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LT Col. Scott Mann : San Bernardino Shooting : We Need a New Definition for Terrorism in America

San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook

San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook
December 04,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Scott Mann, is a former Lt. Col and Green Beret. He is the CEO of Mission America and author of the best selling novel “Game Changers”.

He spent 23 years in the Army Special Forces Career involved in Foreign Internal Defense, Counter-insurgency, and Stability Missions. He served in the Special Operations for over 18 years and has been a Green Beret for over 15 years in combat deployments in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan.

–            Experience in targeting Al Quida foreign fighters

–            Designed and implemented strategy in Afghanistan that could defeat ISIS now

–            Still teaches Green Berets, FBI, and Law Enforcement on ISIS vulnerabilities He is one of the only former Lt. Col’s that is actively still involved in the day-to-day transition of Green Berets from active duty into civilian life.

He has been quoted frequently and seen on MSNBC with Alex Witt, Fox News, Fox News Radio, among other high profile media appearances. As a reminder, he is based in Tampa and can come in via Satellite or Skype.

Statement:

We need a new definition for terrorism in America:

-The politically correct titles “lone-wolf”, “self-radicalized”, and “homegrown terrorism”  are outdated terms that are putting Americans at more risk at home.

I have been fighting terrorism my entire adult life. I knew that this shooting in California was Islamist violent  extremists within minutes of the attack – I alluded to this in a tweet just minutes after it broke on the wire.

I am not unique here. Anyone who has been fighting this threat knew right away what this was…Islamist violent extremism taking root in America.

According  to several wire reports, the female shooter , Tashfeen Malik posted a pledge to Isis leader Baghdadib on Facebook.

But that is not enough to act on these days.

In fact, many leaders and some in the media were quick to say that it was unsure if “ISIS actually ordered the attack.”

Further, law-enforcement officials equivocated the attack by calling it “self radicalization”.

As if somehow these factors make it less impactful and threatening on our country.

When two people are able to massacre 14 people and wound many more – when they leave behind a remote controlled Explosive Device, and engage police with. Assault rifles while rolling in an SUV,  – it is just as real and potentially threatening as the Paris attacks – maybe more. Here is why:

The old terror model of foreign fighters trained and mobilized from dark, foreign lairs has gone the way of Osama Bin Laden.

There is a new sheriff in town.

It has been replaced with some Americans and other extremists who are here legally, and radicalized, trained, and resources through a powerful global network that is both virtual and physical.

In fact, this is the new face of strategic terrorism in America. It is how I S I S and Al Qaeda will conduct their hardest hitting and most relevant attacks against us.

ISIS clearly tells us this in their latest Nov 24th English speaking propaganda video.

They brag about “goading us into dropping bombs that cost 250k while they mobilize surrogates to kills us with bullets that cost less than a dollar.”

Meanwhile, our senior leaders and many in the media downplay this by using terms like “Lone Wolf” and “self radicalized.” We point out that ISIS may not have directed the attack.

I can’t help but shutter at what they were building. The improvised explosives they were constructing make them just as threatening to our safety at home as the 19 Hijackers trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

We should be grateful – I suppose – that for whatever reason these two extremists decided to accelerate their plan and not put into use all of those IEDs that were in their apartment.

When IEDs start going off in our shopping malls, street intersections, and elementary like they did in Fallujah, Iraq in 2006,America will change forever.

I hope we don’t wait until that horrific moment to change our definition of what terrorism in our country has already become.

They are here – we had better get serious about dealing with them.

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Flags At Half Staff Honoring the Victims of the Attack on San Bernardio

half mast flag

To honor the victims of the attack on San Bernardino, California the flags will be lowered.

A PROCLAMATION

As a mark of respect for the victims of gun violence perpetrated on December 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, California, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions through December 7, 2015. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.

