The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is heavily recruiting members on the Internet, resulting in an expanded membership filled with westerners, Retired Green Beret Scott Neil said Friday on
Newsmax TV's "America’s Forum."
"What you've seen has almost turned into a summer camp for wayward boys,"he said. "You have a lot of foreigners joining the cause. They are really recruiting heavily in the virtual space, they're coming and joining the fight. That's where you see this terrorization across northern Iraq. It's almost as if they're wanting to do these
acts of atrocity just to bolster their machismo. As soon as they're hit and they're countered, they turn tail and run and their leadership goes back into Syria."
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Host J.D. Hayworth asked Neil if the U.S. southern border could serve as an entry point for ISIS members to enter the U.S.
"The border is a prime position and everybody knows that," he said. "From the drug lords to the transnational crime to terrorism. We found information to that regard. The other discussion is we don't even know how many Americans are going over and joining ISIS. It's almost like summer camp, they'll go and participate for a while, they'll come back home and they'll become recruiters and agents with that ideology."
Defeating ISIS will require
Special Forces going into Syria in the same fashion that fewer than 230 troops did in post 9/11 Afghanistan. In fewer than 90 days, Special Forces was able to push the Taliban and al-Qaida out of Afghanistan, according to Neil.
If troops are not deployed into Syria — which provides a "sanctuary" — Neil said ISIS will continue to build strength and bolster its membership.
"If you give them sanctuary, they are able to reorganize, do black market activities with some of the oil wells that they are capturing and you're really not getting to the hornet's nest and taking care of the situation."