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14 July 2016: +80 dead in truck attack in southern France

PuckChaser said:
And that's why God invented the Reaper drone with Hellfire missiles. How many more declarations get made when the Imam blows up before his hate speech is over?

Perhaps we should leave God out of the weapons manufacturing business ... but feel free to thank the engineers at General Atomic, Boeing, LockMart or Northrop Gruman.  :nod:
 
- Edited to add English-language statement from French President -

Statement from the President of France attached (in French).

This from Canada's PM ...
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement after learning of the terrorist attack in Nice, France:

“I was heartbroken to learn of the many dozens of innocent victims who were killed or injured as a result of today’s terrorist attack that targeted Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France.

“On behalf of all Canadians, I extend my deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed. We also wish a speedy recovery to the many more that were injured.

“Canada and France are the closest of friends, and we stand by the French people as they face this terrible ordeal. We have offered all possible assistance to the French Government.

“Senseless acts like this one are not isolated events, and we will continue to work with our Allies and partners to fight terrorism in all of its forms. We will bring those who are responsible to justice, whether they be the perpetrators, or those involved in funding or organizing such attacks.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of France at this very difficult time. We mourn the loss of so many innocent victims.”

***IMPORTANT***

“We are still in the process of determining whether any Canadians have been impacted by this event with local authorities.

"Canadian citizens in France requiring emergency consular assistance should contact the Embassy of Canada (https://travel.gc.ca/assistance/embassies-consulates/france)  or call Global Affairs Canada's 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre collect at +1 613 996-8885 or at +1 800 387 3124. An email can also be sent to sos@international.gc.ca.

"Friends and relatives in Canada of Canadian citizens known to be in the area can contact Global Affairs Canada's 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre by calling 613-996-8885 or 1-800-387-3124, or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca."
... and foreign affairs minister ...
“We condemn this horrific terrorist attack, and we offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those killed and a speedy recovery to those injured. Canadians are deeply saddened by this tragedy and we stand in solidarity with the people of France on their national day.

“The Consulate of Canada in Nice is in communication with local authorities and the Emergency Watch and Response Centre is active and assisting Canadians.

“Canadian citizens in France requiring emergency consular assistance should contact the Embassy of Canada to France or call Global Affairs Canada's 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre collect at +1 613 996-8885 or +1 800 387-3124. An email can also be sent to sos@international.gc.ca.

“Friends and relatives in Canada of Canadian citizens known to be in the area can contact Global Affairs Canada's 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre by calling 613-996-8885 or 1-800-387-3124, or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.”
... as well as the U.S. President:
On behalf of the American people, I condemn in the strongest terms what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed and wounded dozens of innocent civilians. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and other loved ones of those killed, and we wish a full recovery for the many wounded.  I have directed my team to be in touch with French officials, and we have offered any assistance that they may need to investigate this attack and bring those responsible to justice. We stand in solidarity and partnership with France, our oldest ally, as they respond to and recover from this attack.

On this Bastille Day, we are reminded of the extraordinary resilience and democratic values that have made France an inspiration to the entire world, and we know that the character of the French Republic will endure long after this devastating and tragic loss of life.
 

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Oldgateboatdriver said:
Perhaps we should leave God out of the weapons manufacturing business ... but feel free to thank the engineers at General Atomic, Boeing, LockMart or Northrop Gruman.  :nod:

The belief in "God" and the twisting of holy books and scripture is part of the problem.
 
The National Front comes out demanding a declaration of war, and other French opposition parties also have deserted the "Unity" facade:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-15/attack-in-nice-draws-barbs-from-opposition-after-year-of-silence

French Unity Cracks as Opposition Slams Nice Security Response
Gregory Viscusi
Alexandre Boksenbaum-Granier
July 15, 2016 — 9:37 AM EDT

Terror in Nice Leads France to Mourn Again
Opposition held off criticism after last year’s attacks
Political show of unity seen fading as election approaches

French security failed the people of Nice.

That’s what opposition politicians, who held their tongues after the last two major terror attacks in France, charged after a truck late Thursday tore through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the southeastern city, killing at least 84 people and critically injuring about 50 others.

Leaders of the center-right parties have maintained in the past that national unity was more important than scoring political points. Now, with nine months to go before France’s presidential elections, they’re not holding back.

