The United States has not defeated ISIS, and as a result, operatives continue to be trained, and "directed wolf packs" have been carrying out attacks in Europe and elsewhere as a result, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson said Tuesday.
"Right now the world's a mess because America has been weak," the Wisconsin Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "The strategy of peace through withdrawal has been a miserable failure. We actually have to achieve peace through strength, starting with economic strength."
Tuesday afternoon, ISIS claimed responsibility, through its media arm, for the Berlin attack that killed 12 people and injured 50 others when a truck plowed through a Christmas market.
ISIS made its declaration — saying that the driver was a "soldier of the Islamic State" — through its AMAQ News Agency, which was confirmed via several Twitter posts by the SITE Intelligence Group.
"In America we've experienced inspired lone wolves, but we've seen directed wolf packs, for example, in Brussels airport, in Istanbul," said Johnson, whose interview was conducted before ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
The United States, meanwhile, is not realizing the full potential of its economy, because of "grotesque overregulation at $2 trillion per year regulatory burden, and an uncompetitive tax system."
The nation needs to produce at least 3 to 4 percent annual growth, so it can get the resources to strengthen the military and defeat ISIS, while projecting "our leadership and values in the world," Johnson said.
"When we project weakness, whether it's militarily, poor strategy or economic weakness, and let's face it, you know, people can do math, they see, for example, we're almost $20 trillion in debt," said Johnson. "We have a projected deficit over the next 30 years of $103 trillion. America is perceived as weak which is why you see the aggression on the part of Russia, China and Iran. We have to first become strong economically. When we draw a line in the sand, the world has to realize we're going to actually maintain that line in the sand. So, again, it's doing what you say you're going to do, but we've just got to become stronger both economically and militarily."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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