120 Dead In Paris

[JasonJ]

 

Sometimes its easy to be misunderstood in putting a group in good light when trying to explain the actions and positions of the various players, so I take that point. Very interesting, thanks.

 

ISTR that recently the Afghan Taliban has received much more financial support than the Afghan Islamic State. If the Afghan Taliban can be counted on to not harbor international terrorist organizations, then that could be a way for the US to exit Afghanistan and to just let the Afghan Taliban have Afghanistan again, however unfortunate that may be to regular townsfolk there. But why did the Mullah Omar (of Afghan Taliban if I'm following correctly) host Osama Bin Laden to begin with? My first guess would be for his financial support. And so then I would guess that in return, Osama gets a safe far away hide out to prepare for terrorists attacks against the US as places like KSA, Yemen, or Somalia would likely be easier to detect, catch, and destroy by US forces. So I'm wondering where recent financial support to Afghan Taliban is from.

 

 

Why did he host OBL? Well...have you seen 'Lone Survivor' and how that one Afghan hosted the US Navy SEAL? It's pretty much the culture over there to shelter a guest and provide him food, water, etc. for a certain amount of time. Mullah Omar was doing so under the pretense that OBL helped the Afghans against the Soviets. There wasn't a whole lot of financial backing that OBL had to offer the Taliban...matter of fact, the Taliban were much more flush in cash than Al Qaeda. The Taliban did stop opium production in Afghanistan to an extent, but they still dealt in the trade for their own personal gains. That amounted to tens of millions per year if I'm not mistaken (I read the book 'Merchant of Death' and it explicitly mentions the deals of Viktor Bout with the Taliban..involved lots of weapons, airplanes, and opium money).

 

Can the Taliban be relied upon to make sure that Al Qaeda (or now ISIS) doesn't come back again? That's the thousand dollar question, and that's why rumors of alleged peace talks between the US and the Taliban keep popping up once every few months. Also, Mullah Omar has been reported dead due to illness (supposedly), so with him out of the picture, there might be a chance of peace. But in my opinion, the Taliban and Northern Alliance need to govern the country together and effectively to ensure a somewhat functioning state.

 

Going back to the Pakistani Taliban....a number of Pakistani Taliban commanders are residing in Afghanistan, and they routinely launch attacks by coming over into Pakistan. So the Pakistani Taliban does have some influence in Afghanistan a well now, something the Afghan Taliban will want to see eliminated if they come back to power. It's just a huge clusterf*ck honestly, but one that the media barely pays attention too since Syria dominates most headlines these days..

 

And to answer your question about financial support for the Taliban...that comes mostly from the Gulf...

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/12/20101251936167112.html

 

 

I haven't seen 'Lone Survivor' although I have seen 'American Sniper' and it does have a scene of that sort of hosting. But to be able to stay for so long, I'd have to think that, in disagreement with other Taliban as you say, Mullah Omar and OBL saw eye to eye on many things.

 

Reading that sounds like the GCC might have different aims from within if they are going to give money to competing groups. Maybe donors compete with other donors in a contest of gambling in the clients. Whichever client wins or is successful in their respective area might mean greater reward for the donor of that winning group in the form of expanding influence. Well I'm going way into speculation now. I reckon some of the donors are the kind that just want to hurt the US, either in the ME or on American soil because of US involvement in the MEor whatever, so donate towards that cause.

 

edit:

oh, and the media, they mess with just about everyone

Edited March 30, 2016 by JasonJ

[bojan]

Cause in eternal infidel/Muslim game OBL was Muslim. If Muslims have to choose between fellow Muslim and anyone else... They will choose Muslim, no matter how bad it is actually for them. Which is one of the of the reasons most of their countries suck.

Edited March 30, 2016 by bojan

[Marek Tucan]

What did France do with collaborators with the German Occupation?

Some were tried and punished. Some were humiliated. Some were murdered. Some were very visibly patriotic and were administering the revolutionary justice.

