HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) - It's not a coincidence that acts and potential acts of terrorism are flaring up right now around the world.
The Berlin market truck attack, the Libyan airliner hijacking, the thwarted terror plot in Australia - all coming in the past week - serves as a reminder that the threat of harm to the West continues. While not all of these incidents involve ISIS, former US House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-Holland, MI), now a private consultant on foreign affairs, believes that the timing of these acts is no coincidence. "(ISIS) wants to demonstrate that they still have these capabilities of reach into Europe," he said in a recent appearance on "WHTC Morning News." "They want to disrupt us during this Christmas/New Year season, leading up to the inauguration of a new President. They want to demonstrate their viability and credibility even as they are facing this tremendous pressure in Iraq and Syria."
Hoekstra was referring to the ongoing efforts to end ISIS control of Mosul, as the group took over Iraq's second largest city in 2014.