If body counts are the measure of whether or not the world is winning or losing the war on terrorism, then a recent study indicates that we’re losing…badly.
According to the Global Terrorism Index, the number of people killed by terrorists rose 80 percent from 2013 to 2014. A total of 32,658 people were killed around the world in 2014. In the real world, this is bad news; but I’m sure the Obama administration and other Liberals will spin these tragic deaths at the hands of jihadis as, “human beings no longer pursuing life.”
It should be no surprise that the overwhelming number of attacks was committed by radical Islamic terrorists. President Obama’s JV team ISIS and Nigeria’s brutal Boko Haram combined for 51 percent of these murders.
Following the U.S. troop surge in Iraq in 2007, the number of terrorism related deaths worldwide were holding steady between 8,000 – 9,000. The trend began to rise significantly in 2011, when the Syrian civil war began. To date, it is estimated that between 25,000 – 30,000 foreign fighters have arrived in Syria and Iraq since 2011. This includes approximately 7,000 that arrived in the first half of 2015.
As the recent terror attacks in Paris have shown, a real danger exists, as these foreign fighters return to western countries to carry out jihad. The returning fighters will have military training, and will be battle-tested veterans. It’s a fairly sure bet that ISIS fighters are hidden among the hundreds of thousands of refugees flooding into Europe.
The sophistication of the terror attacks in Paris by ISIS is alarming, as reported in a Daily Mail article:
“The Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), which produced the index before Friday’s attacks in Paris, said the atrocity in the French capital had shown ISIS could now launch ‘sophisticated and deadly attacks’ in Europe.
The IEP’s executive chairman Steve Killelea said: ‘Terrorism is gaining momentum at an unprecedented pace.’
Mr Killelea said: ‘The flood of foreign fighters is not stopping.
‘Lone wolf terrorists tend to be less deadly than others and that’s simply because of the lack of military training. The returning fighters from Syria will have the military training.
The tactics of Isis are changing. They are targeting more private citizens.
It’s difficult – taking the time frame forward two years – to see the Isis threat disappearing.’”
The only way ISIS will disappear is if we make them disappear. They cannot be “contained,” as President Obama proclaimed before spiking the football hours before the Paris attacks. If Obama doesn’t have an epiphany and realize this, imagine what the year 2016 will look like in the Global Terrorism Index.
If there is a JV team in the War on Terror, Obama is its captain.
Follow James on Twitter @NY_2_Carolina
