Former House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra tells Newsmax that the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday shouldn't come as a surprise.
"This shouldn't be a surprise in France, it shouldn't be a surprise in western Europe," Hoekstra told J.D. Hayworth and John Bachman on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"The same types of conditions for this type of event happening in the United States exist," the Michigan Republican said.
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"What you need to remember about these [terrorist] organizations . . . people like ISIS are getting support at three different levels in places like France and the United States," he said, noting that support for ISIS, or the Islamic State, is popular, political and financial.
For example, there are "organizations like CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] demanding political correctness and providing political cover to organizations like ISIS."
In addition, "they get financial support out of places like France and the United States."
"And then on occasions like what we're seeing in Paris today, ISIS has called for attacks against the French and they have the capability then to actually carry out . . . a terrorist type of activity," Hoekstra added.
He said that "one of the reasons this attack may have been carried out today is because of how aggressive France is in trying to go after radical jihadists in northern Africa — a place where France has had a tremendous amount of influence over the past decades."
"We have not been . . . nearly as aggressive as France in northern Africa," he added.
"ISIS is sending a message to France and the French people today: back down, step down in northern Africa or we will take the fight to the homeland," he said.
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