THE "HYBRID" TERROR CELL BEHIND THE PARIS ATTACKS: Upwards and onwards (2)

By Patrick BAHZAD

In 2010, five years before the events in Paris, nothing seemed to indicate that something big was about to happen. After his release from prison, former Al Qaeda recruiter Djamel Beghal was now living under house arrest, in a godforsaken place in the mountains of Southern France. But he was keeping in touch with his network of friends and associates, both old and new ones, and he was planning for a major operation.

His idea was to organize the prison break of a historic figure of radical islam, imprisoned in northern France for his role in a bombing campaign in 1995 that left 8 people dead and 200 injured. Beghal has gathered a genuine "commando unit" of radicals who were willing to storm the penitentiary, escape and then prepare again for a major terror campaign in France.

Three generations of radicals

But French intelligence was onto him and Beghal, as well as several co-conspirators were arrested and indicted. What the ensuing trial showed was the multi-faceted shape radical Islam had taken in France, and in Europe for that matter. Three generations of jihadis had been arrested:

-        "old timers" like French-Algerian Ahmed-Laidouni, a veteran of the civil war in Bosnia and former member of the "El-Mudzahid" brigade. Laidouni had also spent time in Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. Also there was Farid Melouk, another radical from the days of the Afghan and Algerian Jihad and a member of the the cell that had perpetrated the bombings of 1995;

-        generation "post 9/11", like Sherif Kouachi in particular and some of his buddies from the "Buttes-Chaumont" network, that had funnelled fighters into Iraq between 2003 and 2005, and finally

-        "newbies" of Jihad, i.e. ex-gangsters, drug dealers and bank robbers who had been radicalised in prison. Amedy Coulibaly, the Paris hostage taker, was among them of course, but also a number of other new converts.

Charges were pressed, people went to jail – again – and whatever the plan for the "Big one" was (possibly a large scale cyanide poison attack), it had to be put on the back burner. Not everybody was convicted though. Sherif Kouachi in particular saw his charges dropped, for lack of evidence. Salim Benghalem, the "most wanted" ISIS terrorist, was also spared and soon vanished into thin air, out of reach for French intelligence.

 

The Al Qaeda in Yemen connection

Around the same time, in 2011, the other Kouachi brother, Saïd, finally showed his true colours. According to information US intelligence shared with their French counterparts in November 2011, Saïd Kouachi had stayed in Yemen in July and August of that year. Details about his exact whereabouts during his stay are still sketchy, but is is established he got in touch with local Salafi radicals, and might have been trained in one the AQAP's camps in the country.

Regarding the younger of the two brothers, a possible security lapse in his monitoring by French authorities might have given him a chance to go to Yemen as well, for a period of two weeks in July 2011, approximately at the same time as his brother. French intelligence is still investigating the incident, but if this is confirmed, Sherif Kouachi was probably telling the truth when he said that he had been to Yemen and had trained there for a short time, possibly even meeting US born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. However, until further corroborating evidence is provided, we will disregard this for the time being. In any case, it would only tend to reinforce the AQAP connection of the two brothers.

The 2011 stay in the South of the Arabian peninsula may seem rather astounding to the untrained eye, especially at a time when Kouachi might easily have gone to Pakistan or Iraq. However, his choice to go to Yemen was probably a very calculated one. By 2011, Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula had mutated into an efficient fighting force, strong enough to carve out a piece of Yemen for its own purposes. AQAP was also at the forefront of Jihadi technological and combat innovation.

Much is being said about Anwar al-Awlaki and the possibility he might have met both Kouachi brothers during their stay around the city of Shihr, or in the Marib area. But from an operational point of view, AQAP's effectiveness is more the work of an ex-bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden, who has been at the forefront of military (and terrorist) thinking within the organisation:  Yusuf al-Ayeri is the man who put AQAP "on the map". He was killed in 2003, but his expertise has been taken on board by those who carried on fighting in Yemen. For potential foreign radicals like Saïd Kouachi, AQAP would have been the most attractive and promising of the AQ franchises that existed at the time. AQAP's operational technics and teachings were beyond anything the other groups had to offer, especially with regard to planning attacks, bombing preselected targets, or producing and using poison – like cyanide. 

