The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, has more land, money, and fighters under its control than al-Qaeda had on September 11, 2001.
This was disclosed during discussions at a recent meeting between the Chicago area Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), American Armenian community members, Assyrian American leaders, and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), among others.
According to the Assyrian International News Agency, Senator Kirk told those gathered, “ISIS controls more money, fighters, and land than al-Qaeda did on 9/11 and is committing mass atrocities against women, children, and ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East.” He added that the threat posed by ISIS is real not only in the Middle East, but also in America–including the Chicago area.
Kirk said, “Members of Chicago’s Assyrian-American community and Illinois’ Middle East expert community highlighted how these barbaric terrorists pose grave threats not just overseas, but right here in Chicago.”
Breitbart News has tracked and reported on ISIS’ nearly unchecked growth over the past few months–from the June 10 fall of Mosul to Obama’s September 10 announcement that the U.S. would follow tactics used in Yemen and Somalia in fighting ISIS to ISIS’ call for radicalized Americans to go to the homes of U.S. soldiers and “slaughter them” to ISIS’ October assault on the Kurdish community in Kobane, Syria.
Throughout this time, Breitbart News also reported ISIS’ mass execution of Iraqi soldiers (July) and the late-August execution of 250 Syrian soldiers.
Additionally, Breitbart News reported ISIS’ beheading of two American journalists–James Foley and Steven Sotloff. This was followed by Senator Mark Udall’s (D-CO) September assurances that ISIS is “[not] an immediate threat to the homeland.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
