Just a few years ago in November 2015, Paris experienced its very own 9/11. Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers hit outside the Stade de France during a football match between Germany and France. This was the first of three carefully and professionally coordinated attacks. The second saw several mass shootings and a suicide bomber target nearby cafes and restaurants. The final and most barbaric attack was during an Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan theatre. 90 innocent lives were taken and later reports found that many of the victims were disembowelled and raped, which had to be held secret for some time for the risk that complete anarchy would begin throughout France. This along with many more left Europe with 211 terrorist attacks in 2015 which was the highest since records began in 2006.
2016 was also an incredibly dark year for Europe and the world. The Bastille Day truck attack in Nice saw 84 dead, among them were many newborn babies. Brussels airport and a nearby train station were bombed leaving 34 victims and another 190 wounded. Turkey would also have a terrible year, receiving five ISIS attacks including the Istanbul airport bombings (44) and the infamous new years eve nightclub shootings which ended 39 lives.
Terrorism continued to destroy Europe in 2017, except this time England would take its hit. The great Westminster bridge was targeted by a lone wolf stabber leaving six dead. From there saw the London bridge attack with seven dead and 48 injured near the Borough markets. Then who could forget the Ariana Grande concert attack in Manchester where a suicide bomber killed 22 and injured 59, most of which were children.
Overall, Europe witnessed 150 innocent lives lost in 2015. 2016 saw 135 and 2017 had 62 in what would be described as religiously inspired terrorist attacks by ISIS in Europe.
However, 2018, saw just 20 deaths. The main reason why terrorist attacks dramatically reduced was due to the decline of ISIS. Throughout Donald Trump’s campaign, he promised to defeat ISIS. He promised this through a new approach which consisted of no longer telling reporters what his plan of attack would be, which makes sense seeing as ISIS were always listening. The likes of Obama and Hilary Clinton would continually tell the world their plans of defeating ISIS, whilst dropping record amounts of bombs. Trump refused to take a soft stance on an enemy so barbaric and ruthless. Instead, he took a hard-line approach towards the enemy. Dropping the ‘mother of all bombs’ on ISIS strangleholds in Afghanistan 2017.
Since the ISIS caliphate began in 2014, they have claimed 143 attacks in 29 countries which have killed 2,043 people. As of 2019, ISIS is almost 100% defeated. Although Trump did not do it alone, this is a monumental achievement for his presidency but more importantly the world itself. The amount of fear ISIS instilled into the everyday citizen for five terrifying years was unfathomable. Humans feared large cities, crowds and events. Peace of mind was hard to find following the constant, horrific scenes projected onto our TVs and iPhones. Yet, he is given no praise by the mainstream media. In 2009 Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize award and went on to drop more bombs than any other president. Donald Trump promised to defeat ISIS, he delivered. 2019 looks set to be a peaceful year for the earth. Although I don’t think Trump will be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon.
Aidan Green is the editor of The Commentariat.