The other aspect that is worth mentioning about AQAP in relation to the Kouachi brothers, is that this is of course the franchise that created Al Qaeda's online magazine "Inspire", in which the chief-editor of "Charlie Hebdo" is mentioned on a "most wanted list" … dead or alive. AQAP has now taken officially credit for the operation of the Kouachi brothers against "Charlie Hebdo", although this can't be taken at face value yet. It may very well be be that a video testament of both brothers will be sent out through official AQAP channels in a couple of months, which would at that point confirm what is now only one possible scenario, even though it is backed by strong circumstantial evidence.

Whatever the answer to these questions, Saïd Kouachi never returned to Yemen after 2011. The last piece of evidence that is likely to tie him and his brother to the AQAP leadership is an Internet connection between a senior member of AQAP and an unknown Internet user in a cybercafé located just down the road of the Kouachi brothers' flat in Paris, in October 2011.

Staying under the radar

French intelligence had now enough to resume serious surveillance on both brothers. For months, their phone conversations and online activities were monitored and 24/7 physical surveillance took place for a while, but to no avail. The Kouachis had learnt their lessons. They were now experienced enough to know what would trigger more police scrutiny and did their best to appear as harmless as possible. Both of them had gotten married and had regular jobs, going as far as distancing themselves from their radical past in regular sit-downs with French intelligence.

During the three years prior to the deadly Paris attacks, none of what they did seemed to call for closer surveillance. The French finally dropped the ball, hamstrung that they were also by strict privacy laws. Resources were scarce and the French counter-terrorism agency was stretched thin already, having to deal more and more with would be jihadis or returnees from Syria.

By the time their old buddy, Amedy Coulibaly, was released from prison once again, in March 2014, there was no tangible proof or evidence linking the Kouachi brothers to any wrongdoing. They had finally managed to disappear almost totally from the radar of the French police. And there were good – and not so good – reasons that could explain or justify downgrading them as potential threats.

The intelligence lapse

The real blunder however, the one that is going to send shockwaves through the French counter-terrorist system is the way they handled Coulibaly. The former bank robber, turned drug dealer, turned jihadi, would remain a unknown quantity from the time he got released in March 2014 to the day he ambushed two police officers in Paris, on January 8^th 2015.

That's a gap of almost 9 months, during which nothing of what he was up to is known. Coulibaly and his wife Hayat Boumediene, the mystery woman who left for Turkey a few days before the Paris attacks, had probably all the time and freedom of movement they needed to recruit a couple of "little hands" and prepare for what the group had in mind. It seems now more and more likely that these preparations were coordinated with the Kouachi brothers. Hayat Boumediene's mobile phone, for example, was used to make over 500 calls with Sherif Kouachi's wife in 2014, and in hindsight, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the people speaking to each other were not the two wifes.

Regarding finance and logistics, evidence has also surfaced showing that Coulibaly managed to get a small bank loan approved (worth about 10 000 US dollars) without triggering any background check. That he used this money to help finance the operation and at least buy some of the weapons used in the attack is a definite possibility. Other financial resources must have been used as well though, possibly funds that AQAP provided the brothers with, in 2011, but also money from small time illegal activities the younger Kouachi brother was engaging in.

According to official estimates, the military-grade arsenal that was found both on the attackers and in their homes was worth around 20 000 US dollars. Most of it was bought in Belgium, in Brussels or possibly Antwerp, which have strong connections to Balkan organized crime: the "M82" Zolja RPG that was found on Sherif Kouachi's body was a model used only in ex-Yugoslavia. The Tokarev handguns and Skorpion VZ61 submachine gun (also license-built in Yugoslavia) point in the same direction.

A closer look at the "Charlie Hebdo" attack

The MO of the attacks, especially the apparent lack of an efficient exit strategy, as well as some minor mistakes that could however have had serious consequences on the "success" of the operation has now some observers guessing as to the level of preparation of the attacks. It would however be seriously misguided to consider the attack on "Charlie Hebdo" as the opportunistic act of a couple of brain damaged amateurs. Obviously, neither the Kouachi brothers nor Coulibaly were "professional" hitmen. Their weapon handling skills left much to be desired, contrary to the hyped-up tune that has been coming from some TV channels and other news outlets.

