New year, old problem for the U.S.: Domestic terrorism

Editor's note: Anthony Moretti, a special commentator for CGTN, is an associate professor at the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, the U.S. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Perennially, people all over the world experience the celebrations and excitement at the start of a new year.

Sadly, the scene in New Orleans, Louisiana, was much different in the early hours of January 1, 2025. And as investigators continue to examine what caused a U.S. citizen to seek the deaths of as many people as possible, an uncomfortable reality cannot be ignored: America's history of seeking to influence longstanding crises all over the world, and especially in the Middle East, continues to have implications at home.

According to the FBI, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who lived in Texas, responsible for killing at least 15 people and injuring more than 30 others, had an ISIS flag in the truck he used to run over his victims. 

When former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown last month, ISIS was seen as being one of the groups on the losing end. ISIS was one of the militia groups seeking to end al-Assad's regime, and it was determined to see the country adopt Islamic fundamentalism. Of course, for more than a decade, the U.S. sought to undermine ISIS in the parts of the world where it was active. In 2014, then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrote the following: "No decent country can support the horrors perpetrated by ISIS, and no civilized country should shirk its responsibility to help stamp out this disease."

We will return to Iran and the U.S. below, but for now keep in mind that as much as Washington and its coalition partners tried, they could not eliminate ISIS. In fact, American officials know ISIS continues to be a legitimate threat in the Middle East and Africa. In March of last year, Ian McCary, the deputy special envoy for the global coalition to defeat ISIS, spoke in Washington, DC. He said this: "We are clear-eyed about the continuing threat ISIS still poses and we remain highly engaged in this endeavor (of combatting it)." Although McCary did not specifically link ISIS to threats against the U.S., the reality cannot be dismissed. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of the United States Central Command, said in 2024 that ISIS "retains the capability and the will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months with little to no warning."

Meanwhile it is not a stretch to say Iran will project its disdain on the U.S., which in recent years has also sought to neutralize Hezbollah. U.S. and Iranian relations have been poor for decades, dating back to when Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and the monarchical government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was superseded in 1979. Since then, the U.S. has maintained economic sanctions against Iran that have led to a devastating humanitarian crisis. Research by Münster University in Germany and Shefa Neuroscience Center in Iran examining the crisis noted this: "The impact is being felt by more than six million patients suffering from complex diseases such as hemophilia, multiple sclerosis, thalassemia, epilepsy, and various immunological disorders, as well as transplant and kidney dialysis patients and those being treated for cancer."

Because the investigation into what unfolded in Louisiana is still in its infancy, investigators do not know if the man accused of carrying out the attacks had direct ties to ISIS or only held sympathetic opinions of the organization and its goals. Regardless, he had an ISIS flag with him, and that means he, at minimum, did what he did in the name of ISIS.

More will be learned about what led to the act of domestic terrorism that unfolded in Louisiana in the early hours of January 1. An explanation might eventually be uncovered to explain why he had an ISIS flag with him. But whatever the reason, the anger felt by people around the world for America's actions in the Middle East and around the world requires a sobering conversation throughout the country.

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