The subject of terrorism, ISIS, and Islam came into the forefront of the 2016 presidential race this week after a series of ISIS related stories appeared in the media the previous week.
Earlier this week the U.S. intelligence community celebrated the potential death of Mohammed Emwazi, or "Jihadi John". The ISIS member is famous for his appearance in numerous ISIS videos where he executed numerous foreign hostages on camera. The Pentagon said they were "reasonably" certain earlier in the week that he was killed in an airstrike in the de facto ISIS capital of Raqqua, Syria.
A few days later the White House announced another victory against the terrorist group. This time the senior ISIS leader in Libya, Abu Nabil was killed in a U.S. airstrike.
The fight was looking so successful that President Obama announced that ISIS was "contained".
The week ended in tragedy however, when last Friday a deadly series of suicide bombings in various locations throughout Paris resulted in the deaths of at least 129 people.
The fear and shock of the incident reverberated throughout the world as the U.S. and various other countries vowed to stand with France in it's time of tragedy. France began launching a series of airstrikes on Raqqua in retaliation.
The attacks also had an effect on the 2016 campaign trail. It brought terrorism and ISIS into the spotlight and it dominated much of the Democratic Presidential Debate the next night.
The candidate's spent much of their opening statements wishing the people of Paris peace and prayers in the aftermath of what unfolded. Many of the questions focused on national security and terrorism, questions that Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state answered flawlessly. Her competitor, Bernie Sanders, who's lack of foreign policy experience showed as he gave mediocre and vague responses.
On the Republican side a wide range of voices sounded off on the incident. Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum tore into Obama's lack of a comprehensive strategy to deal with ISIS and for saying they were "contained" and vowed to respond more aggressively as president.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham warned that a second 9/11 was coming unless the country learn to take the threat of terrorists more seriously.
Donald Trump turned his fire on Syrian refugees who are fleeing the violence from the Syrian civil war. He claimed that the 10,000 that President Obama is permitting to enter the country are "a trojan horse". He also indicated that he would be open to the idea of closing all mosques across the country.
As the election season continues to heat up the issue of terrorism and ISIS is going to gradually become a larger issue. Americans will want to know from the candidates how exactly they will respond to the threats and candidates will be forced to pay attention to the issue more carefully.
Candidates will have a wide range of responses to show they are prepared to deal with the radical Islamists, whether it's Hillary Clinton citing her foreign policy experience as proof or Donald Trump appealing to the far right with his "no Syrian immigrants" policy, candidates now have a new area of policy they must explore and expand upon.
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