Sunday, June 12, 2016

My statement on the Orlando terror attack


"The initial indications clearly point to the Orlando shooting being an ISIS-inspired act of mass murder – one that is gruesome even by ISIS’s sickening standards. These mass killings of innocent people cannot be stopped by half-measures. Terror groups like ISIS and al Qaeda cannot be reasoned with or moderated, and co-existence with them is impossible. Along with our allies, we must engage these enemies more forcefully throughout the vast areas in which they operate, while ensuring that our intelligence agencies have all the authorities they need to detect and stop these kinds of attacks. The only way to guarantee our security is to eliminate the jihadists’ entire organizations and expel them from the safe havens in which they operate. Tolerating periodic mass attacks on American and allied civilians is simply not an option.”