“If all measures had been taken, this drama wouldn’t have happened,” Alain Juppe, an aspiring candidate in next year’s presidential election for The Republicans party, said on RTL Radio. “Obviously we must do more more, we must do better.”

France has been under a state of emergency since the Nov. 13 attacks at restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall in Paris that killed 130 people, deploying 10,000 military personnel to guard critical sites. That assault came after the January 2015 shootings at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper and a kosher store near Paris. The Nice attack and four others of smaller scale in the last 18 months have brought the tally close to 240 dead and hundreds injured. Neighboring Belgium was hit by terror attacks at the Brussels airport and in the city’s metro.

‘I’m Angry’

“How is it possible that this truck could enter a totally pedestrian zone without there being any measures preventing him from taking this route?” Christian Estrosi, a member of The Republicans and head of the French region that includes Nice, said on BFM TV. “I can’t hide that I’m angry. After Charlie Hebdo, we forgot, and then we had the Bataclan and then we forgot, and we had Brussels, and after Brussels we forgot, and now we have Nice.

After Thursday’s attack, President Francois Hollande said emergency measures would be extended for three months beyond their planned July 26 expiration. Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, both from the ruling Socialist Party, flew to Nice Friday to meet victims and security forces.

“Everything was done for the security of the people watching the fireworks, ” Hollande said in Nice. “The security forces went into action to neutralize the aggressor, to stop the carnage.”

Declare War

Marine Le Pen, head of the anti-immigrant National Front, disparaged the government’s efforts against terrorism.

“The war against the scourge of fundamentalism hasn’t started, it must now be declared,” she said in a statement. “That is the deep wish of the French, and I will put all my energy so that they are finally heard and the necessary fight is finally undertaken.”

A French parliamentary report released July 5 said France’s failure to prevent last year’s attack was partly due to lack of coordination between the country’s six intelligence units, and recommended the creation of a single counter-terrorism agency.

Unstoppable

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy, head of The Republicans and the leading rival to Juppe for the nomination in next May’s presidential election, issued only a statement of condolences.

Police killed the driver of the truck, a 31-year-old Tunisian with French residency. While the government and French judicial system are treating the attack as Islamic terrorism, media reports have cited neighbors of the suspect as saying he was going through a divorce and wasn’t religious.

As he plowed through the crowd, “nothing could have stopped him,” one of the survivors of the attack said on BFM TV.
 
Be interesting to know if Service Mobile d'Urgence et Reanimation ( SMUR ) used their "stay and play" ( as opposed to the North American "load and go" ) method of pre-hospital patient care at Nice.
( For example, SMUR took 110 minutes to get Princess Diana to a hospital that was ten minutes away. )

Not to suggest one method is better or worse than the other, just different.

SMUR
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_France#SMUR

 
Hamish Seggie said:
The belief in "God" and the twisting of holy books and scripture is part of the problem.

Incorrect, Mr. Seggie.

:highjack:

The belief in "God" is not part of the problem: It is the problem. Hence, I want it left out by all sides. As was astutely noted by one of the greatest modern days essayist: When people kill in the name of religion, religion is the name of the problem.

And there is no "twisting" of holy books and scripture. Rather the contrary: These people are taking the words written in those allegedly "holy" texts literally and applying them exactly as written. Any alleged divine being all knowing and all powerful who would have created humans would have known that a large portion of these human would be too stupid to give these words anything but their most blatant and literal meaning. The fact that more care was not taken then in drafting  texts that would propound peace and peaceful existence only shows that no such being is behind the drafting.

Imagine there is no heaven;
No hell below us;
Above us only sky.

And when humanity grows out of its still infantile belief in paranormal beings and accepts the immortal words of John Lennon, then living for today - instead of dying for a non-existent infinite tomorrow - will make most wars disappear.

That's it - I'm not going any further because this is not the right thread.
 
ISIL "supporters" happy, but no claim of responsibility yet (via MEMRI Jihad & Terrorism Threat Monitor) ...
Following the truck attack in Nice, France on the night of July 14, 2016, which claimed the lives of at least 84 people, ISIS supporters online expressed joy, congratulated the perpetrators, and stressed that the attack came in retaliation for airstrikes by coalition jets, including ones from France, in Syria and Iraq, which killed innocent Muslims. ISIS sympathizers on Telegram also posted banners lauding the attack and vowing that members of the Islamic State would continue to strike France and the West.

