CIA Director John Brennan is claiming that the biggest crisis facing the EU is not the Islamic State threat, but Brexit. He is “prioritizing consequences of the referendum vote over the threat of terror posed by the Islamic State as refugees from the Middle East continue to stream into the continent.”
Brennan, the onetime chief counter-terrorism advisor to Obama, warned about the Islamic State less than two weeks ago at a Senate hearing. He stated that the Islamic State “terror army” is poised to “infiltrate the U.S. and other nations”, as the group continues to train and deploy operatives for more attacks. But now he says Brexit is worse.
Yet he also testified that the IS has a “large cadre” of Western fighters that could serve as operatives in attacking the West and warned that jihadis could be smuggled in through the flow of refugees “in plain sight.”
Even as Obama insists that the Islamic State is losing the battle and is under more pressure than ever before, Brennan indicated that the group has more than compensated for its losses of between 1,000 to 3,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria by recruiting and placing between 5,000 to 8,000 jihadis in Libya.
Brennan concluded about Europe that it was “very concerning” that the growth of Libya as another area that could serve as the “basis for ISIL to carry out attacks inside of Europe.” But still, “of all the crises the EU has faced in recent years, the UK vote to leave may well be its greatest challenge.” Brennan’s criticizing the Brexit vote and trying to characterize it as a security risk is yet another attempt by the political elites to preserve their hegemony.
“CIA Director: Brexit Is A Bigger Crisis For EU Than ISIS”, by Rachel Stoltzfoos, The Daily Caller, June 29, 2016:
CIA Director John Brennan said Britain’s vote to leave is the biggest challenge facing the European Union in recent years, prioritizing consequences of the referendum vote over the threat of terror posed by the Islamic State as refugees from the Middle East continue to stream into the continent.
“Of all the crises the EU has faced in recent years, the UK vote to leave may well be its greatest challenge,” Brennan said during opening remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations Wednesday, citing the unprecedented uncertainty facing the union and increasing difficulty of decision making and consensus building.
“Brexit is pushing the EU into a period of introspection that will pervade virtually everything the EU does in the coming weeks months and even years ahead,” he said.
Moving on to address the Istanbul terror attack Tuesday, in which three suicide bombers killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds of others, Brennan said “our collective hearts … go out to the families of the latest victims of the horrific terrorist attacks perpetrated as well as incited by ISIL [the Islamic State].”
“The despicable attack at Istanbul’s international airport yesterday that killed dozens and injured many more certainly bears the hallmarks of ISIL’s depravity,” he continued.
The attack follows deadly ISIS assaults in Paris and Brussels, carried out in part with the help of lax border policies instituted by the European Union in response to the refugee crisis. The terror threat perceived by British citizens, in conjunction with an inability to properly control their own borders or stem the flow of refugees because of their membership in the EU appears to have played a major role in the vote to leave….