But they had managed to either go totally off the grid, or never even appear on it. The attack on "Charlie Hebdo" required at least a basic level of research and surveillance, for a considerable amount of time, probably carried out by people other than the Kouachi brothers, who first managed to enter into the wrong building on the day of the attack, and then got to the wrong floor. But it is standard procedure in the AQ handbook never to send in the "assault" group for a recon, not even a last-minute walk through the target area. The danger of the "eye in the sky" and other CCTV and electronic surveillance is considered too great a risk. As for the lack of a decent exit strategy, this can be traced back directly to tactics taught by AQAP and other AQ franchises: preparing the way in, but not the way out, as these attacks are considered "martyr" operations and the attackers either improvise their getting away or get killed in a shoot-out with security forces. Such tactics also have an advantage in terms of further diminishing exposure to potential detection during the planning phase of the attack.

By the time Coulibaly sprang into action, the next day, the die was cast. Time and 80 000 police and paramilitary forces were against the group. They would try and last as long as possible, which turned out to be exactly 53 hours after the first attack. In the end, 17 innocent people would have died, in addition to the three terrorists, and a lot of questions needed answers.

Comments

[Walrus]

"Never let a good crisis go to waste". I wonder what assaults on individual liberty will be launched in the wake of Paris?

[Jose L Campos]

Seems to me that we have reached the cusp of a process that to give it a terminus a quo began with the Enlightenment and has progressed through absolute destruction of religion, customs, family as far as we are now embedded in the Anglo-American capitalism where any notion of precept has been abolished and an orgy of rights is being danced universally.

[The Beaver]

Walrus

It has already started:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/signs-of-shrinking-freedoms-in-wake-of-french-attacks/article22440559/

Do you recognise those words?

“Si vous êtes avec nous.” I had heard the same five words a few days earlier, when a French colleague and I took pictures of armed soldiers and police in the Gare du Nord train station. “No photos,” said an undercover policewoman who appeared beside me. “If you’re with us.”

FYI:

Sarkozy exited the Élysée Palace in 2012, but left behind him at the Quai d’Orsay (home of the foreign ministry) a tightly knit group of officials, including its political director, Jacques Audibert, and Simon de Galbert, its director for disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. Such people, I am told, “drank from the cup of neoconservatism.” Many had graduated from the ideological swamp of French leftist theory to an equally fantastical adherence to core neocon tenets: unswerving obedience to Israel’s dictates, coupled with militarism lightly disguised as promotion of democracy.
http://harpers.org/blog/2013/11/kerry-iran-and-the-wisdom-of-james-baker/

Note: Last June Audibert was supposed to replace Araud at the French Mission at the UN in NYC but at the last minute ( the Ambassadors in DC and at the the UN swap chairs)and he has gone to work directly for Hollande as an advisor

[oofda]

Media reports that the weapons were bought for $5,000 in Brussels from a gang arms dealer. Puportedly the dealer turned himself in to police because he was terrified since he swindled Coulibaly (who attacked the kosher market) in the deal and realized he was dealing with terrorists.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/11345264/Paris-attack-guns-bought-by-Amedy-Coulibaly-in-Belgium.html

[Patrick Bahzad]

That is indeed what news outlets have reported. However these numbers only refer to the weapons found on the dead attackers. Doesn't take into account what has been found in various other locations linked to Coulibaly and the kouachi brothers. Total amount 25 000 US dollars as I stated earlier depending on quality and "market price" on the street.
Considering the number and diversity of weapons and explosives found, it is highly likely there have been several purchases. The one in Brussels being possibly one of them. Main itinerary however has Antwerp as its destination, the weapons then being dispatched to various middlemen or buyers.
Another entry point for that kind of military grade weaponry would be Marseilles, with links all over the Mediterranean (Lebanon, Algeria, Libya lately).

[Patrick Bahzad]

As for swindling coulibaly, it's known that the skorpion gun had jammed or wasn't functional ... Which caused the death of one of the hostages in the kosher supermarket when he tried to grab the gun but couldn't operate it and instantly killed by coulibaly.

[Jack]

Yes Sir!