The Dabiq Telegram channel posted a comment by an ISIS supporter with the username miqdad, who wrote: "Whether the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the first operation in Paris or not – and it eventually did – and even if it has yet to claim responsibility for the Nice operation, which is still vague at this point [meaning no one had claimed responsibility for it] – our hearts are still filled with joy of a level we have yet to experience! How can we not rejoice when we see the organs of the infidel Crusaders, who launched a war on Islam, strewn about here and there?! How can we not rejoice after being sad when they bombed Muslim lands in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere in cold blood?! Do we not deserve joy?!"

Pro-ISIS Telegram channels used the attack as an opportunity to spread messages aimed at intimidating Western citizens. The Kawasir Al-Nasher channel posted a message in English that read: "Oh crusaders, we told you... The next attack is coming soon, we are everywhere, Allah Akbar."

Pro-ISIS Telegram user Al-Muzamjir Al-Tarabulsi also posted a message in English: "Remember O Crusaders, your airstrikes on Muslims. The innocent children you killed, the mosques you destroyed, and how many mother you made her tear drop on her baby [sic]... So we are come to you, crusaders. We are coming to strike you the same way you struck us and now the fight has come." ...
 
You don't need an explicit belief in a divine being(s) to unleash all kinds of horror. the very secular National Socialists and various Communist regimes in the 20th century killed tens of millions of people in pursuit of their secular goals (Nazi Germany 6 million, Comunist Russia 20 million, Communist China estimates go as high as 65 million, and that is just the "big three").

Listening to SJW's, Global Warming alarmists, anti gun zealots and other Authoratarian Leftist rhetoric, they also seem hell bent on stripping us of our rights and freedoms, and imprisoning or killing those who they don't approve of. (Alinsky evidently believed that it would take the deaths of about 20 million Americans to bring about his vision of the promised land, and the extreme view of the Greens and Global Warming alarmists is that billions of human beings have to die in order to bring about their version of Utopia).

So we don't need religion as the cover or motivation, it is just familiar and easy to use.
 
Well, the"Gott mit uns", "God is with us"  credo on the belt buckle of a German soldier from either war wasn't as a English speaking joker might say a question about mittens.  Not, totally secular, then...
 
Nice as an Islamic Radical PSYOPS campaign against fellow Muslims:

http://atimes.com/2016/07/why-the-terrorists-are-winning-the-intelligence-war/

Nice attack: Why the terrorists are winning the intelligence war — Spengler
BY DAVID P. GOLDMAN on JULY 15, 2016 in AT TOP WRITERS, DAVID P. GOLDMAN, MIDDLE EAST, SPENGLER

Yet another criminal known to security services has perpetrated a mass killing, the Tunisian Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. Why did the French police allow a foreign national with a criminal record of violence to reside in France? Apart from utter incompetence, the explanation is that he was a snitch for the French authorities. Blackmailing Muslim criminals to inform on prospective terrorists is the principal activity of European counter-terrorism agencies, as I noted in 2015. Every Muslim in Europe knows this.

The terrorists, though, have succeeded in turning the police agents sent to spy on them and forcing them to commit suicide attacks to expiate their sins. This has become depressingly familiar; as Ryan Gallagher reported recently, perpetrators already known to the authorities committed ten of the highest-profile attacks between 2013 and 2015.

The terrorists, in other words, are adding insult to injury. By deploying police snitches as suicide attackers, terrorists assert their moral superiority and power over western governments. The message may be lost on the western public, whose security agencies and media do their best to obscure it, but it is well understood among the core constituencies of the terrorist groups: the superiority of Islam turns around the depraved criminals whom the western police send to spy on us, and persuades them to become martyrs for the cause of Islam.

These attacks, in other words, are designed to impress the Muslim public as much as they are intended to horrify the western public. In so many words, the terrorists tell Muslims that western police agencies cannot protect them. If they cooperate with the police they will be found out and punished.  The West fears the power of Islam: it evinces such fear by praising Islam as a religion of peace, by squelching dissent in the name of fighting supposed Islamophobia, and by offering concessions and apologies to Muslims. Ordinary Muslims live in fear of the terror networks, which have infiltrated their communities and proven their ability to turn the efforts of western security services against them. They are less likely to inform on prospective terrorists and more likely to aid them by inaction.

