From Le Figaro
Alternet — This is a running update based on information from The Guardian
- Police have raided a Brussels neighbourhood where three of the attackers are believed to have lived, and made a number of arrests.
- One of the attackers at the Bataclan is understood to be a 30-year-old French national, who was known to French police because of links to Islamic radicals.
- A Syrian and an Egyptian passport were found on the bodies of the two suicide bombers who targeted the Stade de France.
- The Syrian passport belonged to a refugee who passed through Greece, according to a Greek minister.
- German authorities say they have ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ a man arrested in Bavaria earlier this month, in a car loaded with explosives, may be linked to the Paris attacks.
- David Cameron has said the UK must be braced for British casualties, without going into specifics. Romanians, Tunisians, Belgians and a Swede are among the dead.
- A 41-year-old man from France is being questioned by police after “what appears to be a firearm” was discovered at Gatwick airport, Sussex police said.
- Islamic State has released a statement claiming responsibility for Friday night’s attacks and has threatened further attacks against France.
- The group says the killings were in response to airstrikes against its militants in Syria, adding France would remain a “key target”.
- President François Hollande also said Isis was to blame for the terror attacks across Paris that killed at least 127.
- Hollande has said the attacks were an “act of war … prepared and planned elsewhere, with outside involvement which this investigation will seek to establish”. He added that France will be “ruthless in its response” and declared three days of national mourning.
The news will be awash with questions, speculation, and hate in the coming days and weeks and months. At one point I read that these attacks are by far the worst on French soil since WWII.
While ISIS claims responsibility and rejoices at the carnage, conservatives have pulled out all the stops on their vitriole. This and others from Alternet
If we can survive Obama and Kerry and Hillary until we can close our own borders, we might avoid this. #ParisAttacks http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/11/13/france-closing-borders.html …
The Daily BeastFrom Le Figaro, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said: «Nous répliquerons coup pour coup pour détruire Daech» (translation: We will repay blow for blow to destroy Daesh).
Bono and the members of U2 lay flowers at the Bataclan Theatre by @JeffJMitch pic.twitter.com/7JA7u6TiER
— Bette Lynch (@BetteMLynch) November 14, 2015
And further down the page, The Metropolitan Opera showed solidarity with France by singing LaMarseillaise, the French national anthem.
From Al Arabiya
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt have been among the Arab states leading condemnations of the simultaneous attacks in Paris that killed 129 people and wounded 250 – 80 critically – on late Friday.
In addition, Saudi King Salman has sent condolences to French President François Holland and the people of France. But is he playing both sides of the fence? Saudi Arabia has been known to support ISIS in the past.
Of course Ted Cruz wasted no time in politicising the Paris tragedy for his own political gain.
Alternet — Ted Cruz continues to try to outflank the other Republican candidates from the right, wasting no time after yesterday's attacks in Paris to issue a bellicose statement insisting President Obama was too concerned with civilian casualties in Syria.
"It will not be appeased by outreach or declarations of tolerance. It will not be deterred by targeted airstrikes with zero tolerance for civilian casualties, when the terrorists have such utter disregard for innocent life. We must make it crystal clear that affiliation with ISIS and related terrorist groups brings with it the undying enmity of America—that it is, in effect, signing your own death warrant."
NBC News has a series of short videos which includes CAIR denouncing the attacks. We must be careful not to condemn all Muslims for these cowardly attacks. Perhaps if we all pull together as one people, we can defeat ISIS.
Please join me in condolences for France, the dead and their families, the injured and their families, the first responders. Let our prayers and thoughts be with them in their time of need.
10 Responses to “France Mourns”
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AlterNet: I see that Cruz is driving the clown car tonight. What an asinine comment to make! What a pompous ID.
France Mourns. The World cries.
Thanks, Lynn for this.
Being told one is signing one's own death warrant is hardly likely to deter suicide warriors.
