For those who have followed Glenn for some time, you are aware he first started talking about the caliphate in February 2011 and was widely mocked for the concept. Fast-forward three years and ISIS has declared an Islamic State spanning Iraq and Syria. On Thursday, Glenn sat down with Brian Lilley of Canada’s Sun News and was asked to offer his thoughts on the question no one in the American media seems to be interested in: What comes next?
“You guys are the only ones who have called and said, ‘So, that one was right. So what does it mean? What’s coming next?’ You’re the only ones,” Glenn said in regards to Sun News. “I would think that if somebody who was so roundly mocked as I was – and no expert believed the caliphate was in the works or even possible – that you might stop back and go, ‘Okay, we were wrong.’ Forget about apologies. What does this mean? What’s coming next.”
Glenn believes the threat against the United States and the western way of life stretches far beyond ISIS or al-Qaeda. As he has discussed for quite some time, anarchists, communists, Islamists, and others are all looking to destabilize the west. At some point in time, Glenn believes these different groups will begin to work together – very loosely – to bombard the world with multiple threats. That time may now be upon us.
When it comes to the threat of ISIS specifically, Glenn believes it is time to take these people and their threats seriously. As Glenn spoke to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann about on Wednesday, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the man named caliph of the new Islamic State – threatened the U.S. when he was released from captivity in 2009. He reportedly told guards, “I’ll see you guys in New York.”
“We are not taking these guys seriously. We can’t just go over there and kill al-Baghdadi,” Glenn said. “This is an ideology that is spreading throughout the world.”
“We have to know what the truth is,” he continued. “We have to know who are neighbors are and know that we can trust our neighbors. We need to be good, and decent, and kind… and concentrate on justice and mercy.”
Front page image courtesy of the AP