USA Today (September 11)
“Fourteen years ago, the United States suffered a shockingly successful surprise attack by a little known Islamic extremist group based 7,000 miles away in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.” Today, Al-Qaeda’s “influence lives on…through offshoot extremist groups,” especially the Islamic State (ISIL) whose “lightning spread” throughout “Syria and Iraq has been marked by medieval barbarity, adapted to the Internet age.” The U.S. must pursue ISIL as aggressively as it once pursued al-Quaeda. “ISIL represents the embodiment of evil in the modern world, and it mustn’t be allowed to establish a foothold from which to plot attacks against the United States or to inspire so-called lone wolf sympathizers to do so.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Barbarity, Extremists, Iraq, ISIL, Syria, Taliban, U.S. Islam