I do not doubt ISIL did this. But we built it.
http://www.thenation.com/article/14-years-after-911-the-war-on-terror-is-accomplishing-everything-bin-laden-hoped-it-would/
thanks and appreciate the U2 picture
Hugzzz for Paris…
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/13/15
Terror groups compete for notoriety
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, talks with Rachel Maddow about the context of the deadly attacks in Paris in the context of the competing interests of Islamic extremist terror organizations and rogue operatives. Duration: 10:54
Several stories follow. Stay tuned to videos for more info.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/terror-groups-compete-for-notoriety-566694979609?cid=eml_mra_20151114
FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7t_GWXmgFk
Que Dieu Bénisse Tous en France
(God Bless All in France)
We mourn with them.
By coincidence my husband and I were watching our national news Friday night when the first news broke of shootings in Paris just minutes before. We immediately switched to the 24/7 news channels on our cable net (Dutch, CNN, France, BBC and Al Jazeera) and have been following the attacks unfolding until the early hours of the morning. I just finished watching the latest developments on our national 8:00 PM news. Most of the terrorists have been identified by now and it turns out that 4 of them were French and brothers, while 2 lived in Brussels, Belgium. Like most of the attacks all over Europe these past 2 years, there is a very strong link to a suburb/precinct in Brussels called (Sint Jans) Molenbeek, known for middle class chick and the poverty of a very large group of Moroccan and Turkish Muslims of which especially the young have felt disenfranchised and discriminated against. Their history is much the same as those of many young Muslims in the suburbs of the large French cities; many joining Da'esh in recent months as Jihadi. Just to make it clear that again these terrorists, though obviously groomed by ISIS, are home grown and not linked to the Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe for that same ISIS.
But most right wing groups in Europe and France have not waited on the outcome of investigations into the identity and motivation of these terrorists and have used the attacks as an excuse to go all out against all Muslims and all refugees. Of course they won't stop nor come back on their statements, it isn't in their interests to let it be known that the hounding of Muslims in Belgium and France by the Right has been a contributing factor in these terrorist acts.
One other observation that I need to get of my chest. While I was following the events last Friday by switching between news channels. At one point it became clear to CNN that an American heavy metal band was playing in the Bataclan when it was attacked. For the next hour or more some of the commentators tried to turn these terrorists attacks on the French/Parisians into an attack on America too, returning to the American band again and again and making the connection with a possible attack on America. The band wasn't mentioned by any other new channel; it simply wasn't of any consequence at that point. CNN also kept going for the highest death toll estimates, raising the total by more than 40 all through the night. In the morning it turned out that they had indeed overestimated by more than 40.
I'm grateful to see that none have followed CNN's cue to push America in the spotlight, instead all have respected the dignity of France grieving its dead. Obama's short speech was masterful in that respect. To the point and empathic, making it an attack on the whole world as a gesture of support without claiming attention. Even the Republicans seemed to have missed their cue from CNN and let it pass. Thank goodness for small mercies.
We must not forget that members of ISIS are mentally ill, suffering from a mass psychosis. I'm not offering an excuse for them, but a suggestion that we need to keep this in mind, because there is no negotiating with them. They are religious fanatics and have no place within the Moslem religion. This is why I keep wondering why the super-rich governments of Saudi Arabia and Syria's president (Multibillionairs all) aren't spending some of those billions in solving their own problems at home. We should take no part in it. ISIS could very well muster enough supporters in both countries, if we, the infidels(!) interfere. Whereas if their own leaders –muslims all — were to deal with their situations, they could exterminate them (according to Moslem law!)
We must not forget that members of ISIS are mentally ill, suffering from a mass psychosis. I'm not offering an excuse for them, but a suggestion that we need to keep this in mind, because there is no negotiating with them. They are religious fanatics and have no place within the Moslem religion. This is why I keep wondering why the super-rich governments of Saudi Arabia and Syria's president (Multibillionairs all) aren't spending some of those billions in solving their own problems at home.
How can they stand by as ISIS destroys their national monuments, some dating back several thousand years?? We should take no part in their affairs. ISIS could very well muster enough supporters in both countries, if we, the infidels(!) interfere. Whereas if their own leaders –muslims all — were to deal with their situations, they could exterminate them (according to Moslem law!).
Thanks everybody!
It is one week later and as much as everything has changed, they remain the same.
I like John Lennon's "Imagine", but I keep hearing in my mind "How many times must a cannonball fly, before they are forever banned?"