BARACK OBAMA

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Officials: San Bernardino shooter apparently radicalized, in touch with terror subjects

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department

By Greg Botelho, Kyung Lah and Ben Brumfield, CNN

Updated 1:01 PM ET, Thu December 3, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

San Bernardino, California (CNN)[Breaking news update at 12:59 p.m. ET]

The San Bernardino massacre shooters had extensive amounts of ammunition and in their home at the time they were killed in a shootout with police, the city’s police chief said Thursday.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said that Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, fired between 65 and 75 rifle rounds during the shooting at a county health department holiday party, then unloaded about that number in a later confrontation with police.

Fourteen died in the holiday party carnage and 21 more were wounded, according to Burguan. He said two police officers suffered injuries in the subsequent shootout.

Authorities later found thousands more rounds of ammunition at the couple’s residence, 12 pipe bombs and hundreds of tools that “could be used to construct IEDs or pipe bombs,” the chief said.

Burguan said “we still don’t have a motive,” but speculated that the couple may have been planning more carnage.

“They were equipped … and they could have done another attack,” the chief said.

https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/03/us/san-bernardino-shooting/index.html

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The Real War on Women: No Global Conference from the UN?

Yazidi Women

Yazidi Women Tell of Rape and Enslavement at Hands of ISIS

by KELLY COBIELLA, YUKA TACHIBANA and BEN ADAMS

KHANKE CAMP, Iraq — The grandmother lifted her face to heaven and let out a high wail.

“I pray for this hell to end,” the 64-year-old said before crumpling onto the floor of her hut.

Kimy Hassan Sayfo. Yuka Tachibana / NBC News

Kimy Hassan Sayfo’s daughters and granddaughters have been held captive by ISIS. Two daughters recently escaped but extremist fighters have kept her young granddaughters “for themselves,” she said.

Her story echoes those of countless others across this vast tent city full ofYazidis, a tiny and ancient religious minority reviled and persecuted by ISIS.

More than 3,000 women and girls were taken captive when ISIS attacked ancestral Yazidi villages around northwestern Iraq’s Sinjar Mountain in August 2014. Nearly half-a-million people have been displaced since, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Yazidi Affairs Directorate.

Today, community leaders say around 2,000 women and girls are still being bought and sold in ISIS-controlled areas. The young become sex slaves and older women are beaten and used as house slaves, according to survivors and accounts from ISIS militants.

“SOME ARE SOLD FOR WEAPONS, OR FOR JUST $10, OR 10 CIGARETTES.”

“Aveen” was among the countless who were taken. She told NBC News how ISIS fighters separated the men from women and children when her village was attacked.

“They took young girls, seven, nine and 10 years old,” said Aveen, whose name has been changed and face hidden to protect her identity.

The women and children were held in a school where, she said, the guards would come at night to take away women and rape them.

Aveen said she spent most of her time with ISIS in Raqqa, held by a fighter who raped and beat her repeatedly. The 23-year-old escaped after nearly a year in captivity.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/yazidi-women-tell-rape-enslavement-hands-isis-n462091

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Leaders Gather to Save the World

ostrich

The UN wants to limit global warming to 2C, but international co-operation has been slow in coming

Tom Bawden Environment Editor
@BawdenTom

Almost 150 heads of state, including David Cameron, Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are heading to Paris for the start of the most important environmental meeting for decades.

Ahead of the summit, more than 175 countries have tabled pledges (known as intended nationally determined contributions, or INDCs) to cut their carbon emissions which, if enacted, would be enough to limit global warming to 2.7C. But the United Nations has pledged to limit climate change to 2C – and would much prefer it to be 1.5C.

This means there is much work to be done in Paris. Although nobody is expecting an agreement that will guarantee to limit global warming to 2C, the UN climate chief Christiana Figueres is determined to enshrine a process that paves the way for the world to be able to meet that target further down the line. Here are some of the different interest groups and what they want from Paris:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-climate-change-talks-what-the-different-groups-attending-expect-from-these-crucial-meetings-a6753126.html

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FBI using elite surveillance teams to track at least 48 high-risk ISIS suspects

fbi-jackets-generic

By Catherine Herridge
Published November 27, 2015
FoxNews.com

With as many as 1,000 active cases, Fox News has learned at least 48 ISIS suspects are considered so high risk that the FBI is using its elite tracking squads known as the mobile surveillance teams or MST to track them domestically.