The terrorists, in short, are winning the intelligence war, because they have shaped the environment in which intelligence is gathered and traded. But that is how intelligence wars always proceed: spies switch sides and tell their stories because they want to be with the winner. ISIS and al-Qaeda look like winners in the eyes of western Muslim populations after humiliating the security services of the West.

As a result, western European Muslims fear the terrorists more than they fear the police. The West will remain vulnerable to mass terror attacks until the balance of fear shifts in the other direction.

As the Prussian army drove into France during the 1870 war with France, Germany’s Chancellor Otto von Bismarck sought the advice of the American military observer, none other than Phil Sheridan, whose cavalry had burned out the farmers of the Shenandoah Valley in the last stages of the conflict. What should Bismarck do about French snipers and saboteurs from villages along the Prussian route of march? Sheridan told Bismarck to burn the villages, leaving the people “with nothing left but their eyes to weep with after the war.” That, and hang the snipers, Sheridan threw in.

Like Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who burned a great swath through Georgia and the Carolinas, Sheridan believed that war is won not just by killing soldiers but by denying them support from a broader civilian population. There’s nothing particularly clever about this insight. One learns from James Lee McDonough’s new biography of Sherman how ordinary the great man was–a competent military officer without a minute’s combat experience before the war began, then an honest but unsuccessful banker. When the war came Sherman came close to a nervous breakdown, trying in vain to convince his masters that they would have to kill 300,000 Southern soldiers and devastate the Confederacy to win the war. He then distinguished himself in combat at Shiloh in 1863 and went on to become the scourge of the Deep South.

The Union always had more men and more resources; what it lacked was generals with the stomach for the job. That meant not only the grisly war of attrition waged by Grant, another middling commander with absolute resolve, but also retaliation against civilians: When snipers fired on Union soldiers from Tennessee or Kentucky villages, Sherman expelled residents, burned houses, and laid waste to crops. There are lessons here for what we used to call, quaintly, the Global War on Terror.

Destroying ISIS, al-Qaeda and other Muslim terror groups is not particularly difficult, far less difficult than Sherman or Sheridan’s task during the Civil War. It simply requires doing some disgusting things. Western intelligence doesn’t have to infiltrate terror groups, tap phones, mine social media postings and so forth (although these doubtless are worth doing). Muslim communities in the West will inform on the terrorists. They will tell police when someone has packed up and gone to Syria, and when he has returned. They will tell police who is talking about killing westerners, who has a suspicious amount of cash, who is listening to broadcasts from Salafist preachers.

They will tell western security services everything they need to know, provided that western security services ask in the right way. I mean in Phil Sheridan’s way. Like the victorious Union generals of the Civil War, the West does not have to be particularly clever. It simply needs to understand what kind of war is is fighting.

Most Muslims are peaceful people who disapprove of terrorism, but many are not. Opinion polls show a large and consistent minority  of 20% to 40% approves of at least some form of terrorism. Support for ISIS generally is low, but much higher for Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups. By any reasonable count there are a few hundred million Muslims who in some way approve of terror, although very few of them would take part in terror attacks. But they are the sea in which the sharks can swim unobserved. They may not build bombs, but they will turn a blind eye to terrorists in their midst, especially if those terrorists are relations. They also fear retaliation from the terrorists if they inform.

The way to win the war is to frighten the larger community of Muslims who passively support terror by action or inaction–frighten them so badly that they will inform on family members. Frightening the larger Muslim population in the West does not require a great deal of effort: a few thousand deportations would do. Western intelligence services do not even have to deport the right people; the wrong people know who they are, and so do many of their neighbors. The ensuing conversation is an easy one to have. “I understand that your nephew is due for deportation, Hussein, and I believe you when you tell me that he has done nothing wrong. I might be able to help you. But you have to help me. Give me something I can use–and don’t waste my time by making things up, or I swear that I’ll deport you, too. If you don’t have any information, then find out who does.”

This approach to quashing insurgency has worked numerous times in the past. It is not characteristic of peacetime life in western democracies, to be sure, but neither was Phil Sheridan’s ride through the Shenandoah. We prefer to think about winning hearts and minds. Winning the hearts and minds of a people, though, isn’t difficult once they fear you.

