Brigitte Gabriel: The Cost of Terror

As a girl, New York Times best-selling author Brigitte Gabriel spent seven years in an underground 8-by-10-foot bomb shelter after Islamic radicals blew up her home in a small Christian town in southern Lebanon in 1975.

Having her childhood stolen, Gabriel personally knows the cost of terror, and her life story is detailed in her first New York Times best-seller, Because They Hate.

Today, Gabriel still addresses the cost of terror, but the meaning has changed for millions of Americans over the years. In her newest book, Rise: In Defense of Judeo-Christian Values and Freedom, Gabriel arms readers with real data and compelling facts that will equip them to fight the efforts of America’s enemies to undermine the nation at every level of society. Rise will also motivate readers to unite with other patriots who wish to preserve America’s endangered Judeo-Christian values and freedom.

“Despite almost two decades of spending massive amounts of money, dramatically expanding the size and scope of our federal government and losing the priceless lives, limbs and minds of our military heroes, America is no safer today than it was prior to the largest terror attack in world history, on September 11, 2001,” Gabriel writes in Rise. “In fact, the actions and inactions of the Obama administration made America a more vulnerable target than ever before. Islamic terror groups are rapidly mushrooming around the globe. There are many factions with different names, but all with a unified goal of a worldwide Islamic empire. It doesn’t matter what language they speak, what color their skin is or what passport they hold, what bonds them together is their radical ideology.”

In Rise, Gabriel goes on to detail Islamic terror groups that have wreaked havoc with their violence and hatred, such as al Qaeda, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan, al-Shabaab in Somalia, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and ISIS. These groups, she adds, are just the tip of the iceberg.

“These terrorist groups are united in their hatred for us and everything we stand for as a Western, democratic republic,” she says. “They will stop at nothing until they have achieved what they are seeking, a worldwide Islamic caliphate. ISIS has already established a caliphate and is using the internet to spread its message and recruit an army of followers worldwide, including here in the United States. Though their territory has been dramatically decreased by the firepower unleashed by the Trump administration, ISIS’ digital caliphate on the internet is strong and thriving. ISIS remains a threat both abroad and here at home. In fact, with the destruction of territory ISIS had gained during the Obama administration, these terrorists will be attempting to make their way back to Western countries and blending in with the rest of society before making their next move.

“Are we really safer from jihad now than we were prior to 9/11?” Gabriel continues. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know we aren’t. As a matter of fact, despite the trillions of dollars we have spent for nearly two decades fighting the ‘War on Terror,’ Islamic terrorists screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’ have been able to carry out a seemingly endless string of successful attacks worldwide, including right here on American soil, at an alarming rate.”

She adds that the U.S. has spent $2 trillion fighting Islamic terrorism since September 11, 2001. Gabriel details in Rise, Chapter 2, “The Cost of Terror,” that the wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan other counter-terrorism efforts abroad and the increased spending on homeland security, Departments of Defense, State and Veteran Affairs since the 9/11 attacks have cost more than $4.3 trillion in current dollars through the fiscal year 2017.

“If that’s not enough, the costs of post-9/11 wars are predicted to total more than a mind-boggling $5.6 trillion by the end of 2018,” Gabriel says. “How much of this money came out of your pocket? The average amount every single American taxpayer has already spent fighting Islamic terrorism since 2001 is $23,386—all which has left us fighting the exact same enemy and arguably more vulnerable than ever before. We have wasted trillions of dollars on the wrong strategy to win this war. Despite this, we have been told our strategy was winning hearts and minds in the Islamic world. We were advised by radical Islamic lobby organizations in America with the Obama White House welcoming individuals associated with groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Thankfully, we no longer have a terrorist-enabler at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but instead, a straight-talking commander-in-chief who, at the very least, is willing to call Islamic terrorism by name and do whatever it takes to win the war against it.”

In Rise, Gabriel informs Americans about why all this should matter to them. The author helps them draw the battle plan for what they can do before it’s too late. Out on Sept. 11, 2018, Rise will also reveal alarming evidence to open readers’ eyes regarding the imminent threat and ever-widening plot to destroy America’s long-enjoyed freedoms.

Rise contains Gabriel’s most hard-hitting, explosive message yet. It’s not only a warning but also a rallying cry to unite Americans of all backgrounds in a fight for the survival of the nation, the protection of the Judeo-Christian values upon which it was built, and the preservation of the freedoms on which future generations depend.

In the 10 years since her groundbreaking first book took the world by storm, Gabriel has boldly faced death threats from terrorists, condemnation from critics and attacks from the “PC Police,” yet she refuses to back down. Gutsy, spirited, undauntable and resolute, Gabriel now issues a new clarion call to America that addresses the historical and religious basis of our greatest threats to national security.

She started her organization, ACT for America—now approaching 1 million members—in an effort to protect the citizens of the United States from the horrors she experienced as a girl in Lebanon. She is also the celebrated author of two New York Times best-sellers, Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America (2006) and They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It (2010). Rise is published by Frontline, an imprint of Charisma House, which has published 14 New York Times best-sellers.

For more information on Brigitte Gabriel, visit risetoact.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. View the media page for Charisma House here.