Islamic jihadists scored a victory in the Boston Marathon bombing regardless of whether or not the suspects are directly linked to Chechen militants or another terrorist group, terror experts tell Newsmax.
“This is global jihad,” said Frank Gaffney, the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. “This is not our first brush with it, and it sure as hell won’t be the last.”
Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania told Newsmax that the country needs to prepare for more attacks by Muslim extremists who are motivated “by their hatred of the West and our culture.”
“This is just part and parcel to these folks,” said Perry, a member of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees. “They want to change the way we think and how we do business and who we are. The Western world needs to come to grips that it does exist and it’s not going away.”
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, also said that Chechen militants are no longer as interested in attacking only the enemy right in front of them, but want to spread terror globally.
“They are driven by this idea that if you don’t believe in Islam, or this particular branch of Islam, then you’re an apostate and need to die,” he told Newsmax. “This is something we’ve always been concerned about.”
Gaffney said Chechen Islamist militants, and other terror groups, such as al-Qaida, perceive political correctness and multiculturalism in the West as acts of submission to Sharia law.
He said that perceived submission, along with the U.S. withdrawal from terrorist battlegrounds such as Afghanistan and Iraq, indicate to the jihadists that they are winning, and invite more violence in their fight to cow the West.
Perry said those who were critical of the foreign policies implemented by former President George W. Bush need to understand that simply reaching out to radical Islamists will not pacify them and their beliefs.
“Policy, rhetoric and actions make a difference, and people react to that,” Perry said. “We have to come to terms with the things we need to do to make Americans safe.”