The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Asia Times.
 
And we have the claim of responsibility (from a "source" speaking to ISIS's media feed folk) from ISIS/ISIL (source - U of Waterloo academic Twitter post) ...
 

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A story about where dickhead got the truck from.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3693329/He-wanted-biggest-powerful-vehicle-Truck-terrorist-ordered-massive-19-tonne-lorry-create-maximum-number-victims-says-garage-boss.html
 
jollyjacktar said:
Seriously though, it did cross my mind that renting a truck of this size might just be a wee bit more difficult now for certain demographics in France after this.  Or at least rental companies might have to alert authorities that so and so has just rented a large truck.

Well.  According to the article, he did not have the proper category of Lic to drive that large a truck, but he still was able to rent it. ....  Someone at the Truck Rental company is likely losing their job.
 
France calls for the Levée en masse (sort of). One can only imagine what would happen if Canada was to face such dire straights and need to significantly bolster the size and capabilities of our Reserve:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/paris-calls-willing-citizens-become-reservists-172826456.html

Paris urges young citizens to become reservists

Paris (AFP) - French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Saturday called on young citizens to become reservists and help boost security forces in the wake of the country's latest terror attack.

France's "operational reservists" include French citizens with or without military experience as well as former soldiers.

"I want to call on all French patriots who wish to do so, to join this operational reserve," said Cazeneuve.

His call comes after the government has been criticised for not doing more to stop attacks.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind Thursday's truck massacre in Nice which left 84 people dead and many more injured.

It was the third major Islamist attack which France has suffered in the past 18 months.

French President Francois Hollande said Friday that the new reservists would be called upon to boost the ranks of police and gendarmes.

Details of how to become a reservist were swiftly posted on the national gendarmerie's website.

Volunteers must be between 17 and 30 years of age, have the right physical and moral aptitude and undergo military training.

They will only be required during the summer period, while the regular reservists are on holiday, said Cazeneuve.

The operational reserve is currently made up of 12,000 volunteers, 9,000 of whom are within the paramilitary police and 3,000 in the regular police force, said Cazeneuve.

"We are going to reinforce the presence of security forces across the country," he added.

He said the number of security forces deployed to protect the population was nearly 100,000, including 53,000 police, 36,000 para-military police and 10,000 soldiers.

 
The way to win the war is to frighten the larger community of Muslims who passively support terror by action or inaction–frighten them so badly that they will inform on family members. Frightening the larger Muslim population in the West does not require a great deal of effort: a few thousand deportations would do. Western intelligence services do not even have to deport the right people; the wrong people know who they are, and so do many of their neighbors. The ensuing conversation is an easy one to have. “I understand that your nephew is due for deportation, Hussein, and I believe you when you tell me that he has done nothing wrong. I might be able to help you. But you have to help me. Give me something I can use–and don’t waste my time by making things up, or I swear that I’ll deport you, too. If you don’t have any information, then find out who does.”

The problem with this approach is that we have too many people ready to claim "islamaphobia", and too little stomach to get on with the job.
 
ModlrMike said:
The problem with this approach is that we have too many people ready to claim "islamaphobia", and too little stomach to get on with the job.

What is the job, exactly? Seems like it is mass deportations, imprisonment or torture of North American citizens without justification.

I think we can pass on that job.
 
Baloo said:
What is the job, exactly? Seems like it is mass deportations, imprisonment or torture of North American citizens without justification.

I think we can pass on that job.
You don't kill the ideology by cutting off the fingers and toes in North America. You go for the head and kill the leadership and figureheads. People stop following when they realize it's bad for their health, especially the ones in western countries.
 
PuckChaser said:
You don't kill the ideology by cutting off the fingers and toes in North America. You go for the head and kill the leadership and figureheads. People stop following when they realize it's bad for their health, especially the ones in western countries.

Considering that Nice, Istanbul, Orlando, Paris, Brussels, San Bernadino, Ottawa, Boston, et al., involved Western citizens that were killed in the course of their attacks by law enforcement, or that targeted strikes of insurgent leadership or membership has been going on for almost a decade, I would suggest that people aren't agreeing with you.

It is part of the approach, however.
 
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