Solsticewitch13's BOS: 150 Americans now involved with ISIS army as 'virtual caliphate' aggressively recruits terrorists on the Internet and the FBI says 'It's not even close to being under control'

Saturday, February 14, 2015

150 Americans now involved with ISIS army as 'virtual caliphate' aggressively recruits terrorists on the Internet and the FBI says 'It's not even close to being under control'

House Foreign Affairs Committee convenes hearing on ISIS threats
'Foreign fighter' phenomenon boosts terror group's numbers
Internet recruiting has brought thousands to fight along ISIS from Western nations, including 150 or more Americans
'It's not even close to being under control,' according to an FBI official who spoke of Americans who return from the battlefield and might attack the US
At least one American has been killed in battle while fighting with ISIS

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:56 GMT, 12 February 2015 | Updated: 18:12 GMT, 12 February 2015

The problem of foreign fighters taking up arms alongside the ISIS terror army is growing, according to a senior member of Congress, and more than 150 Americans are now among them.

ISIS operates a 'virtual caliphate' online, California Republican Rep. Ed Royce said Thursday, recruiting foreigners at an 'unprecedented rate.'

'Some 20,000 foreign fighters from more than 90 countries now make up its ranks' including at least 3,400 from the West and more than 150 Americans,' Royce said during a hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which he chairs.

ISIS 'occupies territory the size of Great Britain, holds an estimated $2 billion in assets, and is believed to be the most well-funded terror group in history.' he warned.

Douglas McAuthur McCain was killed in Syria while fighting alongside the ISIS terror army

Abdirahmaan Muhumed is one of 15 young Somali-American men from Minnesota who are fighting for ISIS; 'a Muslim has to stand up for (what's) right,' he told a radio interviewer last year

Executions are common within ISIS, usually staged for public consumption online; a British citizen known as 'Jihadi John' is thought to have carried out many of the killings

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (right), shown with King Abdullah II of Jordan, warned of a 'virtual caliphate' recruiting Americans online to join ISIS

On Wednesday in a separate hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee, FBI Assistant Director Michael Steinback said the U.S. hasn't been able to keep track of all the Americans who might be going overseas with the intention of helping ISIS.

'We don't have it under control,' Steinbeck said.

'If I were to say that we had it under control, then I would say I know of every single individual traveling. I don't. And I don't know every person there and I don't know everyone coming back. So it's not even close to being under control.'

Even more troubling, he said Wedneday, is the possibility of Americans returning from their time alongside ISIS with the motive of attacking U.S. targets.

'Certainly I would not be truthful if I told you we know about all the returnees,' he said. 'We know what we know. There is a number that we don't know about.'