While the simple explanation is that radicalized delinquents acted out their frustrations for a moment of glory, the reactions of western governments to further enhance the national security surveillance state eroding liberty leads one to never dismiss false flag.

What a pathetic situation! There seems no way out. We are already in some form of a totalitarian state. And with each such incident we slide further in the abyss with the full acquiescence of the people. A sad testament to the courage of a people that settled the frontier.

[J]

Colonel,

Appears that the CIA has absolved itself of wrong doings:

http://news.yahoo.com/panel-clears-cia-officials-accused-of-spying-on-senate-committee-probing-torture-030659646.html

Panel clears CIA officials accused of spying on Senate committee probing torture

[confusedponderer]

"Another entry point for that kind of military grade weaponry would be Marseilles, with links all over the Mediterranean (Lebanon, Algeria, Libya lately)."

The development of Ghaddafi's arsenals for business sure must have had the effect of both increasing diversity and quality of products on the market, and of lowering prices.

[confusedponderer]

What are you saying, it isn't as if the CIA could possibly have a conflict of interest overseeing itself.

Oh wait. They do.

That is why, generally, third party oversight (usually a court) of administrative action is better from a rule of law angle than inter-administrative oversight.

I fondly remember the more straightforward approach used by the Bushmen - that there could be no oversight of this or that because none of the overseeers had sufficient security clearance (he-he).

Yes, they lacked that. And Richard "Tricky Dick II." Cheney made sure it stayed that way. He even reclassified formerly declassified things. Consequent overclassification, however, is not a tactic to defeat transparency, it is a necessity.

Because one just cannot trust any of these opposition traitors who pursue communist ideas like "transparency" and "adherence to the constitution", "adherence to legal standards and norms" with secret information, especially when they are about things that you do which are irreconcilable with any of the aformentioned ideas.

The villains! They'd jeopardise all your favourite operations!

[LeaNder]

Cockburn's article is interesting. No doubt it would help enormously to get Iran from the map of declared enemies in the region. Not least since it seems pretty stable. But this could change: Here I wonder about the non-named US advisers that could keep Obama from choosing the path suggested by Cockburn in the second to last paragraph.

Concerning France, they had a couple of serious problems, without which the constant refrain from Israel: come back to your homeland, couldn't possibly happen the way it did over the years. There are not only government admin circles that buy into the neoconservative creed, there is also a strong cultural elite supporting it in the public's mind.

In other words it's not quite as easy.

I love Paris, and whenever I stood there I choose "Le Marais", initially since it had many cheap hotels.

I am no fan of ADL's antisemitism polls, but take a look at incidents in France 2014:
http://www.adl.org/anti-semitism/international/c/global-antisemitism-2014.html

Which reminds me of the outrage/moral indignation, when here in Germany the head of the Center for the Study of Antisemitism in Berlin decided to look into both Islamophobia and Antisemitism. What drew the attention was a conference. The public indignation was produced via our own neocon supporting networks with a little help of the US Jerusalem Post correspondent in Berlin. That triggered the outroar that sent the usual semi-informed crowd into the comment sections of German online-media, demanding Benz' resignation.

Wolfgang Benz, the centers head at the time, had in fact sponsored research into Muslim youth and antisemitism here in Germany. I could very, very much understand why he considered this important. But it was of course an absolute taboo to parallel that at the time.

It wasn't the first time that the center was under attack by the hawks. Earlier these interest circles launched a rumor that the center withheld a study on antisemitism done for the EU. Which was a semi-informed take of what really happened. But, not completely sure, it may have coincided with the attempts of a legal definition of antisemitism. Which, you may be aware, surfaced in the US too. Centrally in the short lived center in Harvard. The EU only considered and dealt with the suggestion as a working definition. And never adopted it for European law enforcement as intended.

[jr786]

"A member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity, said the joint timing of the two operations was a result of the friendship between Mr. Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers, not of common planning between the Qaeda group and the Islamic State."

I was astonished to see this in today's NYT story on responsibility for the attack. It was my understanding that any contact with a terrorist organization fell under the Material Support for Terrorism statute. Now they're giving off the record interviews? What the hell is going on here?

