January 6 and domestic terrorism analysis

Echo report published in Daily Mail by Rachel Sharp

This story was published in January 2021, following the January 6, insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol, a seditious movement instigated by #TFG cult Trumpzis.  General McChristal's analysis is spot on and deserves a stereo echo:

'Homegrown insurgency': General McChrystal compares MAGA rioters to Al-Qaeda - saying they also followed a 'powerful leader' - and claims that 'Stop the Steal' is a rallying cry like the Lost Cause was after the Civil War.

Trump gave his supporters 'legitimacy to become even more radical', with his Stop the Steal rhetoric, now a radical rallying cry similar to the Lost Cause adopted by the Confederates in the American Civil War. Pictured a rioter carries a Confederate flag through the Capitol.

Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said there are terrifying parallels between the birth of the Al-Qaeda terrorism group and the violent siege on the US Capitol last week

Trump has given his supporters 'legitimacy to become even more radical', McChristal told Yahoo News

His Stop the Steal rhetoric is now a radical rallying cry similar to the Lost Cause adopted by the Southerners in the American Civil War

McChrystal warned that now 'the fabric of something very dangerous has been woven', the consequences will continue long after Trump leaves office

McChrystal led the army's fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda

McChrystal was fired by President Barack Obama after he made disparaging remarks about him and then-Vice President Joe Biden

Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal has compared the MAGA riot to the evolution of Al-Qaeda saying in both instances people followed a 'powerful leader' who 'justified their violence', as he warned America is headed for a homegrown insurgency.

McChrystal, the former commander of American troops in Afghanistan, said there are terrifying parallels between the birth of the terrorist group responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks and the violent siege on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, that left five dead and sent shockwaves around the world.

Donald Trump has given his supporters 'legitimacy to become even more radical', he told Yahoo News, with his Stop the Steal rhetoric now a radical rallying cry similar to the Lost Cause adopted by the Southerners in the American Civil War.

McChrystal, who was fired by President Barack Obama after he made disparaging remarks about him and then-Vice President Joe Biden, warned that now 'the fabric of something very dangerous has been woven', the consequences will continue long after Trump leaves office.

"...arrests of mob members are made and new details of the January 6, siege continue to emerge..."

His comments come as the nation is still reeling from the January 6 attack on the seat of American democracy and security is being ramped up ahead of President-elect Biden's inauguration.

As more arrests of mob members are made and new details of the siege continue to emerge, it has become increasingly clear that among the rioters were members of several extremist groups including white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Proud Boys.

McChrystal led the army's fight against the the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Army General Stanley McChrystal

He said the recent events on the US soil are drawing concerning reminders of the rise of the terrorist group.

Back then, people with 'very poor prospects' followed Osama Bin Laden 'who promised to take them back in time to a better place', he said.

For the last four years, Trump has taken on that role with a radical group of American citizens.

On January 6, he riled up the crowds at a DC rally telling them to march to the Capitol and 'to fight', moments before the mob broke into the building to stop the Electoral College votes being counted.

'I did see a similar dynamic in the evolution of al-Qaida in Iraq, where a whole generation of angry Arab youth with very poor prospects followed a powerful leader who promised to take them back in time to a better place, and he led them to embrace an ideology that justified their violence,' McChrystal told Yahoo News.

'This is now happening in America.'

McChrystal also drew comparisons to another dark time in American history.

'President Trump has updated Lost Cause with his 'Stop the Steal' narrative that they lost because of a stolen election, and that is the only thing holding these people down and stopping them from assuming their rightful place in society,' McChrystal said.

The Lost Cause myth came out of the Confederate states at the end of the Civil War, as they tried to rewrite the narrative after losing.

They falsely claimed the war was caused by secession and what they said was a noble pursuit to protect the country - not about slavery, which they still (wrongly!) believed was just and moral.

Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly sought to rewrite his legitimate 2020 presidential election loss by pushing unfounded claims of mass voter fraud - claims that his avid fans have latched onto.

'That gives them legitimacy to become even more radical,' McChrystal told Yahoo News.

