The Islamic State is nothing if it’s not resourceful. As noted yesterday, the terrorist organization is reportedly harvesting the organs of murdered captives to finance its murderous enterprise and nets between $1 million and $2 million a day selling stolen oil on the black market. Is it any wonder the group has its own high-tech PR wing?
Their latest product is a spiffy new ad campaign designed to encourage wannabe radical Islamists in the West to launch more attacks like the one on French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The group released a series of videos last week featuring jihadists calling on their supporters in the West to rise up. In one of the videos, the onscreen talent says, “Don’t give up and particularly don’t lower your weapons, don’t surrender – kill. Today, it’s our darwa – kill them.” The only thing missing from the high-pressure come-on is the promise of a “free gift” to the first 900 callers.
Although the videos are in French, they also have English subtitles and are targeted toward disaffected Muslims throughout the West.
Some experts believe that homegrown terror is the most immediate threat to the US today. It is harder for counterterrorism officers to predict homegrown terror attacks than any other kind.
“You have individuals who are inspired by the ideology but aren’t directly connected to any specific group,” former Homeland Security official John Cohen said last month. “They are very difficult for our traditional counter-terrorism capabilities to pick up on.”
This makes a Charlie Hebdo-style attack in the United States a very real possibility. All that a disillusioned young Muslim would need to do is buy an AK-47 and then walk into a mall and start shooting.
Just a few hours after the videos were released, a Muslim in southern France stabbed three French soldiers outside of a Jewish community center. Luckily, they all survived.
The victims in the next attack might not be so lucky.
Cross-posted at Julie on Politics
