ISIS has already managed to stun the world with its cruel barbarity, media sophistication, and military effectiveness. Now, having announced its intention to capture Rome, some Italians are taking the threat very seriously, indeed. Barbara Latza Nadeau writes in The Daily Beast:

Italy has only 5,000 troops available that are even close to deployable, according to the defense ministry….. the military budget was cut by 40 percent two years ago, which has kept the acquisition of 90 F-35 fighter jets hanging in the balance and left the country combat-challenged to lead any mission—especially one against an enemy like the Islamic State. (snip)

there is no question that there is a palpable tension in Italy over the ISIS threat—Libya is just 109 miles away from the island of Lampedusa and 300 miles from Sicily—made worse by a 64 percent increase in illegal migrant arrivals by sea since last year.  In all of 2014, more than 170,000 people arrived from Libya and Turkey, the highest number ever recorded.   Last weekend, as the embassy staff made their way to Italy on a mercantile ship, 2,164 migrants left the same Libyan shores en route to Sicily.  The week before, more than 300 people were lost in the same seas as their rickety fishing boats capsized before rescuers could save them.

Anti-immigration politicians have argued for months that it would take little for jihadi fighters to infiltrate a migrant boat and effectively end up taxied into Italy by rescue ships and the Italian navy.  In a biting editorial in Il Giornalenewspaper, owned by the Silvio Berlusconi family, Sergio Rame hypothesized that the recent influx was an attempt by terrorists to effectively “smoke out” the Italian navy into rescuing the migrants, in an attempt to lure the boats close to Libyan shores in order to launch an attack.  The Italian government, which supports the rescue of migrants fleeing war, dismissed the theory.

The Italian government may scoff, but Thomas D. Williams writes at Breitbart:

An ISIS report, recovered by Libyan media in January, reveals that the Islamic State would be aiming at Libya “to get to Europe,” overrunning it with migrants to “turn it into hell.” According to the report, ISIS considers “illegal immigration” to be a privileged channel of access to the Old Continent.

Libya has become one huge port, a point of departure for Africans desperate to get to Italy, either to remain there or to head deeper into Europe. Italy fears that a wave of immigrants could land upon its shores, creating pandemonium.

Imagine the Pope held for ransom….

Refugees offer an excellent opportunity to insert fighters behind the lines, into the heart of the enemy’s territory.  In the rush, there is little chance to research backgrounds. You can ask the Trojans about how effective this tactic can be, especially when the fighters do not hesitate to strike terror through the most brutal tactics imaginable.

Meanwhile, Jen Psaki offers this prospect to Americans:

"The United States has admitted 524 Syrians since 2011. We’re likely to admit 1,000 to 2,000 Syrian refugees for permanent resettlement in Fiscal Year 2015 and a somewhat higher number, though still in the low thousands, in Fiscal Year 2016," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday.

How heartwarming. What could possibly go wrong? Our ACLU-fearing police forces pitted against ISIS fighters?