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ISIS Releases Video Praising Orlando Attacks

ISIS has released a multi-national video on the Orlando killings through its Media Office of Wilayat Furat. (Link is to news article, not video.) The video is called "You Are Not Held Responsible Except for Yourself." It features multiple fighters as speakers, including an American, a Frenchman, an Uzbeki and an Indonesian. The American, Abu Ism'ail al-Amriki says ISIS will take revenge for every brother and sister killed by the Crusaders. There is a photo of Omar Mateen, video of the aftermath of his rampage, and praise for his actions.

“Do you think you’re at war with a small group of Mujahedeen in Iraq, Syria, Libya and other places? You are sadly mistaken. And do you think you can defeat us by bombarding our homes with the help of your drones and F-16s [and government groups]? Then again, you have sadly made a great mistake,” Al-Amriki says. “Oh America, indeed you are at war with all the true and sincere Muslims around the world.”

The French speaker appears to highlight this killer of a French police officer.

Not surprisingly, ISIS is milking Mateen, glorifying him even though it's most unlikely he had any connection to ISIS before his killing spree. The point being that the media should be more careful when reporting on lone wolf terror acts to avoid handing ISIS a windfall. [More..]

Now, in the aftermath of the massacre in Orlando, the world faces a similar situation. The picture emerging of Mateen is of a young, confused man with a flimsy understanding of his own motivations. In addition to expressing support for ISIS to a 911 operator, he reeled off a list of influences that had nothing to do with the Islamic State, namedropping, among others, the Tsarnaev brothers, who conducted the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, and Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, the American that blew himself up in Syria in 2014 as a member of Jabhat al-Nusra, a group ISIS recently referred to as a “criminal gang.” And, instead of pledging “allegiance” to the ISIS caliph on Facebook, he announced his “a