In recent weeks, I was ridiculed, harassed and belittled for my statement that I was the canary in the mine. That reference was to point out that I was someone that was paying attention to certain things that are taking place with the way some people are looking at our terror problem homegrown or not.

You would have to be blind not to see that we have a problem that is not going away any time soon. These are merely my personal observations and nothing more. I can have an opinion as others do. There are some within this administration that will tell you that problem does not exist for America.

Open up your damn eyes.

On July 16 we saw four of my Marines slaughtered. They were not killed in combat, they were killed here in America. They were led to believe that they were safe. The administration has already downplayed this attack by referring to it as a lone gunman attack.

How in the world can Obama not just call it what it is? Terror being perpetrated by a radicalized Islamic terrorist, killing our Marines.

Before I could even finish this column a sailor died of his wounds and five young men (were) cut down with no ability to defend themselves.

All because of a law that was put on the books in 1992 not allowing the military to carry firearms in certain areas. That has to change now. They are military personnel that is their job, handling and using weapons. So let them not only defend us but let them defend themselves as well.

This individual that attacked these Marines was born in Kuwait and was raised both in Jordan and Tennessee. He had been radicalized not only here in America, but in Jordan also. To all that knew him, he was just the average American boy. Maybe on the outside, but he was rotten to the core with his hatred for this country and its people.

By no means was this the average American boy. He was a snake lying in the grass waiting for an opening to strike out. Some of my critics will say that didn’t happen here, but it did — the radicalizing, that is.

Now it is being said that this all came about because he took drugs and had depression problems. He might have, but take the time to look beyond this. He went after our military men and women. This hate was festering while he was in high school and beyond. You can tell that by what he had written in his yearbook.

ISIS has called for these lone wolf attacks that in time will turn into wolf pack attacks and this will come with military precision. Don’t give credit to ISIS as this problem has been around for quite some time. It just has been honed into a razor sharpness by ISIS.

You might remember them as what Obama called them just last year, you know the junior varsity team. Personally I think these boys have graduated and went on to get their master degrees in radicalized terrorism. Now we have a global war in the making.

It goes back many years, way before 9/11. But that is not my point I’m trying to bring out. I go back to the warning. That warning didn’t start with me, it started with Osama Bin Laden. He warned the entire world of what was to come to the infidel. Those words have come home with a sinister truth.

Domestic terror is here no matter how many of my critics say it isn’t so. I was called Chicken Little for thinking the sky was falling down with radical terrorism. Well it is, and it’s starting all around this country. I don‘t give a damn what you call me because I’ve been called it all in my life. I can be a stone when I have to.

The FBI has stated that it was involved in investigations in all 50 states. These investigations are directed at ISIS and domestic terror cells.

My warning is a very stark warning of days to come. Soft targets are being hit now on at least a monthly basis. That’s going to change. You have individuals on the fringe of society that have no problem being converted with the will to kill their own countrymen. The reason? A misconception that they have been passed-by.

I have said it before, I have said it too much, but I will keep on saying it — what makes people think that what takes place all around the world cannot happen here? It happened in 1993 with the first attack on the twin towers. Then on 9/11 with a massive attack on America — an attack that has never been seen before. Then there was the Boston bombing and three innocent people killed, all targeted because they were Americans.

There was another attack in Oklahoma and the killing and beheading of a woman. On that day there was another woman attacked, she was stabbed and her throat was cut. The attack was only stopped when a fellow worker shot the terrorist. It was called workplace violence.

Texas was also targeted. Two terrorists in recent months were killed there.

Every week you see and hear of more arrests. There will always be copycats, and that is what these radicals want. That makes their job easier.

As I have said the attacks have already started and they will continue. They will be small to start. It will come in the day and it will come in the night. The terror of the “what ifs” will be overwhelming for the people of this country.

The attacks will grow to the point of coming every week and then at some point they will come every day. It might not last long, but it will happen. They might not be big, but they will bring terror and that is what it is all about — fear of the unknown.

Even though we were not hit on the Fourth of July, they did not fail in their attempt to bring terror to this country.

I can only guess on the number of people that the threat affected and you can look that number up for yourself. All you have to do is start with the number of law enforcement officers that pulled overtime for that day and the weeks that led up to the fourth. The cost had to be in the tens of millions and I know that number is probably very low.

The attacks are already taking place, so how can anyone think that it will not continue? This is not the world of our parents. We are living in the days and times when someone will kill you for just looking at them.

But because I am local and to some I know nothing, I say this, “What will it take for you to realize that there are people out there that just hate you because of the country you live in and the language you speak?”

Four Marines and one sailor lay dead and the city of Chattanooga grieves for their dead as does the entire country. Even if ISIS was not directly involved they promoted this act. I can not and will not tell you that this can ever be stopped. It has to be called what it is — terrorism.

The ants are killing the “Great Elephant” in ever so small of a managed manner. Now with directed tiny bites on the very back bone of the nation. Those tiny bites in time will bring the great and mighty down.

This “Great Elephant” does not even see it coming. But the herd, well most of them, see what is coming on the horizon. Again the canary is trying to warn the ones that are not paying attention to their own fate and what is around the corner.

So for those of you that want to poke fun at my words, do so by all means but also take the time to read the story of Noah. We prepare for winter, do we not? We prepare for our hurricane season, do we not?

You better prepare for the storm that is coming.

Warnings come in all types of packages. You either heed them or you do not. All I can do is point things out.

Robert Lee is a concerned citizen and former U.S. Marine who owns and operates Rockingham Guns and Ammo. His column appears here each Saturday.

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Robert Lee

Contributing Columnist