Jacob Siegel, Tablet: New Study Finds the Number of Islamic Militants Nearly Four Times Higher Today Than in 2001
Taking stock of the forever war
There as many as 230,000 Sunni Islamic militants operating across almost 70 countries today, almost quadrupling the number that were active on Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new study by Washington, D.C., based Center for Strategic and International Studies. The study’s findings were summarized in an article in Wednesday’s New York Times:
The researchers used multiple sources, including the University of Maryland’s global terrorism database and Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center, to determine a range of high and low estimates. Overall, the report said, the total number of fighters this year—100,000 to 230,000—is down about 5 percent from a peak in 2016, but still far beyond the ranks in 2001—37,000 to 66,000.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The ranking of the world's armies is here .... 29 Largest Armies In The World (World Atlas), and this 230,000 number would rank it as #21 (before Saudi Arabia).
Hat tip Gateway Pundit.
16 comments:
but they are not and that makes them not as strong as a real army and more difficult to combat than a real army
It makes them stronger than a real army.
They are harder to target.
It is like ebola or some other disease. It is is concentrated in one area you can quarantine it and eradicate it.
But this is diffuse.
It is made harder by the fact that wishful thinkers or co-religionists like Obama did not or dragged their feet at listing such groups like Boko Haram.
"In 2008, police began an investigation into the group code-named Operation Flush. On July 26, security forces arrested nine Boko Haram members and confiscated weapons and bomb-making equipment."
"Boko Haram carried out 115 attacks in 2011, killing 550. "
"In 2012, the U.S. Department of State had an internal debate on whether to place Boko Haram on its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations."
"The U.S. State Department designated Boko Haram and its offshoot Ansaru as terrorist organizations in November 2013"
Threat emerges.
5 years later the USG under the illustrious leadership of Obama declare it a FTO.
Now that is decisive leadership!
why must you use this article to go into the past? in fact: Obama got Bin Ladin and Bush did not. In fact Trump has not stopped boko haram nor ISIS nor Taliban and has lost Syria to Assad, Russia, and Iran.
time to confront the simple fact that your main man has done little to make America stronger and in fact China and Russia are now more aggressive than they were in previous administrations.
Didn’t see Canada anywhere...... what an embarrassment. Guess we have nothing worth protecting.
Canada is now busy with Weed and soon, with climate change, growing cotton
"why must you use this article to go into the past? "
Think of past actions as being important in a way that the past is important in forecasting. It is why we include alpha, the smoothing factor. It is to include the past in forecasting the future. So what O'Bungles did do or failed to do is important. I know you won't understand that and all I can say about it, is what Heinlein said about people like you.
"in fact: Obama got Bin Ladin and Bush did not. "
You spell Bin Laden in a funny way. Perhaps you watched the Disney film Aladin and now feel fully informed to comment?
"The Washington Post's associate editor and foreign affairs columnist, David Ignatius, writes, "Some of the detainees (who gave information that led to bin Laden's location) were subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques,' the CIA's formal name for what is now widely viewed as torture.""
So you lose once again.
Then there is the wee little fact that Obama Left valuable hardware on the field for the Chinese to reverse engineer.
"In fact Trump has not stopped boko haram nor ISIS nor Taliban and has lost Syria to Assad, Russia, and Iran. "
1) We never had Syria since 1961, so how could have Trump lost it? You lost your mind, but Trump did not lose Syria.
In fact Trump is still there protecting the Kurds.
2) Iraq was lost the night BamBam was elected president. It was confirmed as a lose in 2011 when O'bozo pulled U.S. troops out. At that point it was clear that Iran was dominant.
3) ISIS does not have Mosul or any other major city. Trump is not dropping paper (leaflets) onto ISIS position telling them to flee before he bombs their equipment like O'Bozo did. O'Bungles did not hit ISIS oil refineries until Putin started. O'Bungles was too concerned with the environment and did not change his mind until Putin showed up.
4) The Taliban will never be defeated until Pakistan is stated to be a Taliban ally. Trump cut US aid to Pakistan. IT is a good 1st ste,.
Ttime to confront the simple fact that you're stupid.
Hagel: Iraq 'Squandered' 5 Years, Paving Way for ISIS
HAGEL - Obama's Defense Secretary
Obama sure squandered all gains in Iraq made between 2003 and 2008.
THX OBAMA!
My Comment: The New York Times is now admitting .... albeit reluctantly .... that we are heading towards a return to war in Iraq. Are they now going to admit that their support for President Obama's policy to leave Iraq in 2011 without a residual force was incorrect .... probably not.
Now Philoctes, do not lose your cool and call WNU bad names like Jay did.
Moron: you spend so much time--girlie like--in badmouthing me that you have nothing to offer...
we are heading...are we there yet
Syria: we were to support the Kurds and rebels..instead, Trump let Russians and Iranians take over
I am not Jay but since he seems to have tired of insults rather than coherent arguements he seems to have left. It seems your object, like shrike wife, to drive decent folks away...if all leave, how will you vent your discontent with your low self esteem?
"Syria: we were to support the Kurds and rebels..instead, Trump let Russians and Iranians take over"
Neither Russians nor Syrians have taken over Kurdish land.
Wagner mercenaries (Russians) came across the Euphrates and were thrown back by Americans and Kurds.
So you were saying parrot?
Jay is still around. I saw him post once in the last 6 months. But if you had a decent memory, you would remember he was banned for a period of time, because he called WNU an S-head.
Fred, if Trump did increase our presence in Syria you would criticize him for that as you criticize because he did not increase our presence. And I hope you are not suggesting he did not support the Kurds and other anti-Assad groups as we still do.
As I have written in the past, let Russia deal with the mess their actions have created. Iran can chip in also. The cost will be added to their attempts to overcome Sunni power in the region and create launching platforms for overwhelming Israel.
As for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner withdrawing from Iraq one reason was that US and other allies could now be tried in Iraqi courts. Not that he wouldn't have withdrawn anyway but the legal situation was a good cover up for his wanting to withdraw in the first place.
In my opinion your comments do not reflect an appreciation of Americans' dissatisfaction with the Middle east's never ending chaos after years of efforts to rid the region of the likes of S. Hussein, the governing dinosaurs in Iran, and a few others.
I like to think the evil Trump is not pleased with our expenditures in a futile effort few can even describe but is forced to balance that disatisfaction with knowledge that to leave like the prior "president" is a short term solution to a long term problem I lay mostly in the lap of the younger Bush and his advisors.
Hey, that's well past the boundaries of civil discourse on this site. You will not win any points with arguments structured like that. It might be best that you stop posting here for a little while.
Comments like these will force Mr WNU to start moderating the comments again. I know he doesn't like doing that. It's a pain in da ass for all of us, for you, your posts just won't be published.
It’s called “toxic masculinity” lol
Ah, it seems we have a self appointed commentary policemen above.
Yeh and the policeman is correct - even tho fred is complete ass. Gentleman gentleman please
Whether he's right or wrong is of little interest compared to the "self appointed" status.
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