![\"ORLANDO,](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/06\/roses2.jpg?w=620\")
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This is a combination of excerpts from two articles by John R. Schindler.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Tonight we burn illusions. A terrorist attack on a popular gay club in Orlando, Florida in the middle of the night ended before the dawn with the violent deaths of at least 50 innocents and the maiming of 53 more. This was the bloodiest terrorist attack on America since 9\/11. The Pulse nightclub, something of an icon in Florida LGBT circles, was transformed into a charnel house.<\/p>\n The United States had been lucky, having avoided truly mass casualty terrorist incidents since that awful day 15 years ago, through a combination of luck, inept enemies, and excellent intelligence work. But the Orlando horror demonstrates that attacks on soft targets in public places can cause huge numbers of casualties, here as well as in Europe, like last November\u2019s assaults on Paris that killed 130 people, 89 of them at the Bataclan theater, where a hostage situation resulted in a bloodbath. Something similar has just happened in Florida.<\/p>\n While the Paris attacks<\/a> were the work of nine terrorists, plus several others providing logistical support, so far only one killer has been identified in the Orlando atrocity. While there are reports of other shooters, these remain unconfirmed, and the sole terrorist definitely involved was Omar Mateen, born in this country in 1986 to immigrant parents from Afghanistan. He was killed by police at the end of the nightmare he inflicted on Orlando.<\/p>\n So far, his story is shaping up as the now-customary list of jihadist clich\u00e9s. The 29-year-old went from a relatively normal American life towards extremism, winding up on the radar of the FBI more than once<\/a> for his aggressive beliefs. A brief marriage failed, in part because he frequently beat his wife, she claims,asserting<\/a> that Mateen \u201cwas not a stable person.\u201d A trauma like divorce leading to an embrace of jihadism is as common as can be in extremist circles.<\/p>\n Read the rest at The Observer \u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The enormity of that death toll at Pulse nightclub has something to do with the fact that Orlando police waited until 5 a.m. to send in their SWAT team to save hostages \u2013 a decision that was at odds with normal police procedures in active shooter situations and appears to have been an error that cost lives.<\/p>\n That said, it\u2019s important to place blame where it really belongs: on Omar Mateen and any helpers or co-conspirators he may have possessed. Although progressives are chanting their usual mantra about gun control being the solution to jihadism, creating heat rather than light, it\u2019s fair to ask why on earth Mr. Mateen had an AR-15 rifle after being questioned by the FBI twice about possible ties to extremism.<\/p>\n Just as we should ask why he remained employed with a security firm that did\u00a0significant work for the U.S. Government<\/a>, we should be concerned that Mr. Mateen bought an AR-15, a near-military-grade weapon that surely did the lion\u2019s share of the killing on Sunday, just days before<\/a> he became the deadliest mass murderer in American history. The legalistic answer \u2013 that he had been convicted of no crime and the FBI\u2019s investigations into Mr. Mateen never went very far \u2013 is correct but unsatisfying when 49 innocent Americans are dead.<\/p>\n\nJihad Denial Kills\u2026Again<\/a><\/h2>\n
\u00a0America just suffered our worst terrorist attack since 9\/11. We need to start talking honestly about the enemy that keeps butchering Americans.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe Road to\u00a0Orlando<\/a><\/h2>\n
A clear picture of what exactly happened in Orlando in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday is slowly emerging. While reports persist of more than one shooter, these remain unconfirmed, meaning that Omar Mateen killed more than four dozen people by himself over a three-hour period. Since it took nine jihadists to kill 130 people in Paris last November, and several of those murderers were veterans of the Islamic State\u2019s jihad in the Middle East, Mr. Mateen appears to have been a significantly deadlier ISIS killer than usual, despite his complete lack of combat experience.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n