Weissman writes: "Friday night's terror attacks at the Bataclan concert
hall, a soccer stadium, and four other sites in Paris left no doubt. 'What
you are doing in Syria, you are going to pay for it now,' one of the
black-clad gunmen shouted, according to a witness. 'It's the fault of
Hollande, it's the fault of your president, he should not have intervened in
Syria.'"
A woman walks past police and firefighters in Paris on the night of November
13, 2015. (photo: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty)
Islamic State Attacks Paris: Why the War on Terror Can't Work
By Steve Weissman, Reader Supported News
14 November 15
Friday night's terror attacks at the Bataclan concert hall, a soccer
stadium, and four other sites in Paris left no doubt. "What you are doing in
Syria, you are going to pay for it now," one of the black-clad gunmen
shouted, according to a witness. "It's the fault of Hollande, it's the fault
of your president, he should not have intervened in Syria," another gunman
shouted, according to French radio presenter Pierre Janaszak, who was at the
Bataclan. They also spoke about Iraq, said Janaszak. "This is because of all
the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world," another attacker
yelled in French.
Claiming responsibility online, the Islamic State spoke of "eight brothers
wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles" conducting a "blessed
attack" on "the Crusader France." The attack, said the statement, was a
response to France "striking Muslims in the caliphate with their aircraft"
as part of the US-led coalition.
The Islamic State also distributed a video featuring French Muslims. "As
long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace," one of them
threatened. "You will even fear travelling to the market."
As I write this, the death toll has reached "at least 127" with another 300
injured, 80 of them critically. The Hollande government has responded by
declaring a nationwide state of emergency, giving the police and military
greatly enhanced power to arrest anyone, control movement, and close down
whole areas of the country. The government also banned all political
protests until Thursday. The French Parliament gave the government many of
these powers following the attack on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket
in January.
What does the Islamic State hope to achieve with this attack? Are they
trying to convince the French to stop their bombing in Syria and Iraq? Or,
as counter-intuitive as it may seem, are they trying to suck France and its
allies into sending ground troops?
No one at this point can know for sure, and Islamic State could well be
keeping its options open. But, as I've argued for over a year, their only
chance of long-term success depends on convincing their fellow Sunni Muslims
in Iraq, Syria, and beyond that they are defending Islam against foreign
invaders. The more the US-led coalition bombs and the more the West becomes
involved in ground wars, the more recruits Islamic State will find. Many of
those recruits live in Europe and the United States.
How, then, should France and its allies respond? Certainly not by giving
Islamic State the war they want and need. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
insisted on treating terrorism as a matter for war, and for the most point,
the French government of Jacques Chirac refused to go along, preferring to
treat terrorism as a matter for the police. The sooner we all turn away from
the war on terror, the safer we will all be.
The next step would be to listen again to Chelsea Manning, the former army
intelligence analyst now serving 35 years in military custody for
WikiLeaking government secrets. "Let ISIS succeed in setting up a failed
'state' - in a contained area and over a long enough period of time to prove
itself unpopular and unable to govern. This might begin to discredit the
leadership and ideology of ISIS for good."
At the same time, the CIA and its Saudi allies need to turn down the heat in
Syria and stop supplying Sunni rebels with increasingly lethal weapons.
According to BBC, these now include anti-tank weapons and could soon extend
to surface-to-air missiles capable of bringing down commercial airlines.
Within France, the greatest danger is that the attack and government
response will strengthen Marine Le Pen's Front National, which is running in
December's regional elections against Muslims and migrants. "France isn't
safe anymore," she proclaimed. "The night of horror continues." She has
symbolically suspended her campaign, but is running harder than ever, as the
Socialist government appears to be using her playbook.
________________________________________
A veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly
Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in London, working as a
magazine writer and television producer. He now lives and works in France,
where he is researching a new book, "Big Money and the Corporate State: How
Global Banks, Corporations, and Speculators Rule and How to Nonviolently
Break Their Hold."
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
A woman walks past police and firefighters in Paris on the night of November
13, 2015. (photo: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty)
http://readersupportednews.org/http://readersupportednews.org/
Islamic State Attacks Paris: Why the War on Terror Can't Work
By Steve Weissman, Reader Supported News
14 November 15
riday night's terror attacks at the Bataclan concert hall, a soccer
stadium, and four other sites in Paris left no doubt. "What you are doing in
Syria, you are going to pay for it now," one of the black-clad gunmen
shouted, according to a witness. "It's the fault of Hollande, it's the fault
of your president, he should not have intervened in Syria," another gunman
shouted, according to French radio presenter Pierre Janaszak, who was at the
Bataclan. They also spoke about Iraq, said Janaszak. "This is because of all
the harm done by Hollande to Muslims all over the world," another attacker
yelled in French.
Claiming responsibility online, the Islamic State spoke of "eight brothers
wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles" conducting a "blessed
attack" on "the Crusader France." The attack, said the statement, was a
response to France "striking Muslims in the caliphate with their aircraft"
as part of the US-led coalition.
The Islamic State also distributed a video featuring French Muslims. "As
long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace," one of them
threatened. "You will even fear travelling to the market."
As I write this, the death toll has reached "at least 127" with another 300
injured, 80 of them critically. The Hollande government has responded by
declaring a nationwide state of emergency, giving the police and military
greatly enhanced power to arrest anyone, control movement, and close down
whole areas of the country. The government also banned all political
protests until Thursday. The French Parliament gave the government many of
these powers following the attack on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket
in January.
What does the Islamic State hope to achieve with this attack? Are they
trying to convince the French to stop their bombing in Syria and Iraq? Or,
as counter-intuitive as it may seem, are they trying to suck France and its
allies into sending ground troops?
No one at this point can know for sure, and Islamic State could well be
keeping its options open. But, as I've argued for over a year, their only
chance of long-term success depends on convincing their fellow Sunni Muslims
in Iraq, Syria, and beyond that they are defending Islam against foreign
invaders. The more the US-led coalition bombs and the more the West becomes
involved in ground wars, the more recruits Islamic State will find. Many of
those recruits live in Europe and the United States.
How, then, should France and its allies respond? Certainly not by giving
Islamic State the war they want and need. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
insisted on treating terrorism as a matter for war, and for the most point,
the French government of Jacques Chirac refused to go along, preferring to
treat terrorism as a matter for the police. The sooner we all turn away from
the war on terror, the safer we will all be.
The next step would be to listen again to Chelsea Manning, the former army
intelligence analyst now serving 35 years in military custody for
WikiLeaking government secrets. "Let ISIS succeed in setting up a failed
'state' - in a contained area and over a long enough period of time to prove
itself unpopular and unable to govern. This might begin to discredit the
leadership and ideology of ISIS for good."
At the same time, the CIA and its Saudi allies need to turn down the heat in
Syria and stop supplying Sunni rebels with increasingly lethal weapons.
According to BBC, these now include anti-tank weapons and could soon extend
to surface-to-air missiles capable of bringing down commercial airlines.
Within France, the greatest danger is that the attack and government
response will strengthen Marine Le Pen's Front National, which is running in
December's regional elections against Muslims and migrants. "France isn't
safe anymore," she proclaimed. "The night of horror continues." She has
symbolically suspended her campaign, but is running harder than ever, as the
Socialist government appears to be using her playbook.
A veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly
Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in London, working as a
magazine writer and television producer. He now lives and works in France,
where he is researching a new book, "Big Money and the Corporate State: How
Global Banks, Corporations, and Speculators Rule and How to Nonviolently
Break Their Hold."
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
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