He warned that the problem is already much deeper than people realize: 'I think we're much further along in this radicalization process, and facing a much deeper problem as a country, than most Americans realize.'

And the radicalization which has already taken deep roots in the US will not simply disappear when Trump does, McChrystal warned.

Federal authorities are still rounding up perpetrators of last week's riot and have vowed to come down heavily on those involved.

When this happens, McChrystal said, extremists tend to go quiet and regroup and will likely become 'more professional'.

'As this extremist movement comes under increasing pressure from law enforcement in the coming days and weeks, its members will likely retreat into tighter and tighter cells for security, and that will make them more professional, and those cells will become echo chambers that incubate even more radical thinking along the lines of armed insurrection,' he said.

So even if Trump exits the scene, the radical movement he helped create has its own momentum and cohesion now, and they may find they don't need Trump anymore.'

Another 'charismatic leader' will step up and fill the gap left by Trump, McChrystal added.

'They can just wait for another charismatic leader to appear,' he said.

'So the fabric of something very dangerous has been woven, and it's further along than most Americans care to admit.'

McChrystal was the head of Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq during the 2000s, and the commander of all US and allied troops fighting the terrorist organization in Afghanistan.

In 2006, he was credited with leading the airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

But in 2010, he was fired from his role as the commander of multinational forces in Afghanistan by Obama after a Rolling Stone article revealed he made disparaging remarks about the president and senior administration figures.

In the article, McChrystal said it was 'painful' to watch Obama's slow approval of the deployment of thousands more US soldiers to Afghanistan.

An aide to the army boss also said McChrystal had been 'disappointed' after he had a meeting with Obama who 'didn't seem very engaged'.

McChrystal also pretended not to know Biden who was Obama's Vice-President at the time while an aide mocked Biden's use of the phrase 'bite me.'

McChrystal was promptly fired. But despite their speckled past, the retired general said he was endorsing Biden in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

They didn't see everything the way I did. But in every instance, they listened. In every instance, they took in my view,' he said of Biden and Obama in an MCSNBC interview in October.

'In every instance, I felt that they were trying to make the best decision based on all the information they had, and based on a bedrock of values.'

In 2018, McChrystal described Trump's behavior toward the military as 'deeply disturbing' and said 'the size of the defense budget is not a measure of patriotism or connection with those in service'.

'I don't think that Trump has developed as deep - a real connection of trust - with the military as perhaps he thinks he has,' he said.

McChrystal's warnings of escalating extremism on US soil were echoed by other counterterrorism experts who fear that all the signs of growing violent extremist movements are there to see.

Brian Michael Jenkins, a senior adviser to the president of the RAND Corporation, also compared the January 6, mob to the devastation caused by Al-Qaeda, saying both are the result of extremists mobilizing behind one common view.

'Osama bin Laden's major contribution to the terrorist pantheon was to create a mythology around the narrative that a band of Arab fighters defeated the Soviet superpower in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and he used that mythology to bring together a lot of disparate terrorist groups from all over the world, under the single banner of al-Qaida, giving them cohesion and an organizational structure,' he told Yahoo News.

'Similarly, the people behind January 6, 2021, mobilized right-wing extremists of every stripe - white supremacists, neo-Nazis, QAnon, anti-Semites, antigovernment militias, xenophobes, anti-feminists - and brought them together as a movement in what amounted to a Woodstock festival for extremists.

'And now the 'Battle of Capitol Hill' has become symbolically important and central to right-wing mythology, and it will lead to more organizing and escalating threats from this movement, which we're already seeing.'

Symbols for right-wing fanatic groups the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters were spotted among the mob on January 6.

Others rioters spewed the QAnon conspiracy theory - the debunked extreme right wing theory that claims Satan-worshipping pedophiles are plotting against Donald Trump and running a global child sex trafficking ring - and one rioter was seen wearing a 'Camp Auschwitz' sweater.

Experts told Yahoo extremist terrorist movements start with lots of small similarly-minded groups like this before they join together over time to form a larger group.

As the group gained ground, the leaders often made themselves known to fuel the recruitment of more followers.

It is common for extremist movements to recruit from law enforcement and the military communities - something Islamic State did in recruiting Baathist military officers, reported Yahoo.