[oofda]

Off-topic, but security raids in Belgium have killed at least three. They were going after the people invovled in the provision of weapons to the Paris terrorists.

http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/operation-contre-des-terroristes-islamistes-a-verviers-trois-morts-direct-54b7f3f23570c2c48ad60a7b

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/15/three-killed-belgium-counter-terror-raids-reports-verviers

[Cee]

oofad,

The battle has spread to Belgium. The news is reporting dead suspects in course of a raid.

[Cee]

jr786,

Who at the NYTs was spoken to? I have a guess.

[Anonymous]

Still, an accurate prediction of said process as part of a greater strategy is discussed in the following, very important article by Israel Shamir.

http://www.israelshamir.net/English/Elders_of_Zion.htm

Despite all the circus the path is clear. The consolidating of oligarchic rule requires multiculturalism under jewish supremacism. That's why jews demand irrestricted immigration from the third world...

"Barbara Lerner Spectre calls for destruction of Christian European ethnic societies"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFE0qAiofMQ

"Jewish activist Anetta Kahane wants to destroy Europe via non-European immigration"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuYKtwnzG7M

... restriction of speech that is not in full accordance with their positions...

http://thoughtcatalog.com/tanya-cohen/2015/01/here-is-why-its-time-to-get-tough-on-hate-speech-in-america/

...and elimination of rights of weapon possession.

In the wake of the ambush, beating and shooting of 12 years old cherub Trayvon Martin by evil blonde George Zimmerman, there was yet another outcry for weapons confiscation. I wrote then:

"Today, hiding behind media grief lies the desire of those who control it to turn americans into gazans. And if with one end of their tongues they speak about disarming americans, with the other end they speak among themselves about exceptions to be made for their tribe when the laws are written and about the Homeland Security grants they shall be paid for protection from the dangers of uncontrolled weapon black markets and illegal guns in the hands of whoever wherever."

Now see what I said with full colors both for the american case and for the european case:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2014/12/05/fearing-violence-u-s-jewish-groups-create-security-infrastructure/

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/europes-leading-rabbi-jews-must-begin-carrying-guns/

Of course, jewish ethnic activists, some of them insiders of the american military, will insist that it is white supremacists who are exploding, killing and shooting everywhere. This they do to obfuscate. They also say that Putin is a mafia don. That's because americans think that:

"The concentration of politics on ideology under the Bolsheviks rather than ethnicity under the Tsars made it possible for men like Stalin, a Georgian, to 'belong.'"

While Putin, the insider, said something very different:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin made a sensational statement during a visit to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. He said that the decision to nationalize Schneerson library surrounded by never-ending scandals was made in the 1920s by the first Soviet government, 80 to 85 percent of whose members were Jews."

"This assessment of the composition of the National People's Commissars is the first such statement made by the head of state. Neither in the USSR nor later such data was disclosed. These facts were treated, at best, silently, and often, for some unknown reason, were regarded as rabid anti-Semitism."

http://english.pravda.ru/russia/kremlin/17-06-2013/124852-putin_jews-0/

As a complement for those who are new to the problem, I suggest remembering some of the reasons why Churchill was 4/5 anti-soviet and only 1/5 anti-nazi, despite the almost complete obliteration of his anti-soviet persona from the (pseudo) historical narrative:

"Most, if not all, of them (International Jews) have forsaken the faith of their forefathers, and divorced from their minds all spiritual hopes of the next world. This movement among the Jews is not new. From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing."

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Zionism_versus_Bolshevism

So, again, instead of being shaken by a few idiot cartunist provocateurs getting their paychecks for services provided to the oligarchs, neocons, and leftists they work for, instead of looking at the squirrel of white supremacists under the bed (useful if one want's to insigate the military in adopting quotas and minority preferences and so destroy them, isn't it?) give it a try looking at Israel Shamir's article with open eyes, so you understand why the circus, why the fuss, why the hand of tyranny seems to be in our collective western neck:

http://www.israelshamir.net/English/Elders_of_Zion.htm

[Amir]

From "Angry Arab": Turkish Connection:

Thursday, January 15, 2015
Turkey as a suspect in the Paris shooting?
From Ali, the brave Angry Arab's correspondent in Turkey:

