A Bloody Month of Jihad Politicians may want to look away, but al Qaeda and ISIS aren’t done.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bloody-month-of-jihad-11547769108
The Trump Administration says Islamic State has been defeated, and it is moving ahead with its withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria and reducing America’s antiterror commitments in Africa. Meantime, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel is replacing a terrorism subcommittee with one focused on investigating what he apparently thinks is a bigger threat: Donald Trump.
The world’s terrorists don’t seem to have received this news that they’ve been defeated, as a spate of recent attacks around the globe shows.
• On Wednesday a suicide bomber killed two American soldiers, one civilian Pentagon employee and a Defense Department contractor, as well as 15 allied fighters and civilians, in Manbij, Syria. Islamic State took responsibility for the attack and claimed it specifically targeted Americans. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says the incident shows that Mr. Trump’s retreat and declarations of victory in Syria are emboldening jihadists—and he’s probably right.
• Also on Wednesday federal prosecutors charged a 21-year-old Georgia man with planning to attack the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and a synagogue. According to a criminal complaint, Hasher Jallal Taheb planned to form an assault group armed with guns, homemade bombs, an antitank weapon and hand grenades.
The man had “a hand-drawn diagram of the ground floor of the West Wing” and noted “the areas where the Secret Service and Homeland Security operated in the White House,” the complaint says. Credit the FBI for stopping him, but it shows that the threat from ISIS-inspired homegrown jihadists continues.
• On Tuesday militants from al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked group based in Somalia, attacked a hotel and office complex in Nairobi, Kenya. The 18-hour rampage killed at least 21 people, including American businessman and 9/11 survivor Jason Spindler.
• A Taliban suicide bomber hit a foreign compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday. Four people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Since word leaked that Mr. Trump may withdraw some or all U.S. forces in Afghanistan, ISIS and the Taliban have ramped up attacks and peace talks with the Taliban have faltered.
• Fighters from Islamic State in West Africa stormed a Nigerian military base on Sunday. The following day militants attacked a military-controlled refugee town, causing thousands of civilians to flee.
• The decapitated bodies of two young Scandinavian women were found in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains on Dec. 17. Several terrorists loyal to ISIS shared video of the killings on social media. Moroccan authorities have arrested some 20 people in connection with the attack, which Danish intelligence calls “an act of terror.”
• On Dec. 11 a French national of Algerian ancestry killed five people and wounded 11 near a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France. Chérif Chekatt, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, died in a shootout with police two days later.
Americans at home are fortunate to have been spared successful recent attacks, thanks to programs put in place by George W. Bush and sustained since. But the lack of such a moment also can breed the complacency that Mr. Engel is showing. He knows the way to make news now is to investigate Mr. Trump, not jihad.
Alas, the terrorists still want to kill Mr. Engel’s fellow Americans any chance they get. The best way to keep the homeland safe is to keep the pressure on terrorists abroad. If Islamic State revives, or if there is another major attack, Mr. Trump’s claims of victory will run as an endless cable-TV loop.
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