sleeps. On the back cover, I wrote that an Islamic revolution was spreading and was on the brink of becoming America’s greatest threat since the Civil War.
Perhaps we should take note of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s March 4, 1933 Inaugural address in which he challenged:
“So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes the needed effort to bring about needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Read the article here.
