Erick Stakelbeck joined Glenn on radio and assailed the administration’s view that ISIS can be dealt with like a petty criminal. There is an evil ideology behind this barbarism, ignoring it will have devastating consequences. With another American caught trying to join ISIS this week, it’s time to deal with reality.
Check out Erick's new book: ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam
Below is a rush transcript of this segment:
Erick Stakelbeck is here. He's the author of a new book called Exposed. ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam. This is something that I really wanted to -- I want to talk to you about us getting involved as people. And this is something that I'm working towards on something this summer that I hope to be announcing soon. I want to go to the Middle East and I want to bring this story home to you. I want to meet with the people who have lost their families. I want to show you what is happening. A lot of people say on Facebook, I'll be conversing with people on Facebook, they'll say, Glenn, what is a Coptic Christian? Coptic originated from the Greek word for Egyptian. So all Egyptians were Coptic until -- at the time, Egypt was a Christian nation. It was like 65, 70 percent Christian. Then after a couple of Muslim conquests, Coptic became a derogatory term. Now you're a Coptic Christian, which really basically only means an Egyptian Christian. But this is the oldest church on earth. And there are slaughtering people. And, luckily, the new president of Egypt, which we don't hear anything about, is a really good guy when it comes to Christians.
For the first time, an Egyptian president went and celebrated Christmas and Easter mass at Coptic Christian churches. Can you imagine that? When the Muslim Brotherhood was in, they were burning the churches, and they were slaughtering people. He is standing with the Christians. But he's one of the only people in the Middle East. And, of course, the United States is not standing. And they are now taking children as young as five and sending them off into the sex slavery racket. It is horrific what is happening. And last couple of days, I've been posting some stuff on Facebook. And I've said, you know, when are the Christians going to stand up? And I've made a suggestion, and I was shocked at the heat that I got back from many of the readers saying this was a stupid idea. And we just got to grab our guns and go over there with guns ablazing. I would suggest that we don't -- we are so uneducated on this that we don't know what we're doing yet. And certainly no one in our -- in Washington, DC, has a clue as to what's going on and can't verbalize it. They can't even say that Islam is the problem over there. And it is. There might be moderate Muslims everywhere else in the world, but in the Middle East, they are a rare find.
And the last thing we need to do is just go over and start another war. ISIS, what we need to do first is comfort those who mourn. If you have a Coptic Christian church in your area, find it. Comfort them. Help them. Many of them are terrified of even going to church because they know they're a target even over here. Many of them have fled and come here now or they have relatives who have been slain and slaughtered and beheaded over there. They need our support. They need to know that they're not alone. The next thing I suggested is go to your pastor, priest or rabbi and talk to them about it. And ask them, why are we not as a church standing? Why are we not personally involved in this? At least in real education and real prayer power. There are many things that we can do.
And, yesterday -- we're going to have an interview with the guy at the bottom of this hour. Chris Tony. He is a US Navy veteran who had enough. And he's not the first guy to do it. And said, you know what, who wants to go with me to the Middle East? I'll go over and volunteer and train these people because the Christians have been abandoned. There are many things that you can do. But education is the first. And we wanted to get Erick Stakelbeck in because he's done a lot of research the last couple of years on ISIS and he knows who they are. And this is information that you're just not going to find on mainstream media because they're unwilling to say the things that sound crazy. But these guys are crazy. And they are psychotic. And they are religious zealots. Any doubt in your mind, Erick, that this is a holy war for them?
ERICK: No, Glenn. First of all, thanks for having me. And absolutely. They have declared war, the jihadists against us. Against Christians, Jews. And, by the way, against Muslims who do not agree with them. We are in a war right now. Number one, our government, our mainstream media cannot acknowledge that. Will not acknowledge it. To the Obama administration, this is a big part of the problem, Glenn, they consider this just a criminal action. A minor nuisance that can be handled in federal courts. To the contrary, it is a global jihadist movement. I'll give you an example, Glenn. We had people from 90 countries around the world who have flocked to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. At least 180 US citizens. 3500 Europeans. At least have all been drawn to this new caliphate. And one day, they may return home. So this is a global movement. And it is a war without a doubt.
