After the horrific attack March 22nd ISIS-K terrorist attack in Moscow, where gunners massacred 143 concertgoers at the Crocus Concert Hall, concerns are mounting in the United States that emboldened terrorists will attack the homeland and will exploit the porous southern border to do so.
Former head of U.S. Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie said Sunday that ISIS has a “strong desire” to attack America and Europe and is most likely plotting actions at this very moment.
"We should believe them when they say that. They're going to try to do it," retired Gen. Frank McKenzie told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
"I think the threat is growing," McKenzie continued, pointing to the dangers from affiliates like ISIS-K after the broader group took responsibility for a deadly attack in Moscow earlier this month.The group also said it was behind a mass bombing in Iran in January.
"It begun to grow as soon as we left Afghanistan, it took pressure off ISIS-K. So I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners and other nations abroad," McKenzie said.
"I think this is inevitable."
Watch:
ISIS has a "strong desire" to attack the U.S. and other foreign powers, retired Gen. Frank McKenzie warns.
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 31, 2024
"I think we should expect further attempts of this nature against the United States as well as our partners...I think this is inevitable." https://t.co/8iiAqoNpf5 pic.twitter.com/Dq9vwiJsuf
McKenzie also said on the broadcast that Russia might have been able to avoid the attack if they’d listened to our intelligence warnings.
See:
Could Russia Have Averted the Moscow Concert Hall Attack?
He continued, saying that our chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal only heightened the risk because now we can’t keep tabs on terror groups in the country:
But he still believes the U.S. should have kept a small troop presence in Afghanistan rather than withdrawing completely in August 2021, bringing an end to America's longest war.
Though President Joe Biden has previously maintained there would be an "over-the-horizon capability" to "act quickly and decisively" in Afghanistan, even from afar, McKenzie disputed that.
"In Afghanistan, we have almost no ability to see into that country and almost no ability to strike into that country," he said of the conditions on the ground now.
That is a boon to the Islamic State and similar such militants, he said.
Meanwhile, an intelligence official who wished to remain anonymous sounded similar alarms and pointed out that terrorists would try to take advantage of our porous southern border. The official told the NY Post:
The ultra-violent offshoot of the Islamic State terror group is growing “bolder,” and its members may try to take advantage of the chaos at the US-Mexico border and seek out a “bigger” target, a current federal official told The Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“An attack on US soil is definitely a possibility,” said the source. “It would certainly send a message.”
ISIS-K could slip through US border and carry out Moscow-style attack, US official warns https://t.co/nlg4nqlIzR pic.twitter.com/0ax3TXrVcv
— New York Post (@nypost) March 31, 2024
We live in dangerous times, and an attack is a very real possibility, given that our president has opened the borders to virtually anyone who wants to stroll across. It still shocks me that as an American citizen, I have to prove my identity several times, unpack my carry-on, and take off my shoes just to get on an airplane, but unidentified, unvetted people are crossing the border in the millions since Biden took over.
How does this make sense?
See also:
It Will Happen Here, and It's Only a Matter of Time (VIP)
'They'll Do It Here in the Homeland': Rubio on Moscow Attack and ISIS-K
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