London tube bombing: PM says terror threat level raised to critical
By Ian Cobain, Vikram Dodd and Haroon Siddique
I’m Jack Keane, retired four-star general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and a member of The Cipher Brief network. In the wake of the Manchester attack, how do we fight ISIS? As President Donald Trump attends his first NATO meeting, what role can the alliance play? What should Nato’s strategy be elsewhere in Afghanistan and Russia? Here’s my perspective In My Own Words, no holds barred.
3,000 jihadis on the streets of Britain: Spies and counter-terror police are struggling to monitor a flood of radicalised men and women in their teens
By Ian Drury
More than 3,000 jihadis are in the UK – stretching the country’s security services to breaking point. Spies and counter-terror police are struggling to monitor a flood of suspects, mainly radicalised men and women in their teens and early 20s. About 850 Britons are thought to have gone abroad to fight with so-called Islamic State as they took control of large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. Although more than 100 have been killed, around half have returned home with battle experience and training in the use of explosives and firearms.
London terror: Make no mistake, police scored a victory in latest attack
By Judith Miller
Eight minutes. That’s how long it took London police to confront and kill three terrorists after responding to reports of a white van mowing down people on London Bridge and a stabbing spree in nearby Borough Market. The toll is terrible: 7 dead and at least 48 wounded. But make no mistake. Amid the carnage and mayhem of this latest Saturday night massacre, England’s third terrorist attack in less than three months, the British police responded impressively. Their counter-assault was swift, and deadly. The knife-wielding perpetrators, wearing fake suicide vests, were quickly neutralized.
Rest peacefully, Countess Mountbatten: An inspiration on coping with grief, and terror
By Lee Cohen - NY Director of the Anglosphere Society
Terrorism is among the most repugnant of human atrocities, and sadly as society progresses, its specter does not seem to wane. The passing this week at 93 of Patricia Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who lost both a father and a son in a 1979 terrorist explosion, serves as a reminder of the staggering toll that evil can inflict. But from her life and example we can take inspiration about coping with grief and moving forward even after having been touched by inexplicable evil. On August 27, 1979, IRA terrorists assassinated Lord Louis Mountbatten and his grandson Nicholas (Patricia’s son), as well as two others, by exploding a bomb aboard his family’s motor launch at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland.
New York City Submits to Islam
By GJudith Bergman
On October 31, Sayfullo Saipov, a Muslim immigrant from Uzbekistan, shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" ("Allah is the greatest!") as he rammed his rented truck into 20 people in downtown Manhattan, killing eight and wounding twelve more. The truck-ramming attack, a terrorist tactic popularized by jihadists in Israel, then Europe, was the deadliest terror attack in New York since September 11, 2001. Click Here to read more
ISIS to Afghanistan: What Role Can NATO Play?
By General Keane
I’m Jack Keane, retired four-star general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and a member of The Cipher Brief network. In the wake of the Manchester attack, how do we fight ISIS? As President Donald Trump attends his first NATO meeting, what role can the alliance play? What should Nato’s strategy be elsewhere in Afghanistan and Russia? Here’s my perspective In My Own Words, no holds barred.
Sen. John McCain, Ill With Brain Cancer, Tells Western Allies 'I Am Counting on You... to Never Give Up'
By Sen. John McCain
Cindy McCain accepted an award on behalf of her husband John McCain, who is ill with brain cancer, on Saturday night at the Munich Security Conference. She read a letterfrom her husband in which the Republican Senator and longtime foreign policy hawk urges America’s allies to stand by the values that won the Cold War. Click Here to read more
The special relationship between the UK and America makes the world a safer place
By Sen. Orrin Hatch
"Your problems will be our problems, and when you look for friends, we shall be there." I thought about this promise made by Margaret Thatcher to Ronald Reagan during my official visit to London this week. The United States and the United Kingdom share a powerful alliance that is unique among nations. Click Here to read more
ISIS's Expanding Campaign in Europe
By Jennifer Cafarella with Jason Zhou
ISIS’s attack campaign in Europe is expanding despite ISIS’s losses of terrain and senior leadership in the Middle East and North Africa. ISIS continues to plan, resource, and execute attacks from its remaining safe havens in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. ISIS has successfully expanded its coordinated attack campaign in Europe to target the UK and Spain....ISIS also appears increasingly successful at inspiring low-level attacks in Europe despite its territorial losses, indicating its messaging is still resonant. ISIS’s campaign in Europe will continue and may even increase despite its losses in Iraq and Syria.
