Terrorists not shouting 'Jesus Christ' before attacks, says Trump military adviser

by Gregory Tomlin, |
Ahmad Khan Rahami, who police say was responsible for the recent terror attacks in New York City and New Jersey, is seen in this image taken from video, released by the New Jersey State Police on September 19, 2016. | Courtesy New Jersey State Police/Handout via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) – Days after a wave of terror was launched by jihadists in Minnesota, New York City and New Jersey, the lead military advisor to Republic presidential candidate Donald Trump has claimed America's leaders have refused to identify the nation's enemy properly.

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (Ret.) told FOX News that the White House is politically correct to the point that the real nature of the enemy has been ignored, imperiling the country. The enemy, he said, plain for all to see – it is radical Islam.

I'm going to be very candid here ... You don't have a lot of people yelling 'Jesus Christ' putting a knife in somebody's body or putting a knife in somebody's head.

Therefore, any notion that Trump is "Islamophobic" because he has called terrorism by its name should be rejected, he said.

"I'm going to be very candid here," Flynn said. "You don't have a lot of people yelling 'Jesus Christ' putting a knife in somebody's body or putting a knife in somebody's head."

"This is a different enemy. It's an enemy that we have not, frankly, understood in a couple of administrations, and we definitely don't understand right now," he said.

That much was evident, he said, when White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said earlier this week the U.S. is in a "war of narratives" with the Islamic State and other jihadist groups.

Earnest told CNN's Chris Cuomo Monday the U.S. should begin "debunking" the radical jihadist narrative that ISIS represents Islam. He also said people should avoid painting Islam with a "broad brush."

"When it comes to ISIL, we are in a fight, a narrative fight with them, a narrative battle, and what ISIL wants to do is they want to project that they are an organization that is representing Islam in a fight and a war against the West, and a war against the United States," Earnest said of ISIS. "That is a bankrupt, false narrative. It's a mythology, and we have made progress in debunking that mythology."

If that is true, Flynn said, America would have a competing narrative. It does not, however, because the U.S. hasn't decided to defeat the enemy.

"Political correctness kills," Flynn added. "It will cause death, and we can't have that."

Flynn told his FOX News hosts that people frequently reference the fact that many immigrants are "pouring in" from nations plagued by terrorism, but the truth is "they are actually being poured in by the White House" without being properly vetted and without the expectation they will assimilate into American life.

A Somali immigrant, Dahir Adan, was responsible for the stabbing attack in a Minnesota shopping mall. He reportedly asked one victim if they were Muslim before stabbing them, just as the attackers in the Garissa University attack in Kenya did in 2015. ISIS issued a statement calling Adan a "soldier" of the Islamic State.

Ties between Ahman Khan Rahami, who detonated bombs in New York and New Jersey over the weekend, and ISIS have not been made public, if they exist. The charges filed against him, however, have claimed he was inspired by a different radical group – Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.

The fact that more than one terror group was involved in the recent attacks illustrates the global problem the U.S. is facing.

"Globally, globally, this is in many countries right now, so, we have a problem," Flynn said. "We have to get serious. I will tell you that I believe that there are components of how we can actually beat these guys. If there's one thing that's I know. There's no enemy that's unbeatable, none. We can beat them, but we have to decide that this is an enemy, first, and we're being accused of all sorts of name calling."