Several former military members took part in the violent riot on the state Capitol. 

1.  Ashli Babbit, the woman who was shot dead while she tried to climb through a window into the congressional chambers served 14 years in the Air Force.
2. Meanwhile, Larry Rendall Brock Jr., 53, who was seen dressed in combat gear and carrying zip ties in the Senate is a retired lieutenant colonel who was in the Air Force for more than two decades.

The US Army is said to be investigating 25 people including active-duty members thought to have participated in the mob.

Experts said extremist groups then often join with similar organizations operating in other countries.

Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory special agent and counterterrorism expert, said Thursday that some of the white supremacist groups at the Capitol riot had ties to overseas groups including the Nordic Front, a neo-Nazi group in the Nordics.

The growth of the extremism reached a tipping point when the rhetoric turned into violent action, experts said.

Concerns of 'major security threats' at Biden's inauguration sent Washington DC into lockdown.

A Baghdad-style 'Green Zone' perimeter was set up and more than 20,000 armed National Guard troops were mobilized.

The Secret Service released its restricted access plan, which included what the agency called a 'Green Zone' in the heart of DC.

The term 'Green Zone' was the same name given to the heavily-fortified area in Baghdad during the Iraq War.

Most of downtown DC was off-limits to traffic and drew comparisons to Baghdad's high-security zone.

In extraordinary scenes out of the Capitol, thousands of armed military members patrolled the streets, and anti-climb steel fences and road blocks were installed in the wake of the  deadly siege.

White supremacy - ending domestic terrorism begins with ethical leadership

Dear Donald Trump - the "two sides" to the Charlottesville white supremacy rally in August 2017, were (1) the Ku Klux Klan and (2) those who opposed the white supremacists in the Ku Klux Klan.  Just so you know.  The Ku Klux Klan is an evil cult. 

The Washington Post opinion echo:

We worked to defeat the Islamic State. White nationalist terrorism is an equal threat.

By John R. Allen and Brett McGurk

John R. Allen, is the president of the Brookings Institution and a retired four-star Marine Corps general. Brett McGurk is the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University and nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Both were special presidential envoys for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS.

We both served as presidential envoys leading the U.S. global campaign to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group. In doing so, we worked with all departments and agencies of the U.S. government to develop a comprehensive and multifaceted campaign to defeat Islamic State terrorists on the battlefield, but also, and crucially, through counterfinance, countermessaging and information-sharing across the United States and globally. U.S. leadership and determined diplomacy built one of the largest coalitions in history, now standing at nearly 80 partners.
These efforts have stopped attacks and saved lives.

In 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) was a global force, seemingly unstoppable, operating with free rein in cyberspace and on widely available social media platforms. It was committing acts of genocide, enslaving thousands of women and girls, and planning terrorist attacks from its havens in Syria that would later be carried out on the streets of Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, Nice and elsewhere. It had open access to military equipment and weapons flowing into Syria. Its ideology spread to the United States and inspired attacks in Florida, Texas and California.

Throughout, nobody questioned America’s resolve to find and defeat these terrorists and protect the homeland. Whenever one of us would hear excuses for terrorism from regional leaders in the Middle East — for example, condemning Islamic State atrocities but agreeing with underlying political grievances — we gave such arguments no quarter or excuse. There is no political justification for acts of mass murder of civilians. When political leaders give such acts cover, even inadvertently, the movement spreads and innocent people die.

Today, the United States now faces a new national security threat. The enemy is not the Islamic State, but domestic and homegrown white nationalist terrorism. And “terrorism” is the term that must be used. The strain of thought driving this terrorism is now a global phenomenon, with mass atrocities in Norway, New Zealand, South Carolina and also, law enforcement authorities suspect, El Paso. The attacks are cheered on by adherents in dark (but readily accessible) corners of the Internet. The terrorist acts may differ from Islamic State attacks in degree, but they are similar in kind: driven by hateful narratives, dehumanization, the rationalization of violence and the glorification of murder, combined with ready access to recruits and weapons of war.