[BansheeOne]

Belgium attacks: Mohamed Abrini 'admits being man in the hat'

9 April 2016

Belgian prosecutors say a man arrested on Friday has admitted being the "man in the hat" seen with the bombers who attacked a Brussels airport.

They say Mohamed Abrini told investigators he was at the scene of the 22 March suicide bombings.

 

Abrini is also wanted in connection with the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November.

 

He is one of six men arrested in Brussels on Friday. Four have been charged with terror offences.

 

The attacks at Zaventem airport and a metro station in Brussels left 32 people dead.

 

Officials believe those who carried out the Brussels and Paris attacks were part of the same network backed by so-called Islamic State.

 

Abrini, a 31-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin, confessed to being the "man in the hat" after being confronted with the evidence, the federal prosecutor said.

 

"He said that he threw away his jacket in a rubbish bin and sold his hat after the attack," the statement added.

 

There is no word from the suspect himself or his lawyer.

 

Abrini's fingerprints and DNA were found in two "safe houses" in Brussels, as well as in a car used during the Paris attacks, investigators said earlier.

 

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas, in Brussels, says the apparent confirmation that Abrini is the man seen in the airport footage is a "huge" development for Belgian authorities, whose response to terrorism has come in for criticism.

 

The other suspects charged on Saturday were named as Osama K, Herve BN, and Bilal EM.

 

They are all accused of "participating in terrorist acts'' linked to the Brussels bombings. Two other people arrested on Friday have been released.

 

Osama K, identified in media reports as Swedish national Osama Krayem, was the man seen with the suicide bomber at Maelbeek metro station just before the attack on 22 March, investigators say.

 

They also say that he bought bags used by the two bombers who struck at Zaventem airport on the same day.

 

Osama K is believed to have entered Greece from Syria with migrants last year, using a fake Syrian passport. Prosecutors believe he was driven from Germany to Belgium by Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam in October.

 

Herve BM, described as a Rwandan national, and Bilal EM are both suspected of having offered assistance to Abrini and Osama K.

 

Abrini is thought to have been filmed at a petrol station with Abdeslam two days before the attacks in Paris in November.

 

Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French national of Moroccan descent, was detained in Brussels in March, days before the attacks in the Belgian capital.

 

The latest charges follow days of arrests and raids in Brussels.

 

On Saturday, heavily armed police carried out a search in the Etterbeek area of Brussels. The target was a flat which police believe may have been used as a safe house by the militants.

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36005709

 

It's now being reported that the cell was planning another attack in Paris, but switched to Brussels at short notice after Abdeslam was arrested because they knew they were being compromised.

[crazyinsane105]

This is quite a large cell, and with dozens of more individuals who are still on the lose, I'm still quite surprised at the sluggish response by European law enforcement. Even now, Europeans authorities fear that the recent arrests may not thwart another attack.

[BansheeOne]

World | Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:18pm EDT

 

Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam extradited to France, under formal investigation

PARIS | By Brian Love and Simon Carraud

 

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam was placed under formal investigation on terrorism and murder charges in France on Wednesday after his extradition from Belgium, and he promised to talk to judges during his next hearing, his French lawyer said.

 

A Belgium-born Frenchman, Abdeslam is believed by investigators to be the sole survivor among a group of Islamist militants who killed 130 people in a spate of shootings and suicide bombings in Paris on Nov. 13.

 

"The investigation will determine to what degree he was involved in the acts ... for which he has been put under investigation," lawyer Frank Berton said after an initial hour-long hearing.

 

"He stayed silent today but said he would talk at a later stage," Berton said, adding that the next hearing was set for May 20. Abdeslam did not speak on Wednesday because he was tired after a "quite rough" extradition, Berton said.

 

Abdeslam was placed under investigation on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, murder, kidnapping and holding weapons and explosives, the public prosecutor said in a statement. The kidnap charges relate to the hours-long attack on the Bataclan concert hall in which 90 people were killed.

 

Abdeslam, 26, was Europe's most wanted fugitive until his capture in Brussels on March 18 after a four-month manhunt. He was taken by helicopter to Paris under armed guard and then driven to the capital's main law courts.