Polish PM on Manchester Attack: ‘Europe, Rise from Your Knees or You’ll Be Crying over Your Children Every Day’
By Donna Rachel Edmunds
The prime minister of Poland has launched a blistering attack on the “political elites” of Europe in the wake of the Manchester terror attack, warning the continent must put in place “strong politicians” willing to tackle the threat or risk “crying over your children”.
Carnage at Westminster -as parliamentarians hear from some of those who face terror every day of their lives
By David Alton
During the morning sittings in both Houses, there was a united and wholly unambiguous message that those who would destroy our democracy and fundamental freedoms will not succeed. But in the sombre atmosphere that inevitably prevailed, it wasn’t quite business as usual. And we always need to remind ourselves that this is not the first, and will not be the last attack on Westminster – both on the buildings and on the values which are its foundation stones.
London terror attack: ISIS claims responsibility for deadly rampage outside Parliament building
By FOX News
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terror attack that left four people dead, including the assailant and a police officer, outside of London’s Parliament building on Wednesday, according to the Amaq media agency. "The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British Parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition," the Amaq statement said. The claim of responsibility comes fewer than 24 hours after a man driving an SUV plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near the Parliament building.
Marching for Terrorism in London? No Problem
By Judith Bergman
On Sunday June 10 in London, the yearly so-called Al Quds Day march -- Al Quds is the Arabic name for both Jerusalem and for the day, invented by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led Iran's 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah -- will take place. The march is, basically, a call for the destruction of Israel, sometimes also Jews in general. Many other cities, among them Toronto, Berlin and Tehran, will also be "celebrating" the day. Last year in London, around 1000 people waved countless Hezbollah flags, in honor of Iran's proxy terrorist organization, while chanting slogans such as "Zionists/ISIS are the same, only difference is the name" and "From the river to the sea - Palestine will be free". They also carried banners that said, "We are all Hezbollah," (what a comforting thought for the British). Click Here to read more
WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets
By Matthew Moore, Gordon Rayner and Christopher
The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week. Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.
After Two Attacks in England in Two Months, the Religion Question
By Fr. Benedict Kiely
It's high time the terror-driven ideology is identified and named — in order to defeat it Another month, another murderous attack in Europe by violent Islamist extremism. Targeting teenagers, mainly young girls, at a “teeny-bopper” concert in Manchester, England, the Islamists, and the ideology underpinning their violence, may seem to have reached the very depths of evil.
Getting Brexit Done Brings Defense Challenges
By Tony Osborne
Boris Johnson’s election landslide on Dec. 12 makes Brexit on Jan. 31 a certainty. But as the chants of “Get Brexit Done”—a slogan used by the Conservative party in their election messaging—fade away, Britain’s place in the world appears infinitely more vulnerable. Johnson’s parliamentary majority means he can now sweep aside any opposition to pursue his vision of Brexit. But he was not the only victor.
The Scottish National Party secured 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats, which the party says is a mandate for a second independence vote. If it were to succeed, there would be far-reaching consequences to Britain’s national defense capability. Scotland is home to strategically important air bases and, most significantly, the UK’s Trident-based nuclear deterrent. Johnson is unlikely to approve such a referendum at least in the short-term, but the Scottish nationalists could make life difficult for his government, and preventing a referendum could be seen as undemocratic. Click Here to read more
An attack on our democracy
By Daniel Hannan
When terrorists struck at the United States in 2001, they targeted the stock exchange, symbol of that country’s merchant success. Today, in the United Kingdom, they targeted Parliament. “Parliament,” Enoch Powell used to say, “is a word of magic and power in this country”. Our national story is, in a sense, the story of a great hall on a bend in the Thames. Successive chapters in that story – the Reformation, the Civil War, the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution – were experienced at least partly as parliamentary events.
