At last week’s funeral for MIT Police Officer Sean Collier last week, Vice President Joe Biden defiantly said, “On every frontier, terrorism as a weapon is losing, it is not gaining adherents.”
Huh? Whether small-scale like the Boston bombers, or groups large enough to control nations, jihadists are doing all too well.
Biden called the two Boston suspects “knockoff Jihadists.” But the Tsarnaev brothers managed to kill four Bostonians, injure and maim over 200, and disrupt life in a major American city for a week. Parts of Boston were briefly under virtual military occupation.
If that’s the handiwork of knockoffs, what will we do when the “real” Jihadists come?
Elsewhere, the French Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, was attacked last week, leaving two French guards seriously injured, in an assault reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi attack (any justice for which will now be served very cold indeed).
Meanwhile, Madrid cops arrested two North African immigrants who allegedly plotted an attack “like Boston” in Spain.
And Canadian police arrested two legal aliens who allegedly plotted to derail a train from New York to Toronto. After monitoring the plotters since August, the Mounties said they were backed by an al Qaeda group operating in Iran.
Then there’s Hezbollah, still recognized as one of the world’s most dangerous terror groups — which also has a major, perhaps controlling, role in Lebanon’s government.
Israeli F-16 fighter jets downed a small drone Thursday, highlighting the fact that, yes, Hezbollah has drones. This one likely was trying to photograph civilian chemical plants near Haifa or offshore gas fields, possibly for future attacks. Or to test Israel’s responses: Back in October, another drone infiltrated from Gaza before the Israel Defense Force blew it to pieces.
Hezbollah’s army is larger and more modern than the forces of many NATO members. It has just a handful of the flying robots — but could wreak havoc on Israeli or European cities with just one sarin-laden drone.
And, as Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor warned last week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah may soon gain access to “one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world” — Syria’s.
And while funds from Iran (its main sugar daddy) may be dwindling, Hezbollah remains well-endowed: As the Treasury Department sanctioned two Lebanese banks last week, it explained that to make up for lost funds Hezbollah is now operating “like a drug cartel.”
But at its core, this drug-dealing, Assad-defending, Israel-fighting group remains a run-of-the mill terror organization.
Last July, it struck in Bulgaria, killing five tourists and a bus driver. Last month, a Hezbollah operative in Cyprus pleaded guilty to terror-related charges. (Apparently for fear of offending the terrorists, the European Union refuses to join America, Canada, Israel and some of its own members in listing Hezbollah as a terror organization.)
What connects this formidable Hezbollah army to the “loners” in Boston, Canada, Spain and Tripoli is the belief that killing, maiming and disrupting the lives of “infidel” civilians is justified by Islam.
Sure, to fight them we need to study the nuances: Know your Wahhabi-influenced Chechen-American who envisions Armageddon in Central Europe from your grievance-filled Lebanese Shiite. And yes, by all means fight “knock-off” jihadis differently than state-sponsored organized militias.
But recognize that the Jihadists have a common goal: Hurt Westerners. Civilians. Us.
That’s not to say that we should treat all Muslims as terror suspects. Most just want to live and let live — and many American Muslims help fight would-be terrorists.
But it’d also be foolish to ignore the Islamist ideology at the heart of Jihadi zeal.
Unlike President Obama, Biden at least acknowledges the threat of “Jihad.” But it’s wishful thinking to claim Islamist terrorism is retreating. In some places it’s growing stronger. And the Boston “success” will likely help recruit and inspire new Jihadists.
We pretend the war is gone, or never existed, at our peril.
Twitter: @bennyavni