by RC Porter
August 9, 2015
Islamic State Seen Building Capacity For Mass Casualty Attacks; Islamic State ‘Likely’ To Have Chemical Weapons Experts Capable Of Developing A ‘Dirty Bomb,’
CNN is reporting that concern is growing among intelligence officials that the Islamic State may be working to build the capability to carry out mass casualty attacks, a significant departure from the terror group’s current focus on encouraging lone wolf attacks,” a senior U.S. Intelligence official told the news organization.
“To date, the Intelligence Community view has been that the Islamic State is focused on less ambitious attacks, involving one, or small group of attackers armed with simple weapons,” CNN wrote. “In contrast, al Qaeda, and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has been more focused on — and more capable of — mass casualty attacks, such as plots on commercial aviation. Now, the Intelligence Community is divided,” CNN says.
“Meanwhile, the U.S. effort to train rebels in Syria to fight the Islamic State….is having trouble. The few rebels that the U.S. has put through training is already in disarray, with Defense officials telling CNN that up to half are missing, having deserted soon after training, or having been captured after last week’s attack by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front attack on a rebel site.” One Defense official admitted to CNN — “They [the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels] are no longer a coherent military unit,” and Pentagon officials acknowledged to CNN that “the approach of how to train [and equip] the rebels has to change.”
Islamic State ‘Likely’ To Have Chemical Weapons Experts Capable Of Developing A ‘Dirty Bomb,’ And Have Made ‘Serious Efforts’ To Create Them,’ Warns Australia’s Foreign Minister
“The Islamic State has shown it is prepared to use chemical weapons; and, is likely to have recruited an expert with the ability to develop a dirty bomb,” according to Australia’s Foreign Minister, Ms. Julie Bishop. Speaking publicly in June, Ms. Bishop said that “the Australian Government “had no doubt that the terror group had used toxic chemicals — including chlorine, and sarin…over the past four years.” And, Ms. Bishop warned that “it was wrong to think that the Islamic State’s aim to acquire chemical weapons is purely aspirational — adding that the group’s actions have revealed ‘serious efforts,’ to develop them.”
Ms. Bishop said: “It’s [ISIS] recruitment of highly, technically trained professionals, including from the West, have revealed far more serious efforts in chemical weapons development. It is likely to [they] have, amongst its tens of thousands of recruits…the technical expertise necessary to further refine precursor materials; and, build chemical weapons.”
“ISIS reportedly may have “looted chemical weapons from a former Iraqi nerve agent factory that the U.S. failed to destroy,” according to numerous press reports last year. Indeed,TheDailyMailOnline, reported on its website — October 15, 2014, that “Iraqi officials told United Nations officials that “a vast compound in Iraq — containing 2,500 rusting chemical weapons rockets — which had been bombed by the U.S. during the 1991 Gulf War,” — was not completely destroyed; and, a substantial portions of the munitions containing Sarin gas was “looted by members of the Islamic State.” Iraqi officials at the time stated that “they watched the equipment [chemical munitions] being looted on CCTV.”
Yes, these shells were very old, rusted, and probably more of a threat to the Islamic State members, or anyone else who handled them at the time — who did not know how to properly harvest the ‘useful’ sarin material from however many shells were still intact. But, it would be extremely foolish and negligent, to assume that the Islamic State either did not harvest any quantifiable sum; or, that they do not presently have, or are in the process of constructing a ‘dirty bomb,’ to be used on a ‘special occasion.’ Perhaps in a siege of Baghdad — to instill terror in the population. All the more reason, we need to kill these ‘guys’ over there — and, sooner, rather than later — and, most certainly before they come here to the American homeland. V/R, RCP
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