London attack: what we know so far
By Haroon Siddique
The investigation into a terrorist attack outside the Houses of Parliament in London is continuing. Here is what the Guardian has been able to confirm so far:
- Four people have died, including a police officer and the attacker.
- Police say 29 other people were treated in hospital, seven of whom are in a critical condition.
- The assailant drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two people, before crashing it outside parliament and trying to enter the complex, armed with a knife.
- He stabbed an unarmed police officer who later died from the injuries, before armed police shot him. The police officer was identified as 48-year-old PC Keith Palmer, who had 15 years of service with the parliamentary and diplomatic protection service. He was a husband and father, police said.
- Another victim was named as Aysha Frade, 43, who worked as a teacher in London. The mother-of-two had family in Betanzos, Galicia, in north-west Spain, and her death was confirmed by the mayor of the town.
France: A Decomposing Civilization
By Giulio Meotti
France is about to commemorate the victims of the terror attacks of November 13, 2015. What has been achieved in the two years since the attacks? The French authorities are sending compensation to more than 2,500 victims of the jihadist attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, who will be compensated with 64 million euros. Click Here to read more
Sniper takes out ISIS executioner from a mile away
By Emily Saul
A sharpshooter killed a top ISIS executioner and three other jihadists with a single bullet from nearly a mile away — just seconds before the fiend was set to burn 12 hostages alive with a flamethrower, according to a new report. The British Special Air Service marksman turned one of the most hated terrorists in Syria into a fireball by using a Barrett .50-caliber rifle to strike a fuel tank affixed to the jihadi’s back, the UK’s Daily Star reported Sunday.
Marine Corps dog who lost leg in Afghanistan awarded gallantry medal
By Michael Walsh
A bomb-sniffing German shepherd who lost her leg while protecting allied soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan was honored with the prestigious Dickin Medal. The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), a British veterinary charity, announced Monday that Lucca, a 12-year-old U.S. Marine Corps dog, would receive the medal — considered the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross — for protecting the lives of thousands of allied troops during six years of active service in the Middle East. She completed more than 400 missions, and there were no human casualties on her patrols.
On Defining Religion
By Nonie Darwish
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said that President Donald Trump's 90-day ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries is "a religiously based ban," and "if they can ban Muslims, why can't they ban Mormons." This has become the position of the Democratic Party and the mainstream media, which has influenced not only the American public but has convinced the majority of the world that America is "bad." How can we blame the world, and even a good segment of American citizens, for hating America when such disingenuous and misleading claims are aired to the world from US officials and broadcast by American television channels?
Strengthening the ties between the United States, United Kingdom, and the English speaking world.
The Anglosphere Society
Terrorist plot to assassinate British PM foiled
By Joe Tacopino
British intelligence have reportedly foiled a plot by Islamic extremists to assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May. The disrupted plot against May included an explosive device that terrorists planned to detonate in front of May’s residence on Downing Street, according to Sky News. “It is in essence an extreme Islamist suicide plot against Downing Street,” Sky correspondent Martin Brunt said. “Essentially police believe that the plan was to launch some sort of improvised explosive device at Downing Street and in the ensuing chaos attack and kill Theresa May, the Prime Minister.” Click Here to read more
Britain gets it right. Twice. What gives?
By Melanie Phillips
Extraordinary! The British government has started making bold and good moves. No fewer than two such sets of developments have been spotted in as many days. On Sunday, at the Paris conference called to get the Middle East peace process back on track stick the knife into Israel good and proper before Obama leaves the White House, Theresa May’s government refused to sign its closing statement.
Jihadists as the Elite Troops of Islam
By Suzanne Schröter
The latest attacks in Spain, England, France, Belgium, Germany and Finland demonstrate, with absolute clarity, that the military defeat of ISIS in no way signifies an end to Islamist violence. Rather, it appears that the infamous “call for a global Islamic resistance”—which the jihadi strategist Abu Musad al-Suri issued in 2005—is now being implemented, after some delay.