The first step to overcoming this dangerous strain of violence is to speak clearly and without equivocation. It is terrorism directed at innocent American civilians. If the Islamic State or al-Qaeda were committing such acts, the nation would mobilize as one to overcome it. The U.S. government would deploy all legal means at its disposal to root out the facilitators of violence and protect the American people from further harm. The United States would speak with a clear voice and lead the world in a determined response, strengthening alliances and sharing information with its allies. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to white nationalist terrorism, Donald Trump speaks with equivocation, and his rhetoric, wittingly or not, has the effect of providing cover for extremists who excuse their actions in the language of political grievance.

The United States must take a leadership role in overcoming this scourge of terrorism before it gets worse. Left unchecked, the risks increase of an attack on the level of the 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City , which killed 168 people. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray two weeks ago warned that most terrorism-related arrests this year are linked to white supremacist terrorism. The country now confronts a national security emergency on par with the Islamic State threat. It demands moral clarity and a call from the Oval Office directing all assets of the federal government to develop a comprehensive, long-term campaign to protect all Americans. If the president will not act, then Congress and state and local governments must instead. 

The matter is too urgent to wait for new national leadership — at stake is nothing less than the protection of the American people and our way of life.

Focusing on this domestic threat must not diminish American efforts to combat and contain international terrorism. But placing an equal emphasis on the battle against white nationalist terrorism will be the first step in turning around what is now a dangerous national disgrace.

P.S. Maine Writer adds- shame on the Trumpzi administration for enabling white supremacy! 

Niger- four Americans dead but what happened?

Niger Africa - the mystery of four American deaths

"...if Obama or Hillary Clinton were in office, Republicans would be blaming them personally..." ~ TheWeek (Nov. 3, 2017)

The Region Where ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram Converge

The deaths of three Green Berets near the Mali-Niger border show just how entrenched American security forces in Africa have become since 9/11.

The 12-man group of Green Berets had just finished a meeting in the Niger village of Tongo Tongo, when "suddenly, on the scrubby desert horizon, men on motorbikes appeared," said Dionne Searcey in The New York Times. For two hours, these 50 ISIS-aligned militants engaged U.S. soldiers in a "chaotic firefight," firing on them with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Four Americans were killed- included Sgt. La David Johnson*, who was separated from his companions; his body wasn't recovered until 48 hours later. Three weeks after, the Niger tragedy hasn't just led to an "unsavory" fight between President Trump and Gold Star families, said Benjamin Hart in NYMag.com. It as also "prompted many to wonder what U.S. troops were doing in the African country, in the first place."

This much is clear: "Niger has been a toe in the expanding American footprint in Africa," said Jason Ditz in TheAmericanConservative.com. President Obam escalated U.S. presence there from 100 military "advisers" in 2013, to about 575 , as part of his stealthy and expansive global war on terror Today, there are about 800. These soldiers are tasked under the 9/11-era Authorization for the Use of Military Force with providing intelligence support to French troops in their fight against Islamist militants connected to ISIS, al Qaida, and Boko Haram. 

The Pentagon says that the U.S. soldiers were pursuing an important ISIS recruiter, but so deep is the secrecy around these operations that we don't know if our troops have been engaging in covert combat missions in Niger. Indeed, several U.S. senators said they had no idea that so many U.S. soldiers were there. 

"Indeed, several U.S. senators said they had no idea that so many U.S. soldiers were there (in Niger)".

When wars are secret, "mission creep" is inevitable, said James Barnett in WeeklyStandard.com. There may indeed be a case for the U.S to support the counter terrorism operations of French and African forces in the region, but our intervention has been based on "the assumption that American soldiers would almost never be in harm's way."

That assumption is no longer valid. The confusion surrounding the four American deaths "is eerily similar to the Benghazi attack," said Zack Beauchamp in Vox.com, and if Obama or Hillary Clinton were in office, Republicans would be blaming them personally. Instead of "another partisan witch hunt", Congress should investigate what happened- and determine how deeply the Trump administration plans to get involved in Africa. In other word, "provide real oversight."

*Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black and Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson. (U.S. Army) were also killed in the Niger attack.

Drone strikes are more effective than carpet bombing in a war!

