Steven Wolfe, a UKIP member of the European parliament, was an eyewitness to the bombing of the Metro stop in Brussels on Tuesday morning. He called into Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM to discuss the experience with host Stephen K. Bannon, who noted the death toll from that particular bombing was at least ten or eleven people, at the time of the conversation.
Wolfe was in his apartment, about 100 feet away from the station on the opposite side of a narrow street, when the blast occurred. “I heard a loud noise, which I initially thought was a kind of explosion from the back of a car, but then the building rocked,” he recalled.
Venturing outside with his neighbor, he found the shockwave from the explosion had set off all the car alarms in the area, and people were already moving away from the site of the attack.
“I’ll give them their due — the Belgian police were there very rapidly, within five minutes,” he said. The police set about securing the area and ushering onlookers, including Wolfe, back into their apartments.
Wolfe said, “it’s clear there have been huge failings” in Brussels security, given the high threat level in effect after the Paris massacre, which was coordinated by a terror cell based in Belgium.
“It’s clear that the city is unsafe,” he declared, “and I think many European cities will have to answer the fact that it’s very unsafe at the moment.”
“If you have a man who has masterminded, or been part of the masterminding, of a plot to kill so many people in Paris, who was able to get back to Brussels, to live in the area that’s known to have terrorists … where it’s known to have at least 90 ISIS-trained operatives who have been out and fought for ISIS in Syria and elsewhere, who are now living in the area… and they actually knocked on the door where he lives, something like 110 meters away from where he lives, just around the corner… and they weren’t able to catch him, and by chance they only caught him because they were following up somebody else’s false passport to check on that, so they caught him by accident … This goes to show that a massive failing in security in Belgium, a massive failing of security across the European countries, and clearly it’s a very unsafe time for most people,” Wolfe said.
As for the European parliament, Wolfe said security was heightened, but the complex was not on total lockdown. He said he could see both police and heavily armed soldiers taking up positions around the Parliament building from his office window. He doubted he would be allowed to return to his apartment near the blast site any time soon, and understood the necessity of securing the area.
He said he didn’t want to talk about politics on “a day when so many people have died,” but he gave European politicians a warning: “If you think are secure, then there’s something wrong with you. And you really need to go back and look in the mirror, and answer yourselves to those people who won’t be able to go home to mums and dads, won’t be able to see their children, won’t be able to see their family … but you’re spouting, ‘The nation is secure.’ There’s something wrong with these people, and ordinary individuals in Belgium today have died, because of the arrogance of these individuals.”
U.S. officials believe more terrorists tied to Brussels attack are at large, plotting new strikes
Western intelligence officials believe there are “more than a handful” of Islamic State terrorists connected to the Brussels attacks who are still at large and plotting more attacks, a U.S. official told Yahoo News.
The comments from a U.S. official came as the Islamic State’s Web forum took official responsibility for Tuesday’s attack and threatened more strikes. The group promised “the alliance of crusaders” that it would see “dark days in response to their aggression against the Islamic State,” according to a statement in Arabic and French that was monitored by MEMRI, a group that tracks jihadist propaganda. The statement continued: “What awaits you will be grievous and bitter, with Allah’s permission.”
A U.S. official told Yahoo News “there is no reason to doubt” the Islamic State’s claims to be behind the Brussels attacks. The perpetrators that carried out the attacks on the Brussels airport and subway were part of a larger network believed to be “in the dozens” — as many as 30 to 40 — that also carried out last November’s attacks in Paris. Some of them have yet to be captured or killed.
“It’s a safe presumption that there continue to be people at large who have intentions and plans,” the official said. This was the reason for today’s warning by the U.S. Embassy that another attack could be “imminent” and advising Americans in the European capital to be “sheltering in place.” The official noted, however, that the new statement from the Islamic State threatening more attacks could also just be “standard rhetoric.”
Another reason for concern, U.S. officials and counterterrorism experts say, is that Islamic State attacks tend to occur in waves — with multiple strikes happening in different cities within a few days of each other.
However, politicians immediately seized upon the opportunity to once again attempt to place blame on their opponents. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) took the time to say that the attacks followed Donald Trump's statement that the US should pull out of NATO, and therefore was insinuating that Trump was somehow, in part, to blame for the attacks. Here's what the Texas senator said.
"Well, I will say, it is striking that the day after Donald Trump called for America weakening NATO, withdrawing from NATO, we see Brussels, where NATO is headquartered, the subject of a radical Islamic terrorist attack," he said.
I have not supported Trump in the presidential race any more than I have supported any of the GOP or Democrat candidates, but it is plain wrong to politicize the attacks of Islamic jihadists, not "radical Islamists" as Mr. Cruz says, to demonize Trump. There is plenty to deal with in many of Trump's statements where he has talked about imposing things that are clearly unconstitutional and there are things that we can examine about the man's moral character as well, but to stoop to this level is just ridiculous. However, Cruz and others have done it before.
However, the real reason behind the attacks are summed up quite well by Christian apologist David Wood. Wood lays out why there are Islamic jihadists in the first place and why they engage in jihad, and it has nothing to do with Donald Trump and nothing to do with NATO. It has to do with the teachings of Muhammad. Take a listen to this short clip where Wood explains the three factors that must be taken into account so that we don't get this "radical Islam" versus "moderate Islam" mindset, but rather view Islam for what it truly is.
Wood is right about this. As he points out in the video, the three factors are simple:
- One must believe in Islam
- One must have knowledge of what the Quran teaches
- One must be obedient to the knowledge they possess from the Quran
Again, this has everything to do with Islam and nothing to do with what a political figure said. However, until the West wakes up to what Islam actually is, then we will continue to have these attacks and every Islamist is a potential jihadist just waiting to hatch.
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