MP breaks down as he pays tribute to his friend Pc Keith Palmer amid calls for posthumous honour
By Christopher Hope
A Conservative MP was on the edge of tears as he paid tribute to Pc Keith Palmer who he met as “Gunner Palmer” when they served in the Army 25 years ago. James Cleverly said Pc Palmer was “a strong, professional public servant and it was a delight to meet him here again only a few months after being elected”. Pc Palmer was killed in the terrorist attack in Westminster on Wednesday.
Europe's Catholic, Orthodox leaders say they'll stand against terrorism
By Jonathan Luxmoore - Catholic News Service
OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Catholic and Orthodox leaders have pledged to stand together against fundamentalism and terrorism, as well as resisting forces working to erode and destroy religious belief in Europe.
"Terrorist violence against people considered unbelievers or infidels is the extreme degree of religious intolerance -- we unreservedly condemn it and deplore that such acts have developed in the soil of a misguided religious culture," the church representatives said in a joint message Jan. 13.
Are Jihadists Taking over Europe?
By Giulio Meotti
In the four European countries most targeted by terror attacks -- Britain, France, Belgium and Germany -- the number of official extremists has reached 66,000. That sounds like a real army, on active duty. Intelligence officers have identified 23,000 Islamic extremists living in Britain as potential terrorists.
Catholic Archbishop: Europe Will Be Muslim in 10 Years 'Because of Our Stupidity'
By Michael W. Chapman
Because of their "stupidity," "pagan and atheist" ways, and "laws that go against God," Italy and all of Europe will be Muslim in about 10 years, said Monsignor Carlo Liberati, the Catholic archbishop emeritus of Pompeii. "Italy and Europe live in a pagan and atheist way," he said, and "they make laws that go against God and follows practices that are proper to paganism."
CHILLING: ISIS Threatens Christmas Attack on the Pope and the Vatican
By Dale Hurd
A poster by the pro-ISIS Wafa Media Foundation shows a terrorist driving towards St Peter's Basilica in Rome with a gun and a backpack inside his car. At the top of the poster is the message 'Christmas blood' with the line 'so wait...' written in red underneath. Christmas has become a time of heightened terrorist threats in the West. Last year, on December 15, an ISIS terrorist drove a truck into a Berlin festival market, killing 12 and injuring 56. Click Here to read more
The Spectre Of Mayor Khan's Islamist London
By DANIEL JOHNSON
On a crisp, sunlit morning in March, I ceased to feel at home in London. It dawned on me that the city where I had been born 58 years ago was no longer safe.
I was walking past two men at a stall outside my local Underground station. Their beards and dress revealed them as Salafists; they were proselytising for their fundamentalist form of Islam. My face must have betrayed my anxiety, because they started pointing and talking while I entered the station. As I looked round, both men were grinning at me. Why did I find their presence disquieting?
General Jack Keane's testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security for the hearing: ISIS-Post Caliphate: Threat Implications for America and the West. (May 2018)
Storm Clouds: Security and intelligence agencies express renewed concern about the terrorist threat.
By TAS member Judith Miller
In his first testimony before a Senate committee, FBI director Christopher A. Wray revealed that the bureau is now investigating 2,000 terrorism cases—an equal number of cases involving radical-Islamic-directed or inspired terror and cases of violence being planned or conducted by white supremacists or other racially motivated extremists. Wednesday’s testimony marks the first time that the FBI has divulged that it has about the same number of both types of cases.
On the Future of ISIS
By REV. JAMES V. SCHALL, S.J.
What exactly has been defeated in the recent battles against ISIS? The relative success of ISIS in recent years has been made possible largely by the failure of its opponents to understand what it is. Its military successes in the Near East and in the worldwide turmoil caused by frequent suicide bombings, shootings, and truck crashings (as we saw in New York this week) can hardly be unknown anyplace in the world. Click Here to read more