From The Dallas Morning News:  http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20160322-editorial-what-europes-terrorism-struggles-mean-for-the-u.s..ece

22 March 2016

Inevitability arrived at the airport in Brussels and visited its subway for Tuesday’s morning rush hour, this time in the shape of three bombs. Dozens were killed and many more injured.

The initial bulletins from Belgium, horrific as they were, were at the same time not unexpected. Carnage on such a scale still shocks the senses, but such terrorism is nothing new to Europe.

Just this week this newspaper remarked on a 55-page report from French anti-terrorism authorities on what they knew, what they’ve learned, and what they still do not know about the terrible Islamic State attacks Nov. 13 in Paris. Coordinated shootings, bombings and hostage-takings left 130 dead and the world aghast.

Now, the hometown of the last known survivor of the Paris attacks explodes into a state of emergency.

Salah Abdeslam was arrested just last week a short walk from his mother’s home in the Molenbeek section of Brussels. His attorney says he had been cooperating with authorities while resisting extradition to France. Counterterrorism officials worried that he continued plotting attacks during his 125 days as a fugitive.

Two bombs ripped through Brussels’ Zaventem airport — one from a suicide bomber in the departures area — and another at the entrance to the Maelbeek subway station in the heart of the city, near the European Union headquarters.

If Paris destroyed our hopes that the Islamic State could be contained to its home base in Syria and Iraq, Brussels should convince us that determined, networked terrorists remain a step ahead of those chasing them.

The Islamic State, in fact, has been losing ground at home, with Russian and U.S. bombing helping to chip away at its held territory by as much as a fifth, by some experts’ estimates. Those experts also warn that this only accentuates Islamic State leaders’ resolve to take the fight into Western nations.

Whether or not Abdeslam was involved, the Brussels attacks were a clear message, for which the Islamic State took responsibility.

Inevitability arrived at the airport in Brussels and visited its subway for Tuesday’s morning rush hour, this time in the shape of three bombs. Dozens were killed and many more injured.

The initial bulletins from Belgium, horrific as they were, were at the same time not unexpected. Carnage on such a scale still shocks the senses, but such terrorism is nothing new to Europe.

Just this week this newspaper remarked on a 55-page report from French anti-terrorism authorities on what they knew, what they’ve learned, and what they still do not know about the terrible Islamic State attacks Nov. 13 in Paris. Coordinated shootings, bombings and hostage-takings left 130 dead and the world aghast.

Now, the hometown of the last known survivor of the Paris attacks explodes into a state of emergency.

Salah Abdeslam was arrested just last week a short walk from his mother’s home in the Molenbeek section of Brussels. His attorney says he had been cooperating with authorities while resisting extradition to France. Counterterrorism officials worried that he continued plotting attacks during his 125 days as a fugitive.

Two bombs ripped through Brussels’ Zaventem airport — one from a suicide bomber in the departures area — and another at the entrance to the Maelbeek subway station in the heart of the city, near the European Union headquarters.

If Paris destroyed our hopes that the Islamic State could be contained to its home base in Syria and Iraq, Brussels should convince us that determined, networked terrorists remain a step ahead of those chasing them.

Continue reading at:  http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20160322-editorial-what-europes-terrorism-struggles-mean-for-the-u.s..ece