The likelihood of more attacks coming in the United States will continue until we get "very, very serious" about having the "right kind of engagement" when it comes to protecting the nation from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, retired Gen. Michael Flynn said Monday.
"Do we have the right kind of rules of engagement, if you will, within the homeland, within our law enforcement community, to be able to go into these communities?" Flynn, a close adviser of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" show. "This whole notion of Islamophobia, that is absolute nonsense. This is about securing our nation, making the people feel safe on the streets of New York, wherever they are in this country."
He also called Muslim leaders in this country and internationally to task.
"Where are they to sit on this couch this morning?" said Flynn. "Who are they? What are they saying? I'm going to be very candid here. You don't have a lot of people yelling 'Jesus Christ,' [while they are] putting a knife at somebody's body or putting a knife in somebody's head."
Earlier on Monday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told MSNBC that the matter is a "war of narratives," which Flynn shot down on Fox.
"Our narrative, what I believe right now is we're losing this war," said Flynn. "Their narrative is attack where we live. That's what they just put out a couple of days ago. Attack where we live. Where the enemy lives. That's us, and it's whether it's in Europe or whether it's in New York City or in Minnesota, they put that word out."
Fighting back, he continued, isn't about Islamophobia or racism, but is about "securing our nation in a time where we have a vastly different enemy that we are facing. Globally, globally, this is in many countries right now, so, we have a problem. We have to get serious. I will tell you that I believe that there are components of how we can actually beat these guys. If there's one thing that's I know. There's no enemy that's unbeatable, none. We can beat them, but we have to decide that this is an enemy, first, and we're being accused of all sorts of name calling."
Trump called on Twitter over the weekend to "change the playbook" when it comes to terrorism, and Flynn believes he's right.
"Political correctness kills," said Flynn. "These people are pouring in. They are actually being poured in by the White House and by the policies that we have for accepting refugees from places that we don't really understand, from people that we really can't vet in a way that we can understand what's happening and they are not assimilating in these various communities that we are pouring them into."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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