french interior minister manuel vauls asserted this month that returning fighters represent -- quote -- "the biggest threat that the country faces in the coming years." the anxiety has been especially acute in britain, where memories are still fresh of the july 2005 transit bombings. these attacks, which claimed 52 lives, were carried out by homegrown radicals, at least two of them had received training in pakistan. so -- quote -- "the penny hasn't dropped but syria is a game changer, richard walton, who leads counterterrorism efforts at scotland yard, told the 'evening standard' newspaper. 'we are seeing it every day. you have hundreds of people going to syria and if they don't get killed, they get radicaliz radicalized'" so we are in a situation that i think of failed leadership over the last five years and the chickens unfortunately are beginning to come home to roost. the president of the united states in his address to the nation describes things in the middle east as he did, i think it's very, very, very unfortunate because that is not comport -- that does not comport with the