“There is a very significant number of people that are on suspicious watch lists, under surveillance,” Republican Sen. Dan Coats said.

Coats, who sits on the Select Committee on Intelligence, would not comment on specifics, but said the around-the-clock surveillance is a major commitment for the bureau. “The FBI together with law enforcement agencies across the country are engaged in this. It takes enormous amount of manpower to do this on a 24-7 basis.  It takes enormous amount of money to do this,” Coats explained.

These elite FBI teams are reserved for espionage, mob violence and high-priority terrorism cases, like a joint terrorism task force case last June, where a 26 year old suspect Usaama Rahim, was killed outside a Massachusetts CVS. When a police officer and FBI agent tried to question him, the Boston Police Commissioner said Rahim threatened them with a knife, and was shot dead.

With at least a dozen agents assigned to each case, providing 24/7 coverage, this high level of surveillance reflects the severe risk associated with suspects most likely to attempt copycat attacks after Paris.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/11/26/fbi-using-elite-surveillance-teams-to-track-at-least-48-high-risk-isis-suspects.html

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Chief Rabbi Of Brussels: ‘No Future For Jews In Europe’

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KERRY PICKET
Reporter
5:09 PM 11/25/2015

The chief rabbi of Brussels told an Israeli radio station Monday that there is no future for Jews in Europe, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Rabbi Avraham Gigi described the environment of fear in the Belgian capital since the city has been in lockdown following police terror raids across the country.

“There is a sense of fear in the streets, the Belgians understand that they too are targets of terror. Jews now pray in their homes [as opposed to at synagogues] and some of them are planning on emigrating,” Gigi said.

He explained, “Since Shabbat the city has been paralyzed. The synagogues were closed, something which has not happened since World War Two. People are praying alone or are holding small minyanim [small prayer groups] at private homes. Schools and theaters are closed as are most large stores and public events are not permitted. We live in fear and wait for instructions from the police or the government.”

Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2015/11/25/chief-rabbi-of-brussels-no-future-for-jews-in-europe/#ixzz3se9FKjsT

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Russia Says U.S. Policies Helped Islamic State, Interfax Reports

putin-power

 

Elena Mazneva
November 22, 2015 — 6:26 AM ESTUpdated on November 22, 2015 — 12:28 PM ESTComments come after Obama says that Syria’s Assad can’t stay
Terrorist threat can only be fought jointly, Russia says

U.S. actions in the Middle East helped Islamic State to gain influence, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said, according to Interfax.

The strengthening of Islamic State “became possible partly due to irresponsible U.S. politics” that focused on fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad instead of joining efforts to root out terrorism, Medvedev was cited as saying in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. President Barack Obama earlier on Sunday said that Russia is facing a strategic choice as Assad can’t stay. The Obama administration declined to comment Sunday on Medvedev’s statement.

The U.S. contributed to the strengthening of al-Qaeda, which led to the events of Sept. 11, Interfax reported, citing Medvedev. The terrorist threat can only be fought jointly, he said.

Medvedev and Obama met in the Malaysian capital at the East Asia Summit that followed a week of talks and conferences in Asia dominated by the battle against terrorism. The United Nations on Friday unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for countries to take “all necessary measures” to combat Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-22/russia-calls-for-un-brokered-moves-in-fighting-terror-ifx-says

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Christie bashes White House over Syrian refugee plan

Chris_christie_theridgewoodblog

November 22, 2015, 09:50 am
By Cory Bennett

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Sunday continued his assault on the White House’s approach to admitting Syrian refugees into the United States.

“The FBI director himself said they cannot vet these folks,” Christie told Jake Tapper in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The New Jersey governor has drawn criticism for his opposition to taking any refugees in his state, even widows and “orphans under five.”

