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Pentagon: No evidence of ISIS at border

Fishstyx said:
So the Pentagon has checked and identified every individual that has crossed the border, including those that made it through without any detention or border patrol interaction?
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The DoD did not say that.
They said that they had no evidence of ISSI crossing that border.
Quite a different statement.

You can tell the meanings of those two statements apart, can't you?
 
MaggieD said:
Since the border is absolutely NOT secure, it's a perfectly logical conclusion. Glad you're not in charge of US security. I just hope Homeland Security is smarter than you.
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Martians could be sneaking across the border. You don't have proof they aren't.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Read more: Pentagon: No evidence of ISIS at border | TheHill

Rick Perry recently stated that ISIS might have entered the US through the Mexican border.... Well... It seems to just be more bull**** out of Perry's mouth [/FONT][/COLOR]
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"May have"

Governor Perry has asserted that ISIS troops MAY have infiltrated the US southern border.

If the good governor has hard evidence of this he need call out the national guard and alert the appropriate federal authorities, not make speeches about it. To go down this road with nothing more than "may" is fear mongering of the worst order.

He is not acting in the nest interests of the people, although they never seem to tire of the Terrorist Under Every Rock story
 
Simon W. Moon said:
The DoD did not say that.
They said that they had no evidence of ISSI crossing that border.
Quite a different statement.

You can tell the meanings of those two statements apart, can't you?
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Perfectly well, just as Perry said its possible the ISIS has crossed the border. Possible =/= has.

You can tell the meaning of those two statements apart, can't you?
 
For all the whining about the southern border, no one seems worried about the more common means of getting into the US. That is, on a commercial airline. Most illegal immigrants get here that way. The 9/11 hijackers got here that way. Most people do. Worrying about the US/Mexico border because of Middle Eastern terrorists is astoundingly stupid.
 
Fishstyx said:
So the Pentagon has checked and identified every individual that has crossed the border, including those that made it through without any detention or border patrol interaction?
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Fishstyx said:
Perfectly well, just as Perry said its possible the ISIS has crossed the border. Possible =/= has.
You can tell the meaning of those two statements apart, can't you?
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I did not say that Perry said otherwise.
:shrug:
 
Paschendale said:
For all the whining about the southern border, no one seems worried about the more common means of getting into the US. That is, on a commercial airline. Most illegal immigrants get here that way. The 9/11 hijackers got here that way. Most people do. Worrying about the US/Mexico border because of Middle Eastern terrorists is astoundingly stupid.
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Didn't one of the 911 guys come in through Canada?
 
Why in the hell would ISIS members need to pose as Hispanic, payoff Mexican criminal organizations, and sneak across hundreds of miles of desert wasteland to get here via our southern border when easily hundreds of them hold British Passports and could fly here first class if they wanted??
 
Simon W. Moon said:
I did not say that Perry said otherwise.
:shrug:
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That was what the quote you used from me was in reply to. Which is more or less the point of this thread....to counter Perry's claim that open border could very well permit ISIS to cross.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Any proof that they are ISIS members? As the Pentagon said: "“I've seen no indication that they are coming across the border with Mexico. We have no information that leads us to believe that." Or are we just going to go with the argument that "well ISIS has members all over the world, so they could be". That augment is not evidence.
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Fishstyx said:
So the Pentagon has checked and identified every individual that has crossed the border, including those that made it through without any detention or border patrol interaction?
Click to expand...
Fishstyx said:
That was what the quote you used from me was in reply to. Which is more or less the point of this thread....to counter Perry's claim that open border could very well permit ISIS to cross.
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:shrug:
 
"There's the obvious great concern that, because of the condition of the border from the standpoint of it not being secure, and us not knowing who is penetrating across, that individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be [crossing]," he said. "There's a very real possibility that they may have already used that [strategy]."

There is a very real possibility that if you go right now and buy a Powerball you will win.
There is a very real possibility that you will be hit by a meteor.

This reminds me of Bush's "concern" over Iraq's flying, venomous robots of terror.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
"There's the obvious great concern that, because of the condition of the border from the standpoint of it not being secure, and us not knowing who is penetrating across, that individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be [crossing]," he said. "There's a very real possibility that they may have already used that [strategy]."

There is a very real possibility that if you go right now and buy a Powerball you will win.
There is a very real possibility that you will be hit by a meteor.

This reminds me of Bush's "concern" over Iraq's flying, venomous robots of terror.
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LOL, because the odds of making it across the border unchallenged are equal to that winning the Powerball or getting hit by a meteor.

You can honestly sit here and proclaim that the possibility is that far removed? Honestly?

So we just take ISIS's threat of bringing this fight to the US as just chest thumping? If the threat is to be taken seriously, shouldn't you not assess the risk of all possible entry points?
 
Fishstyx said:
LOL, because the odds of making it across the border unchallenged are equal to that winning the Powerball or getting hit by a meteor.
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nope.
Not because of that.

Just pointing out what, "There is a very real possibility" means


Fishstyx said:
You can honestly sit here and proclaim that the possibility is that far removed? Honestly?
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I have no idea of the actually level of probability. but if I wanted to know, i would seek out subject matter experts rather than take the word of a politician.
Not saying that you would take the word of a politician--no one's that dumb.

