US MP: Hundreds of Americans Have ’ISIL’ Associations

Local Editor

US congressman Mike Rogers expressed concerns that hundreds of Americans with links to the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL] extremists may return to the country with their US passports and engage in acts of terror.

Rogers, a Michigan Republican lawmaker that heads the House Intelligence Committee, believes hundreds of US citizens have trained with ISIL at some point.

In Sunday remarks, he said, "I'm very concerned because we don't know every single person that has an American passport that has gone and trained and learned how to fight."

Rogers noted that these American citizens have at least once traveled, participated and trained with the terrorists and that US intelligence service is currently tracking them.

If these Americans have helped ISIL, they should be charged under laws that prohibit US citizens from assisting terrorists, he said.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama said in a statement on Thursday that his administration lacked a strategy to address the growing threat of ISIL extremism. Obama said he was not planning to significantly expand US military action against ISIL anytime soon, despite repeated recent pledges suggesting such moves.

His remarks were greeted with intense criticism on Capitol Hill.

This is while the Obama administration as well as his Republican critics in the US Congress have all been major proponents of supporting the foreign-backed insurgency war against the Syrian government and have therefore been instrumental in cultivating various terrorist groups in Syria and neighboring Arab countries.

Dozens of Americans are among around 7,000 foreign fighters, according to US Attorney General Eric Holder, Reuters reported.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team