GLENN: So here's the thing, Erick, we are now seeing people who are tired of waiting for our country. We used to be leaders. And they are tired of it. And these are military veterans who are going over and saying, you know what, I can help fight. And they are volunteering and they are going over and helping these people fight, not as US military. But just as a private citizen going over and saying, I'm going to help train these Christians to protect themselves.
ERICK: Yeah. I think it's great, Glenn. Look, number one, you'll see more of it, I think. Number two, we've left the fact that we're supposed to be the leader of the free world. We've left a complete vacuum in the Middle East. Simple as that. That vacuum has been filled by Iran and ISIS.
GLENN: I don't think it's just a vacuum. I think we're actually on the wrong side, Erick.
ERICK: Yeah.
GLENN: Do you? Would you agree with that?
ERICK: We're on the wrong side, without a doubt.
GLENN: So tell me, as you were doing the research for this book, tell me the thing that shocked or horrified you the most that you just -- that you sat back in your chair and thought, good God, we're dealing literally with the powers of hell.
ERICK: Yeah. This is a demonic movement. And, Glenn, I got firsthand accounts from on the ground in Syria in Iraq from Christian leaders there. Who told me, look, there are cases of Christian children being beheaded. Not only that, when ISIS goes into a town, a village, a city, it basically enslaves the vanquished population. And ISIS now has brothels in Syria, in particular, Glenn, where Christian women, Yazidi women, are used as sex slaves. An ISIS fighter will come off the battlefield, and then he will have a brothel full of Christian sex slaves awaiting them. And it's a constant thing.
The videos ISIS releases. You just see men being beheaded, which is bad enough. But people on the ground have told me, look, this is happening to women, children, of all ages. When it comes to slaughtering and butchering, ISIS doesn't discriminate, Glenn. They're making it very clear, like Hitler did during World War II with the Jewish people, ISIS is very up front with what they want to do. They want to liquidate every last Christian from the Middle East from the cradle of the faith, the birthplace of the faith. They're doing it right now in realtime as we speak.
GLENN: They're actually sorting the girls out. They -- they have a cut-off at five. You can go to the brothel if you're five years old. But they categorize them by age. If you're too old, they send you to another Muslim country that is getting I guess the remnants. The best go to the fighters, and if you are -- if you are pretty and you are young, you are put into one of these brothels. And this is all done according to the Koran.
ERICK: That's right. It's done under Islamic Sharia law. You ask about shocking aspects of the book that I found. Here's one for you. One of these ISIS brothels, at least one of them, in Syria, in Raqaa, which is ISIS's capital, is being run by British women. British women, recruits to ISIS are actually running this brothel. We have western women playing prominent roles now for ISIS.
GLENN: Do we have any idea who they are, where they came from, or why?
ERICK: Well, at least one is a medical student from London. So much for poverty causes terrorism. President Obama says, look, lack of economic opportunity is driving this. We've had medical students. We've had business majors. We've had people from affluent communities in Britain and the United States. When it comes to the women, and, by the way, Glenn, just last week, we had three women, US citizens in New York City and Philadelphia all arrested for supporting ISIS. With the women, there's a few things. When you are building this caliphate, this ideal society, you need women. You need to reproduce. You need to keep your fighters happy. That's one aspect of it. But why are the women drawn to it? Online, ISIS does so much on Facebook, on social media, and a lot of times they lure naive, troubled young women. In my research, Glenn, I found, who are desperate and who are drawn to the darkness of ISIS in many cases, then they're the jihadi brides. On the other hand, though, you have women that actually want to go there, pick up arms and kill people. So ISIS is drawing people -- all kinds. Women from all races, ethnicities, genders, they're drawing all kinds of sick, twisted, evil people to this caliphate.
GLENN: We're talking to Erick Stakelbeck. His book is ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam.
Erick, I'm working on a book right now that is -- its working title is Islam is the Problem: The Theology Behind the Army of Armageddon. And I know you well enough to know that you know what they mean about the armies of Rome, and that this is a holy war for them. How -- how deep is the -- the idea that they're going to bring about Armageddon? And how committed are they to that?
