And just like that, ISIS is back.
It’s really no coincidence that as soon as strong-on-foreign-policy Donald Trump exited the White House office and weak-with-overseas-players Joe Biden entered that headlines started blasting this: “ISIS could regain capacity to orchestrate attacks in 2021.”
It’s what happens when cupcakes lead: Evil flourishes.
“The threat posed by ISIS to international peace and security is one the rise again,” said Vladimir Voronkov, the under-secretary-general of the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism, in a briefing to the Security Council reported by The Economic Times.
“It is crucial that member states remain focused and united to counter it,” he went on, “despite the strains and competing priorities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He blamed the virus for the sudden resurgence of ISIS, even though Trump dealt with the virus for an entire year, absent the resurgence of ISIS.
“Its core in Iraq and Syria and its affiliates in other conflict zones have continued to take advantage of the disruption caused by the virus to step up their operations, with a number of high-profile attacks,” Voronkov said.
On Jan. 21, for example, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Baghdad that left dozens dead.
And now Kurds are fleeing Iraq.
“Kurds Warn of Growing Islamic State Capabilities in Iraq,” Voice of America just reported.
What a difference an administration makes.
“We crushed the caliphate,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in September 2020.
“President Trump unleashed our capabilities, our military, our intelligence capabilities, all of our diplomatic efforts,” he said. “We built a coalition of 80-plus countries, and we crushed the caliphate.”
Then came November 2020. Then came an American election. Then came a new face in the White House.
Then came Biden.
“An Islamist insurgency in Mozambique is gaining ground — and showing a strong allegiance to the Islamic State,” The Washington Post wrote, post-election, on Nov. 13.
“Islamic State group claims responsibility for delay twin bombing in Baghdad,” France 24 wrote in January.
Sigh.
Weakness in the White House.
Once again.
It won’t be long before the headlines mirror those of Barack Obama days.
“ISIS: We will raise our flag in the White House,” The Week wrote in August of 2014.
“Teen vows to raise ISIS flag over W.H.,” CNN reported in October of 2014.
“Why Won’t Obama Say ‘Radical Islam?’” NBC News wrote in June of 2016.
A weak White House leader makes the entire world less safe.
And this is just Biden’s first few weeks.
Story cited here.
