J.D. Hayworth: Overseas tonight US military and diplomatic dependents; in other words the family of our servicemen and diplomats have been requested to leave southern Turkey as there is real concern of terror attacks. Obviously, the entire world remains on edge following the bombings in Brussels done by ISIS terrorists. The frequency of these attacks of this terror group appear to be expanding. The countries where they are perpetrating these attacks increase. The attacks grow in their lethality. According to several reports, ISIS has been sending trained operatives into Europe for years before these latest attacks but officials there in Europe just failed to connect the dots. For more let's welcome in retired U.S. Army Colonel Patrick Murray who served in Iraq, in Russia and at the United Nations. He joins us from Newsmax Washington. He's also the author of the book Government is the Problem. And likewise, joining us via Skype from Bonita Springs, Florida former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Pete Hoekstra who is currently the Shillman Senior Fellow for the Investigative Project on Terrorism. He is the author of the book Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya. Pete, first this word about the dependents of diplomats and military personnel in southern Turkey; heck pre-9/11 I was in Izmir on a congressional visit they told me back then at an assassination risk for Americans was high. Has it only gotten worse these days in Turkey?
Pete Hoekstra: Oh it has absolutely gotten worse. You've got the caliphate there in Syria and Iraq. This is a launching pad. This is a training ground for jihadists; what they want to do in the Middle East. The Investigative Project on Terrorism, we just predicted this. They want to get into Turkey, Jordan, Saudi, the UAE to disrupt these governments; to create instability, more instability in the region. So, no, this is not a surprise at all. They've got the means and the will to do this.
Hayworth: Patrick Murray, it made news earlier today because it appeared in the New York Times but it's scarcely a bulletin. The Times reporting that ISIS started sending operatives into Europe a few years ago. Some were captured by authorities but a lot of these folks were released. Why on Earth wasn't European intelligence able to connect the dots?
Colonel Patrick Murray: Well good evening JD this speaks to the sophistication and strategic planning that ISIS has. They are hardly the JV. They have an entire sub-unit that is an external operations unit that plans, trains, equips, arms, funds these foreign fighters that go into, not just Europe, but they've been very successful in Europe. And it's been going on for several years and in fact a lot of the authorities in Europe they just were not able to connect these dots JD. They saw them as isolated incidents that were going on when in fact they were not isolated incidents. This is a planned network that ISIS has and they run it out of Raqqa, Syria.
Hayworth: Hey Pete we were talking about Turkey; there's another report from Britain's Sky News. ISIS plans specifically to target Jewish children in Turkey; going after kindergartens and schools. ISIS is intent on brutal killings but it just shocks the world they're going after kids. Are they just emboldened to continue until we really take them on?
Hoekstra: Well the question is will we ever get to the point where we really take them on. Obviously when you take a look at what happened in Pakistan these radical jihadists, whether it's the Taliban whether it's Al Qaeda whether it's ISIS, they are brutal murderers. They killed over 70 Christians in Pakistan. Why would we be surprised that they would be attacking Jewish children in Turkey? And going back to the earlier topic in Europe, you know I've got to write a new book; Architects of Disaster: What the European leadership has done in Europe by failing to connect the dots, by looking the other way is almost criminal. And their policies continue welcoming in millions of refugees that ISIS has seeded. It is a gross failure of leadership, and they're going to pay the price at the polls.
Hayworth: We might just call it Architects of Impotence and Ignorance but deliberately trying to see no evil in the threats. Now Colonel, before we go just a weird story today, The Egypt Air airliner, diverted on the flight from Alexandria to Cairo, ends up in Cyprus. Apparently, this is not terror related. The man was distraught over a romantic relationship but this comes six months after that Russian jet exploded. What does that tell us about airport security in Egypt. Twenty seconds.
Murray: That's exactly right. This ended well which is a good thing. But the question you have to ask yourself JD. The guy had a fake suicide vest and you had all kinds of fake explosives. How does a guy, who is mentally unstable, get through airport security with all of the paraphernalia, real or fake, that's what happened with this.
Hayworth: All right well we will keep our eyes on all the strange happenings around the world. Patrick Murray tonight from Newsmax Washington, Pete Hoekstra from Bonita Springs, Florida. Gentleman, you have our thanks.