ERICK: Glenn, this is a central pillar of ISIS's ideology. They believe that they literally are the army of the apocalypse, as you said. And they believe that they will be the tip of the spear for the end times armies of Islam and the armies of the Mahdi. Which you discussed many times during the show. They believe that there will actually be an apocalyptic showdown in Syria in a city called Dabiq in Syria. ISIS believes that they and the armies of Islam will fight the West in a climactic battle. So in one sense, they're not -- they actually welcome western involvement in the Middle East because this fits into their end times scenario. The whole scenario they will have an end times battle with the West in Syria. If you look at their publications, Glenn, their official magazines, their websites, their propaganda videos, they talk about the end times and the apocalypse frequently. Much like the Iranian regime, by the way, different in some ways. But both the Iranian regime and ISIS, central pillars of their ideology is that we're in the end times. And in the West, my gosh, our leadership cannot wrap its head around that, won't even acknowledge the ideological driving force behind all the terrorism. Terrorism is only a tactic. It is driven by an apocalyptic ideology.
GLENN: Okay. I have to take a break. I want to talk to you about the chapter in your book called the Islamic State of Minnesota. They are here in the United States. And in particular, there is a huge Somali population in Minnesota, which is being -- which is a target for recruitment. And the southern border. Things that nobody wants to talk about, it is here. And it's very dangerous. Back with Erick Stakelbeck in just a minute.
[break]
GLENN: We're with Erick Stakelbeck. He's the author of ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam. I want to talk to you a little bit about the Islamic State of Minnesota, which is a chapter in your book. Tell people what's going on with the Somali population going on there.
ERICK: You know, this will shock people. The Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, very nice place to live, very high standard of living up there in the great tundra of the upper Midwest. Well, some 100,000 Somali Muslims, more than any other place in North America, live in the Twin Cities. And it has become a magnet, Glenn, for terrorist recruitment. Dozens of young Somali Muslims, American citizens have left their comfortable homes in the Twin Cities, traveled overseas to join terrorist groups like ISIS.
By the way, recently we saw the group Al-Shabaab, the Somali terror group linked to al-Qaeda carry out a horrific massacre at a Kenyan University. Well, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, there's been literally a pipeline going from Minnesota to Somalia with young people joining Al-Shabaab.
GLENN: Are we looking -- are we looking for the recruiters?
ERICK: That's a great question. Glenn, I spoke to a law enforcement source -- actually a few law enforcement sources and Somali community leaders on the ground in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and they said, look, this is how it works with the recruiters. Number one, they'll show up. They'll come on the scene. And then they kind of disappear. But when they do show up, Glenn, what they do is they'll go to a local mosque or they'll go to a local rec center, wherever there are kids hanging out. And they'll target 18, 19, 20-year-old Somali kids. At first, they will befriend them. And then the radicalization process starts. And they tell them, look, come to the caliphate. You'll be a glorious holy warrior. The entire world will know your name. You'll be at the vanguard of this new Islamic empire.
And a lot of the times, Glenn, it's interesting, these guys are in the mid- to late 20s, so they're still young enough to relate to young people. The one guy who showed up last summer in Minneapolis was Egyptian American, drove a fancy car, was showing a lot of cash, dressed in hip clothes. And he was able to ingratiate himself with the young people there. And, reportedly, a few Somalis who he had befriended headed over to Iraq to join ISIS.
GLENN: Did we get him?
ERICK: No.
GLENN: Did we arrest him?
ERICK: No. His name is Amir Meshal. No one knows where he is right now. He was in Minneapolis and St. Paul. And now no one quite knows who he is. Or at least they're not saying that they know where he is or what he's doing right now. In this Somali community, another problem they've had -- now, he was kind of an outsider, Glenn, but another problem they've had in that Somali community in Minneapolis and St. Paul is just people from the community who are recruiting. And it reminds me, you know, I've been there several times over the past few years. On the ground, been investigating, and it reminds me a lot in a bad way of what we see in western Europe right now in the Muslim communities there. In that these young Somalis are not assimilating, they're not integrating into American society. I think the unemployment rate in the Twin Cities among the Somalis is something like 30 or 40 percent. It's not going well.
GLENN: Erick, I appreciate it.
ERICK: If this continues, we'll head down the road they've headed down in Britain, France, Germany, where you have these large restless unassimilated Muslim populations that are breeding grounds for radicals.