The horrific terror attacks plaguing the United Kingdom are the result of bad immigration decisions made by its government some 20 years ago, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who chaired House Intelligence Committee, tells Newsmax TV.
"The U.K. has allowed in so many people who have radical jihadist ties that now your law enforcement capabilities have become overwhelmed," Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican said Wednesday to Newsmax's J.D. Hayworth.
"[It] goes back to the mid '90s where the Brits welcomed into their countries members of the Libyan Islamic fighting group. What was their saving grace? They didn't like [Libyan strongman Moammar] Gadhafi, but they were jihadists. But the Brits welcomed them in.
"Finally in 2005, 2006, they recognized the mistake, they said hey, this is a terrorist organization, a few years later they welcomed these folks to go back to Libya to overthrow Gadhafi. They came back, the bottom line is they never have renounced their goal of terrorism."
See J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax TV: Tune in beginning at 10 AM EDT — on FiOS 115/615, YouTube Livestream, Newsmax TV App from any smartphone, NewsmaxTV.com, Roku, Amazon Fire — More Systems Here
Hoekstra's remarks follow two of the most gruesome terror attacks in U.K. history. Last Saturday, terrorists mowed down and stabbed revelers around London Bridge, killing eight and injuring 48. On May 22, a suicide bomber killed 22 at an Ariana Grande show at Manchester Arena.
Hoekstra said the U.K., as well as many countries in Europe, made no attempt to properly vet and integrate Middle Easterners coming in and the radical elements among them grew up in a "cesspool" of terrorist ideology.
"The Brits have not been tough on stamping out this ideology. It's all about free speech," he told Hayworth.
Hoekstra said in London's Hyde Park, which features the famous "speaker's corner," where anybodycan spout off on any subject, "you see these people advocating every weekend for jihad and the Brits allow it to go on."
"So, it is about borders, it is about immigration, it is about identifying these folks. If you don't do it … you lose the war and the evidence is significant that we are losing this war against radical Islam and nobody is willing to point it out.
"People say, well we're winning, and yes, I'm glad that we're winning in Mosul, that we're winning in Raqqa, but the real question that the Brits are asking, that the Germans are asking, yeah, but are we winning right here at home? And too often now the answer is no."