 

French Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas said Abdeslam would be held in solitary confinement in a high-security prison in the Paris region, with his cell under CCTV surveillance.

 

[...]

 

Sven Mary, Abdeslam's main defense lawyer in Belgium, distanced himself from his client, telling France's Liberation newspaper: "He's a little jerk from Molenbeek, from a world of petty criminals - more of a follower than a leader, with the brains of an empty ash-tray."

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-attacks-belgium-france-idUSKCN0XO0LW

[Panzermann]

Belgian police knew since 2014 that Abdeslam brothers planned irreversible act

Damning report into Belgian response to Paris attacks shows sloppiness and lack of resources.

By GIULIA PARAVICINI AND LAURENS CERULUS | 4/28/16, 9:58 PM CET | Updated 4/29/16, 6:10

AM CET

 

Belgian police had information as early as mid-2014 that Paris attackers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam intended to carry out an irreversible act, according to a classified police watchdogs report on the countrys response to the Paris attacks.

Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in Paris last November during the attacks that killed 130 people, while Salah fled and was captured in Brussels last month, four days before the terror attacks in Brussels .

 

The conclusions of the report, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, says the brothers radicalization, links to Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and their intention to commit some sort of act were known to Belgian security forces well before the attacks.

The polices anti-terror unit argued that it could not file a report on the brothers into the central police database because it could not be established with certainty which brother was involved.

But the watchdog questions that argument, saying the names of both Abdeslam brothers, who lived in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, were already in the database.

The report highlights sloppiness by individuals, limited resources and a lack of procedural guidance for officials dealing with highly sensitive information.

Nothing was done with the dossiers after the drafting of the transcript [containing information about the pair], the report states, explaining that the dossiers remained untouched due to capacity issues and that no one took ownership.

 

Consequently, up until the attacks in Paris nothing happened.

 

Police were also in possession of computers, USB sticks and telephone data pertaining to the Abdeslam brothers since February 2015, but did not use that information not even after Paris, or very recently.

Belgian prosecutors request to tap the phone calls and emails of the Abdeslam brothers was turned down by police because of a lack of resources, Le Soir reported Tuesday . The request was made to the anti-terror unit after the brothers were questioned by authorities in early 2015 on suspicion of planning to travel to Syria. Prosecutors then sought backing for the phone taps from other police units but were again turned down.

On April 21, 2015, police decided that the Abdeslams file did not need following up.

 

The report was drafted by Comité P, a watchdog which has examined potential police failings in the lead up to the November 13 Paris attacks. It was described as highly classified by several government sources contacted by POLITICO.

The top of each page features the words Eyes Only and it was only intended to be seen by a select group of MPs, who were banned from taking notes and could not take a copy of the report from the room.

http://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-police-knew-since-2014-that-abdeslam-brothers-planned-irreversible-act/

 

---

 

meanwhile the belgian lawyer says his client abdeslam is a little idiot and as smart as an empty ashtray in an interview:

 

Sven Mary, lavocat belge de Salah Abdeslam, seul survivant du commando djihadiste qui a fait 130 morts à Paris le 13 novembre, a justifié mercredi les formules chocs de «petit con de Molenbeek» ayant «lintelligence dun cendrier vide» quil a employées pour décrire son client dans un journal français.

http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2016/04/27/l-avocat-belge-d-abdeslam-assume-la-formule-choc-petit-con-de-molenbeek_1449050

Edited April 29, 2016 by Panzermann

[Soren Ras]

What, is "irreversible act" the new euphemism? I never get the memo.

 

I can't be expected to keep up with this.

 

--

Soren

[Panzermann]

What, is "irreversible act" the new euphemism? I never get the memo.

 

I can't be expected to keep up with this.

 

Me neither. I just assume the worst interpretation.

[MiloMorai]

What, is "irreversible act" the new euphemism? I never get the memo.

 

I can't be expected to keep up with this.

 

--

Soren

You can't bring back the dead.

[Soren Ras]

 

What, is "irreversible act" the new euphemism? I never get the memo.

 

I can't be expected to keep up with this.

 

--

Soren

You can't bring back the dead.