Everyone from President Obama to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have gone after Christie for his remarks. The issue has been in the spotlight as Congress considers a bill to restrict Syrian immigration in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has taken credit for the attacks, which killed about 130 people, and reports have since emerged suggesting at least one of the attackers may have entered Europe by using a Syrian passport.

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/261036-christie-bashes-white-house-over-syrian-refugee-plan

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OFFICIALS: IS DETERMINED TO PRODUCE CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Iraq ISIS Abu Wahe 2941936b

Nov 19, 11:54 AM EST
BY HAMZA HENDAWI, QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA AND KEN DILANIAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State group is aggressively pursuing development of chemical weapons, setting up a branch dedicated to research and experiments with the help of scientists from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the region, according to Iraqi and U.S. intelligence officials.

Their quest raises an alarming scenario for the West, given the determination to strike major cities that the group showed with its bloody attack last week in Paris. U.S. intelligence officials don’t believe IS has the capability to develop sophisticated weapons like nerve gas that are most suited for a terrorist attack on a civilian target. So far the group has used mustard gas on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria.

Still, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Thursday warned that Islamic extremists might at some point use chemical or biological weapons.

https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISLAMIC_STATE_CHEMICAL_WEAPONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-19-11-54-05

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Terrorists Once Used Refugee Program to Settle in US

refugees

By JAMES GORDON MEEK
BRIAN ROSS

Nov 18, 2015, 12:33 PM ET

Of the 31 states that have declared their opposition to taking in Syrian refugees, one state, Kentucky, has a specific reason to be wary of the background check process: previously twoIraqi refugees who settled in Bowling Green turned out to be al Qaeda-linked terrorists with the blood of American soldiers on their hands, an ABC News investigation found. Both pleaded guilty to terror-connected charges after trying to acquire heavy weapons while in America’s heartland.

The 2013 ABC News investigation also revealed that several dozen other suspected terrorist bombmakers, including some who were believed to have targeted U.S. troops, may have mistakenly been allowed to move to the U.S. as Iraq and Afghanistan War refugees, among the tens of thousands of innocent immigrants.

The Obama administration insists now that Syrian refugees are subjected to intense vetting before they’re allowed to settle in the U.S. and that a vast majority of the millions of refugees the U.S. has resettled since the 1970s are normal, peaceful people, but the program has had serious security problems before. In 2009, a flaw in background screening of Iraqi refugees allowed the two al Qaeda-linked terrorists to settle in Bowling Green and led to a temporary suspension of the refugee program, officials told ABC News in a 2013 investigation.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/terrorists-refugee-program-settle-us/story?id=35252500

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ISIS threatens NYC in new propaganda video

Times Square

By Shawn Cohen, Isabel Vincent and Tina Moore

November 18, 2015 | 5:42pm | Updated

A new ISIS propaganda video makes threats against the New York City — and shows Manhattan streetscapes that include Times Square and Herald Square, The Post has learned.

The slick production includes storefront shots of TGI Fridays in Times Square and the Gap in Herald Square — along with footage of yellow taxi cabs driving past.

The images of New York City are spliced between disturbing clips of suicide bombers preparing for attacks. A fighter also holds a grenade, pulling the trigger as the camera cuts to black.

French President Francois Hollande then appears on screen, giving an address just after the Paris attacks. At the end of his speech, he says, “it’s horrible.”

Then words flash on the screen, saying, “And what’s coming next will be far worse and more bitter.”

https://nypost.com/2015/11/18/isis-threatens-nyc-in-new-propaganda-video/

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America’s ‘enemies within’: How nearly SEVENTY have been arrested in America over ISIS plots in last 18 months – including refugees who had been given safe haven but ‘turned to terror’

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Federal and local law enforcement agencies have made dozens of arrests of men and women suspected of ISIS involvement
Analysis shows that they include refugees who entered the United States as refugees
Increasing pressure from Republicans not to accept refugees from Syria on scale demanded by White House  
Ted Cruz plans to introduce legislation forbidding refugee status to Syrian Muslims and moves also under way to defund settling refugees

By BEN ASHFORD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 09:19 EST, 18 November 2015 | UPDATED: 18:06 EST, 18 November 2015

US authorities have charged at least 66 men and women with ISIS-related terror plots on American soil – including a handful of refugees, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

The terror group has set its sights on Washington, D.C. as it vows to further infiltrate the West and ramp up its blood-soaked offensive.