Fishstyx said:
So we just take ISIS's threat of bringing this fight to the US as just chest thumping? If the threat is to be taken seriously, shouldn't you not assess the risk of all possible entry points?
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Again, I would defer to subject matter experts rather than poiticians with agendas--e.g any of them.

Of course, ymmv
 
WCH said:
HTF would the DOD know anything about that?

Remember this is the same bunch that unsuccessfully raided camps in Syria looking for hostages on BAD intelligence.
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Bad intelligence is putting it mildly. Apparently, Americans were spotted in a local market near where Foley was held, asking if anyone had seen or knew where he was. That gave his captors plenty of warning and time to move him.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
nope.
Not because of that.

Just pointing out what, "There is a very real possibility" means
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Well, means a bit more than just Powerball and meteors. ;)


Simon W. Moon said:
I have no idea of the actually level of probability. but if I wanted to know, i would seek out subject matter experts rather than take the word of a politician.
Not saying that you would take the word of a politician--no one's that dumb.
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Well, you're sort of taking the word of a politician as well. A flag level officer in the position of press secretary for the Pentagon is exactly that....just an assigned one in lieu of elected.

But don't disagree, I would never said its definitive. Bottom line for anyone that took the 9/11 Commission report at seriously, when groups like this make a threat...you listen. The southern borders is a huge vulnerability, one that could easily be exploited.....particularly with a big chunk of resources directed towards babysitting right now.

Simon W. Moon said:
Again, I would defer to subject matter experts rather than poiticians with agendas--e.g any of them.

Of course, ymmv
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There are a few out there that fit that description that share the politician's concern, particularly those formerly in the intelligence community. Google it, there are few voicing concern of the possibility.

Frankly, Perry's statement was poor. Could have easily just stated that the currently wide open border is big vulnerability that could be exploited by groups like ISIS.
 
Fishstyx said:
Well, means a bit more than just Powerball and meteors.
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The phrase can be used no matter how remote the probability.
It's an empty meaningless phrase. That's why it reminded me of GWB's "concern" over Iraq's flying, venomous robots of terror.

It's an empty rhetorical device to segue into any bat**** **** without having to take ownership of saying something bat****--weasel words.
Politicians do that crap all the time--words loaded with connotation but empty of denotation. It's a low-risk easy way to get people fired up


Fishstyx said:
Well, you're sort of taking the word of a politician as well. A flag level officer in the position of press secretary for the Pentagon is exactly that....just an assigned one in lieu of elected.
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al Qaeda is "sort of" a tea society social club--the members meet, drink tea, and talk.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Thanks for backing up the OP!
"said that while they are “unaware of any specific, credible threats against the Homeland”
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There were no credible specific threats prior to 911 either, but by all means keep smelling that hope and change.

After alleged Islamic terrorists threatened Chicago and Washington D.C., on Twitter, the government is begging local police to remain vigilant.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Friday urging all local officials to be on the lookout for possible ISIS threats and homegrown terror.

Read more: 'We are in your cities': Alleged ISIS terrorists threaten U.S. via Twitter; FBI orders police to be on high alert - NY Daily News
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The FBI and Homeland Security have warned police forces across the country to be on the lookout for terrorist threats as a chilling note was posted online warning that Chicago could be an ISIS target.

The federal agencies sent a bulletin on Friday to law enforcement agencies warning them to be on the lookout for terrorism.

Although no specific threats have been identified, they could not guarantee no future attacks, the federal agencies said.
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FBI warns police to be on lookout for ISIS threats in US | Mail Online
 
Simon W. Moon said:
If you want to abuse language like that, I cannot stop you.
But declaring the DoD a politican seems like obvious equivocation.

Or are you trying to tell us that Admiral Kirby was speaking for himself about his own judgments instead of for the DoD?
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No, simply pointing out that he is a press secretary. He's handed the talking points by Pentagon leadership. This set of talking points was likely directed to questions that would likely to arise from Perry's statement. You don't think the Pentagon is politics free....do you?

Bottom line here is I find it interesting that Pentagon released this as the official statement when the comments from Secretary Hagel and General Dempsey have talked up the threat level of this group as well as their motivations and sophistication. Again, goes back to simply asking how can the Pentagon definitively know that? Are they tracking every person crossing the border? Does the intelligence account for every member of ISIS?
 
Fishstyx said:
No, simply pointing out that he is a press secretary. He's handed the talking points by Pentagon leadership. This set of talking points was likely directed to questions that would likely to arise from Perry's statement. You don't think the Pentagon is politics free....do you?
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My office has politics, but we're not politicians.
The DoD is not a politician. [What a wierd-ass thing to have to say]

Fishstyx said:
Again, goes back to simply asking how can the Pentagon definitively know that?
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How can the Pentagon know that they have no evidence of ISIS crossing into the US?
They would ask their personnel tasked with following ISIS I suppose.
How would you set about ascertaining the knowledge that your organization has?

Fishstyx said:
Are they tracking every person crossing the border? Does the intelligence account for every member of ISIS?
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These are questions which would be more appropriate if the DoD had said that there were no ISIS agents crossing our southern border.
Instead, the DoD said that they had no evidence of such a thing occurring.
So your questions don't fit very well.
You seem to be addressing whether or not ISIS agents have crossed the border while the DoD are addressing their knowledge of ISIS agents crossing the border.

To me the two ideas are distinct.
I was under the impression that you could tell the two apart.
 
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