 

Sure, it's easy to see how it can fit the situation, but assuming this isn't just a translation issue, why this constant urge to recast language and terms that everyone understands and are quite clear.

 

When you go picking flowers or crack an egg to bake a cake that is irreversible too, right? But presumably that is not what is meant, no?

 

But never mind me, I'm just an aging curmudgeon longing for the time when war meant war, terrorism was terrorism, men were men, women were women, and little green furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real little green furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.

 

--

Soren

[Mike Steele]

Where is The Sweet Meteor of Death when you really want it?

[Soren Ras]

SMOD 2016

 

--

Soren

[BansheeOne]

That's a new one. Frenchman reported arrested in Ukraine with 125 kilograms of TNT and plans to attack the European Soccer Championship, which has been widely feared - except this guy's motivation allegedly was opposition to mass immigration, the spreading of Islam, and globalization.

[Panzermann]

That's a new one. Frenchman reported arrested in Ukraine with 125 kilograms of TNT and plans to attack the European Soccer Championship, which has been widely feared - except this guy's motivation allegedly was opposition to mass immigration, the spreading of Islam, and globalization.

Sorta kinda a self-radicalized false flag operation? Like this norwegian guy.

 

Or does he have any links to extreme right wing circles?

[BansheeOne]

The French themselves seem dubious. Reportedly he wasn't on their radar, a search of his dwellings yielded only a t-shirt from some right-wing organization, and they're waiting for more information from Ukraine. Domestic intelligence there say he entered in December and pretended to be a pro-Ukrainian volunteer fighter with the intent to acquire arms and explosives from armed groups in the east of the country. Allegedly he was stopped on 21 May on the Polish border in a van with five AKs, some RPGs and 5,000 rounds of ammunition in addition to the TNT which the Ukrainians say was "sufficient for 15 attacks" which he planned to carry out against mosques, synagogues and ESC sites; one wire report stated the SBU initially had sold him deactivated arms after they came onto him.

[Stuart Galbraith]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36460569

 

A Frenchman detained last month with a large cache of arms was planning mass attacks during the Euro 2016 football tournament, which starts on Friday, Ukrainian officials say.

The man, identified by French media as Gregoire Moutaux, 25, was arrested on the Ukrainian border with Poland.

Intelligence chief Vasyl Hrytsak said the man had planned 15 attacks and was driven by ultra-nationalist views.

He had amassed guns, detonators and 125kg of TNT, Mr Hrytsak said.

Mr Hrytsak listed bridges, motorways, a mosque and a synagogue among the suspect's potential targets. He was being prosecuted for arms smuggling and terrorism, he said. It was not clear if the tournament itself was being targeted.

'Threat exists'

News of the man's arrest on 21 May first emerged in a report by French TV network M6. The suspect was described as a worker at a farming co-operative from the Lorraine area of eastern France. He had no previous criminal record, reports said.

French authorities have been on high security alert ahead of the European championships, amid fears that the tournament could be targeted by Islamist militants. President Francois Hollande said on Sunday that "the threat exists" but that France should not be daunted.

Ukraine's SBU security service said it had been watching the suspect since December last year and that he had picked up five Kalashnikovs, two anti-tank grenade launchers, some 5,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 detonators, as well as a large quantity of explosives.

An SBU video was shown of the dramatic moment of the suspect's arrest along with the weapons that intelligence officials said they had found. The arrest was said to have taken place at a border crossing close to the Ukrainian town of Yagodyn.

The footage also revealed a second person being wrestled to the ground on the passenger side of the car.

A search was carried out at the suspect's home in the tiny village of Nant-le-Petit and police sources told French media that explosive material and balaclavas were recovered.

An inquiry has been launched by France's organised crime agency, OCLCO, and by regional authorities in Nancy.

However, French police sources told AFP news agency that Ukrainian officials had yet to send them any details. There was some scepticism that the suspect could have been anything more than an arms trafficker.

Residents in Nant-le-Petit were stunned by the arrest of Gregoire Moutaux, who lives there with his grandfather and works as a cattle inseminator.