President Obama insists that ‘slamming the door’ on Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS would be a betrayal of American values.

But 34 governors are refusing to take in any more, in case jihadi fighters slip into their states and repeat the carnage of Paris.

Analysis by Daily Mail Online reveals that a handful of foiled plots have already involved immigrants accused of harboring sympathy for ISIS.

The threat also comes from within, with American teenagers and Islamic converts among those seduced by the group’s torrent of chilling online propaganda.

They include a U.S. Air Force veteran accused of waging war on the country he once served and a National Guard soldier who allegedly plotted to gun down his own colleagues.

Others are seemingly ordinary American citizens, including a young nurse, a pizza parlor boss and schoolgirls tricked into becoming shrouded ISIS brides.

Some have conspired to travel or send friends abroad to link up with fundamentalist fighters while others have planned for jihad closer to home – with Capitol Hill among the targets for a foiled bombing raid.

The incidents detailed here are among dozens of alleged disrupted by police and federal agents since ISIS began to rise from the flames of the Syrian civil war.  The earliest arrest was 18 months ago.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3322649/The-enemy-Nearly-SEVENTY-arrested-America-ISIS-plots-include-refugees-given-safe-haven-turned-terror.html#ixzz3rtBfQlwf

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Germany cancel Netherlands match after ‘serious bomb threat’

SoccerBall theridgewoodblog.net

By CIARAN FAHEY

HANNOVER, Germany (AP) — The friendly soccer game between Germany and the Netherlands was canceled 90 minutes before kickoff on Tuesday due to the threat of a bomb at the stadium.

“We had concrete evidence that someone wanted to set off an explosive device in the stadium,” Hannover police chief Volker Kluwe told German TV.

Referring to another bomb threat about an hour beforehand that turned out to be a false alarm, Kluwe said, “After the first object turned out to be harmless, we got a tip that had to be taken seriously that an attack was being planned.”

Members of the German government including Chancellor Angela Merkel were not at the stadium, but had arrived in Hannover to attend the match to send a signal that Germany wouldn’t bow to terrorism in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks on Friday.

At that time, Germany was playing France in a soccer friendly in the Stade de France, outside of which three suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing one bystander. The bombers sought unsuccessfully to enter the stadium. At least 129 people were killed in the coordinated attacks in the French capital.

Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere took responsibility for calling off Tuesday’s game. He said indications of a planned attack became stronger as the match approached, and the decision was made shortly after Merkel and her ministers landed. She flew back to Berlin.

https://news.yahoo.com/police-seal-german-stadium-because-suspicious-suitcase-173737310.html

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Paris doesn’t need your hashtag ‘heroics’

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By Rich Lowry

November 16, 2015 | 8:00pm

The instant online symbol of global support for Paris after last week’s attacks was a roughly rendered peace symbol with an Eiffel Tower in the middle of it.

The French designer Jean Jullien sketched it as soon as he heard the news of the atrocity. He called it “Peace for Paris,” and it immediately became a sensation on social media.

Its success is a sign of the times.

We have become experts at treacly online mourning. We take grotesque atrocities and launder them into trite symbols and slogans that are usually self-congratulatory and, of course, wholly ineffectual.

The 19th-century author William Dean Howells once said, “Yes, what the American public wants is a tragedy with a happy ending.”

On social media, the happy ending is the widely shared and tweeted image or hashtag.

After the slaughter at the offices of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hedbo earlier this year, it was “Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie.”

It was a well-intentioned expression of solidarity, so long as you overlooked the absurd presumption of it.

https://nypost.com/2015/11/16/paris-doesnt-need-your-hashtag-heroics/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPFacebook&utm_medium=SocialFlow