Ex-Green Beret: Nice attack part of orchestrated ‘terror campaign’

A former Green Beret says Western leaders should stop treating terrorism like the attack in Nice as isolated events and see them instead as an orchestrated campaign by Islamic extremists.

“Just on the heels of the [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] attack at the Turkish Airport, it seems that most leaders in the West are still reactive and treating these attacks as isolated events, instead of what they really are,” said former Lt. Col. Scott Mann, a former special operator who has served in Latin America and the Middle East.

{mosads}The attacks, Mann said, are “deliberate events within a well-orchestrated campaign designed to draw Western Countries, including the U.S., into a manufactured holy war in the Middle East.”

In the latest terror attack, on Thursday night in Nice, France, a man drove his truck into a crowd gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks, killing at least 84, including 10 children.

The attacker, later identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old French-Tunisian delivery driver, was known to police but not on any terrorist watchlist. French authorities are still trying to determine if he had links to terror groups.

The Nice attack comes on the heels of a terrorist attack at an airport in Turkey in June that left 41 dead and more than 230 injured.

It is also the third major terrorist attack in France in two years. In January 2015, terrorists launched an attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper office, killing 12 and injuring 11 more. In November 13, ISIS terrorists launched coordinated gun and bomb attacks at several locations in Paris, killing 130 and injured more than 360.

Mann also took issue with the reluctance of some to use the term “radical Islam.”

“Instead, many political leaders, pundits, and media are already talking about ways to equivocate the attack as something other than what it really is … another notch in the pistol belt of the ISIS leadership prosecuting their prophetic methodology across the West,” he added.

The Obama administration has avoided using the term, arguing it would legitimize the terrorists and their terrorist acts as Islamic, when they are a small fraction of Muslims, as well as fuel the idea there is a holy war between Islam and the West and spark anti-Muslim hate in the U.S.

That’s caused controversy, with Republicans slamming the administration and accusing the president of not acknowledging the threat.

“Radical Islamic terrorists have declared war on all, to include other Muslims, who do not share in their vision of hate. They must be destroyed,” said Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) in a statement Friday.  

“Yesterday’s terror attack in Nice is another somber reminder that we are in a Global War on Terrorism. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the people of France,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). “We will stand with France, our oldest ally, in the fight against Islamic terrorism.”

Obama on Thursday condemned the attack.

“On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack,” he said. “We have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice.”

Mann, who worked with partner militaries on the ground to combat terrorists as a Green Beret, said the terrorist attack was a manifestation of “weak immigration policies within France and Western Europe,” and warned that the U.S. needed to toughen up on immigration and visas.

If it doesn’t, he warned, “It won’t be long before we can expect these kinds of horrific attacks at Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving parades, and state fairs.”

“Sound outlandish? Think Orlando and San Bernardino,” he said, referring to a lone-wolf attack in June by a gunman who killed 49 and injured more than 50 after opening fire at a gay club in the name of ISIS. In San Bernardino, Calif., in December 2015, a man and his wife opened fire in an office, killing 14 and injuring 24. 

Immigration has become a central issue in the 2016 campaign, with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump proposing a border wall with Mexico and a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.