IPT
Shillman Fellow Pete Hoekstra: Western leaders refuse to address enduring
threat from radical Islam
by Pete Hoekstra
Interview on Sun News Canada
January 12, 2015
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Brian Lilley: Kill them and spit in their faces. Run them over
with your cars. This the new video from ISIS with threats against Canada
and other Western nations. The propaganda video was posted online by the
terrorist group calls on Muslims to use whatever means necessary to kill
Canadian civilians, police, members of the military. The video shows
footage of the terrorist attacks in Ottawa, Montreal It also calls for
American, French, British and Australians to be killed as well. I want to
read off an RCMP internal email that I received talking about the video. It
says 'The nine-minute video instructs to kill in any manner or way however
it may be, not to ask for anyone's advice and not to seek anyone's verdict.
Kill the disbeliever whether he is civilian or military, for they have the
same ruling.' The RCMP internal email went on to say 'Given the recent
terror attacks in France and in Canada, this new threat should be taken
seriously.' Pete Hoekstra is former Congressman and former Chair of the
House Intelligence Committee. He joins us now from Washington. Congressman
I have to ask you is this more of the same or is this to be taken
seriously? I can tell you that Prime Minister Harper was giving a speech
yesterday and my colleagues that were there say they haven't noticed that
kind of visible level of security in quite some time.
Pete Hoekstra: Well I'm just wondering how long the people in
Canada, the United States are going to stand for their leaders who refuse
to recognize this ongoing and continuing threat from radical Islam whether
it's ISIS, whether it's al Qaeda. The threat is real, it is enduring and
all they seem to do is play bunch ball, running from one attack to the next
and trying to gauge whether it's now a new level or a new heightened
security level. The bottom line is we've known for a decade that these
radical jihadist groups want to attack us and they want to attack us in the
homeland.
Lilley: Prime Minister Steven Harper last week saying that the
international jihadist movement has declared war on the whole world and
specifically open, tolerant, democratic societies. That rhetoric is good in
comparison to the Obama administration which won't use rhetoric like that,
in comparison to our opposition leaders that still refer to these things as
criminal activity. But beyond the rhetoric what do you actually do to
tackle this? We had three arrests in the last few days here in Ottawa of
people trying to join terror groups, but what is the larger issue at play?
Hoekstra: Well the larger issue at play is number one you need to
do what you can do to maintain security at home. The second thing is you
need to take a look at what's going on internationally. NATO, it wasn't
that long ago that they went into Libya, they overthrew the government of
Muammar Gaddafi and then they left. Libya now on the northern coast of the
Med, on the northern part of Africa, is now basically a lawless state. It
has training grounds for ISIS and other radical jihadist groups. It is
exporting terror from Libya into the soft underbelly of Europe. It is
exporting terror to the Middle East and it's exporting terror down to the
other parts of Africa. And the NATO leadership has no plan to confront this
radical trend in Libya. They have no strategy to confront ISIS in Iraq.
They have no strategy to confront ISIS in Syria. And these are the breeding
grounds, these are the things that let radical jihadists convey the message
that they are winning and why other people should be joining them.
Lilley: And they do continue to receive followers from around the
world. According to some reports hundreds a week coming from foreign
countries around the world to join. Let me ask you this. You and I both
opposed the Libya mission saying it could go badly. It did because they
went in, they bombed and they walked away. Maybe they shouldn't be doing
anything in Libya. But you can't just continue to go around the world and
engage in bombing campaigns everywhere, so is there an answer for
containing this or is it just fortress North America as far as your country
and mine are concerned?
Hoekstra: Fortress North America won't work. The borders that we
have, they're just too long, they're too porous. We have to go back to the
root cause, the root locations of where these groups are training,
preparing their attacks against the West. They cannot have a safe haven.
NATO has to recognize they have to live with the consequences of what
happened in Iraq, what happened in Libya, and now need to develop
strategies to fix those. It's not just ok to say, well you know what we
made a mistake in Libya. I'm sorry, that is now a safe haven for radical
jihadists that threaten so many other parts of the world. You have to come up
and develop a strategy and a commitment to bring some sense of stability
and normality and security back to Libya and other places where ISIS and al
Qaeda now control large pieces of geographic territory.
Lilley: All right Congressman we've got about 30 seconds left, it
might not be enough time. But answer those that say this is all happening
because of American military bases in Saudi Arabia and if we just left the
Middle east tomorrow this would all go away.
Hoekstra: I thought it was all because of Gitmo. The bottom line
is radical jihadists they believe in their mission which is to convert the
rest of the world to Islam. And if we don't to Islam they have the right
and responsibility to attack us and kill us. It's much more than about a
military base.
Lilley: All right Congressman great talking to you al always.
We'll chat soon I am sure.
Hoekstra: Thank you.
Related Topics: Pete
Hoekstra, ISIS,
Canada,
RCMP,
terrorist
attacks, Harper,
al
Qaeda, radical
jihadist, NATO,
Libya,
Europe
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