"He's a rather nice guy, who I think is actually rather well-educated. I've even invited him over for a glass of wine. I just can't understand this," neighbour Jean-Jacques Renck told France 3 TV.

Anti-terrorism specialist Alain Bauer said Ukraine had become a big source of arms because of the continuing conflict in the east of the country.

The man detained did not fit the usual profile of an attacker, he said, pointing to the arrest last year of far-right activist Claude Hermant, accused of providing weapons to a jihadist who murdered four people at a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January 2015.

 

Gerhardt Falken?

[Mr King]

We need to be more understanding and tolerant of the native peoples feelings and point of view so they don't act out like this.

[sunday]

Should be expect puzzled reactions of some persons?

 

I mean the ones that could think in the line of "All this fuss, only because a measly amount of 5 AKs?. Bah, Euroweenies!"

[Marek Tucan]

I think he will draw ire because all these nice guns will now have to be melted down or locked in some safe instead of finding their way on the collector's market...

[BansheeOne]

World | Tue Jun 14, 2016 3:37am EDT

Man stabs Paris police commander to death; Islamic State claims attack

PARIS | BY MATHIEU ROSEMAIN AND SIMON CARRAUD

A knife-wielding attacker stabbed a French police chief to death in front of his home late on Monday and his partner's body was found inside, officials said, killings Islamic State's Amaq news agency said were carried out by a member of the group.

The attacker repeatedly knifed the 42-year-old commander in the stomach before barricading himself inside the house in a Paris suburb, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

He was shot dead by members of an elite police unit after negotiations failed.

Police and judicial sources said that the attacker was a 25-year-old man who had been monitored by security and anti-terrorist services after he received a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan.

A judicial source said the anti-terrorism unit of the prosecutor's office had been given responsibility for the investigation because of comments made during lengthy exchanges between the assailant and negotiators. The source gave no further details.

"Source to Amaq agency: Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife," Amaq said on its news website.

President Francois Hollande held an early morning emergency meeting over the killings, his office said before Amaq posted its statement, underscoring the seriousness with which the Elysee presidential palace is treating the incident.

If it is confirmed Islamic State was behind the murders, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the government imposed a state of emergency after multiple attacks on Paris in November that killed 130 people.

Monday's killings took place as France, a founder member of the U.S.-led coalition waging air strikes against Islamic State, was already on high alert for terrorist attacks during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament which began on Friday.

Islamic State's claim one of its "fighters" carried out the evening attack came a day after the Islamist militant group said it was responsible for the shooting that killed 49 people in a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The attacker struck in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the French capital and about 20 km from Les Mureaux, where the police commander was stationed.

He stabbed the police commander nine times in the stomach before forcing his way into the house and taking the officer's partner and three-year-old son hostage.

"Negotiations were unsuccessful, a decision was made to launch an assault," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

Commandos from the RAID police unit stormed the house and found the woman's body. The young boy was rescued "in shock but unharmed", a prosecutor said.

Officials have not revealed the identity of the 42-year-old officer.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-crime-idUSKCN0YZ2KA

[Jeff]

Police and judicial sources said that the attacker was a 25-year-old man who had been monitored by security and anti-terrorist services after he received a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan.

 

 

We're not serious.

[crazyinsane105]

 

Police and judicial sources said that the attacker was a 25-year-old man who had been monitored by security and anti-terrorist services after he received a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan.

 

 

We're not serious.

 

 

Three year sentence? WTF. A neighbor of mine got four years for de-frauding a bank for a total of six grand. I guess the French are too nice to folks they tend to lock up.

Edited June 14, 2016 by crazyinsane105

[Simon Tan]

French prison systems arexre ruiting centers for jihadists.

[Panzermann]

French prison systems arexre ruiting centers for jihadists.

The basic problem of prisons. You put bad people to even worse people and expect them to become better people. Maybe only solitary confinement in the future. How else to keep them away from each other and radicalizing?

 

 

An extremly successful example is this prison in Iraq where all the insurgency and later daesh leaders have met and influenced each other and formed connections.