War is horribly terrible. Why do human engage in it?
Death is the outcome for millions of people caught in the horror of wars. As Americans are defending against the expansion of world terrorism by Islamic extremists, the use of drone warfare is now, tragically, routine. Obviously, innocent people die as a result of any war. Terrorists know this, so they deliberately put innocents in harms way as a futile response to protect against drone attacks. Well, Americans simply can't take the chance of protecting hostages when an opportunity to use drones will exterminate Islamic extremist leaders. Collateral damage is the worst tragedy of horrible war......but, sadly, we can't stop now. We are at war.

I'm old enough to remember what happened every time President Lyndon Johnson stopped bombing North Vietnam, because there was the outcry about killing innocent civilians. What happened in Vietnam?  Americans lost thousands of military lives, the lull in bombing didn't save any lives and millions of people suffered when South Vietnam fell on April 30, 1975.

Washington Post journalists Craig Whitlock, Missy Ryan, Greg Miller report how a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) drone strike in January, that was aimed at a suspected gathering of al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan, accidentally killed two hostages, including a kidnapped American, U.S. officials acknowledged.

Obviously, innocent lives lost are tragic. Unfortunately, the American military involvement in the Middle East requires a ruthless offensive, even when innocent people die.  

Drones are more effective than carpet bombing.  

The best way to avoid innocents being accidentally killed by drones is to end the wars on terrorism. I can't understand why Islamic extremists like evil ISIS are obsessed with destroying humanity, but the deaths of innocent hostages are the result of terrorism. Americans can't be responsible for innocent people killed by drones when the evil extremists and Islamic terrorists are the cause of the aggression.

Wasteful Benghazi Congressional hearings but no accountability for thousands dead in Iraq

Americans don't need any more Congressional hearings about anything! We especially don't need a sad Benghazi autopsy, especially when the grandstanding by right wing Republicans will be costly to taxpayers. Moreover, hearings will have absolutely no hope, whatsoever, of changing the outcome of what happened in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012, when Ambassador Stevens and others were killed in street firefight. Congressional hearings about Benghazi will not bring back those killed.

Huffington Post reports: WASHINGTON -- With a Congressional committee conducting the latest of many hearings on U.S. security failures in Libya, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that it all amounted to a "subterfuge" called "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi."  (What Mrs. Pelosi didn't say is that they amount to Fox News fodder for right wing advertisers!)

"What I will say is, again, diversion, subterfuge," Pelosi declared when asked at her weekly news conference about the emergence this week of emails related to the deadly attacks against a U.S. compound on Sept. 11, 2012. "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. Why aren't we talking about something else?"

Pelosi said that the numerous Benghazi hearings, the attempts by Republicans to hold a former Internal Revenue Service official in contempt, and other items on the House GOP agenda were all meant to deflect attention from what she said was the Republicans' poor record on jobs and helping the middle class.

Republicans are obsessed with muckraking Benghazi, while the families of those tragically killed are still mourning the deaths of their loved ones. Yet, no one calls for similar investigations about the American led invasion of Iraq, where thousands were killed and the people of the country continue to be terrorized by a resurgence of Al-Qaeda.

Benghazi and the deaths of the four Americans must not be theater for right wing Republicans, who use the prospect of Congressional hearings to advance their personal political ambitions.

"The American people want to know who is going to create jobs," said Pelosi.  "...who is going to create growth in our country...?"

Congress will regret calling for Benghazi hearings. This grandstanding is a waste of money. Republican Benghazi muckraking is especially risky while the American people are fearful of Vladimir Putin threatening military harm in Eastern Europe and millions of Syrian people live in exile because Russia controls the evil intentions of President Assad.

House Speaker John Boehner should show leadership by preventing his out of control right wing caucus from wasting money on Benghazi public hearings. If Boehner wants to waste tax money on useless public hearings, it's a better idea to investigate the failed Iraqi Freedom campaign, where thousands died while no one claimed accountability. There were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, yet tens of thousands of lives were forever altered as a result of this monumental intelligence failure. 

Indeed, House Speaker Boehner should call for further Congressional hearings about Iraq, but let those who were tragically killed in Benghazi rest in peace.