"Why Turkey is also a suspect of both Charlie Hebdo & Paris Kosher Market attack is Turkey, here you are three significant links exposed by Turkish media, while western media is busy with non-sense radicalism stories.
I) Ahmad Coulibaly, the gunman in the market attack, allegedly bought weapons from a Turk living in Belgium. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/27971796.asp

II) Hayat Boumeddine, wife of Ahmad Coulibaly, moreover alleged mastermind behind the market attack. She was in a hotel in Istanbul before the attack and crossed into Syria a day before Coulibaly stormed into market. Moreover, her hotel was raided by Turkish police on 5th of January. But interestingly, she managed to dissapear. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/27970487.asp

III) The third guy, who is thought to have links with both Hayat and Ahmad, was arrested by Bulgarian police while he was trying to go Turkey to meet with Hayat.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/dunya/27969585.asp

He is also accused of having links with Charlie Hebdo attack as being partner of Kouachi brothers who allegedly stormed into Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people.

Note that, Turkey and France are two leading supporters of salafi-taqfiri militants in Syria, both have been supporting air raids against Syrian government. "

[confusedponderer]

Seriously?

[Amir]

Terrorists planned decapitation of prominent Belgian figures: http://www.demorgen.be/binnenland/-terroristen-planden-onthoofding-belangrijke-belg-a2183978/

Doctorantus of "Immigrant Radicalization": http://www.demorgen.be/interviewreportage/montasser-alde-emeh-het-zal-alleen-maar-erger-worden-a2183985

It is only going to get worse. The terrorists were former Syria-fighters. (Thank you Prim. Verhofstadt, Cameron, Sarkopoleon and Hollandaise and especially Hope-Changey BHO). He knows around 60 more in Antwerp alone who are planning to leave and is aware of around 100
who have returned from Syria.

[Amir]

Although I do not agree with some of Slavoj Žižek's statements, the analysis has some merits:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

"What Max Horkheimer had said about Fascism and capitalism already back in 1930s - those who do not want to talk critically about capitalism should also keep quiet about Fascism - should also be applied to today’s fundamentalism: those who do not want to talk critically about liberal democracy should also keep quiet about religious fundamentalism."

http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2015/01/slavoj-i-ek-charlie-hebdo-massacre-are-worst-really-full-passionate-intensity

[confusedponderer]

What's your problem? By leaving Syria they have given testimony to their moderation. If they were hardcore, they'd still fight alongside ISIS! As it is, they are ISIS' rejects who didn't make it.

And as for your unfair slandering of the West's exulted leaders - the moderate opposition they have empowered in Syria is quite egalitarian in beheading Shia, Christians, Kurds and Alawites alike without particular preference, and certainly not for sectarian reasons but clearly for Freedom (tm) in the rightous struggle against the vile tyrrant Assad. How could their cause be any juster?

Just look how Libya is prospering in the aftermath of the downfall their hated tyrrant, Ghaddafi. Ever since the moderate opposition took over, the land is experiencing boom after boom after boom At a pace that it is hard to keep count.

Clearly that must be why Samatha Power still counts the intervention in Lybia as one of her finer moments in office.

Well, that said, it could potentially and perhaps be so that somewhere along the way the twittering secular modernists that everybody liked to like during the Arab spring because they spoke english so well (they even dressed and looked much like us) were either killed off outright or marginalised so that the Syrian opposition as it is has little resemblance with the glorious Unicorn army of our self-rightsous dreams. Ugh. Perish the thought.

[jonst]

Amir wrote: "....those who do not want to talk critically about liberal democracy should also keep quiet about religious fundamentalism (or what I call fascism)." I firmly disagree with you. It is a false equation. The former (serious flaws in liberal democracy) is a slow unwinding tragedy, based upon fears/weakness, the kind the Col referenced the other day. The latter, what you call ("religious fundamentalism",and I call fascism) is a friggin wolf at our throats...and must be dealt with, and dealt with harshly, and immediately, or we'll get our throats torn out.

[Babak Makkinejad]

His statements about the composition of the early Soviet government is accurate.

He did not go far enough and discuss the role of the Jewish communist cadre in post World War II Hungary...

As far as I can tell, progressive Jews who opposed the dead weight of the Jewish Tradition, sought refuge in secular socialism with its promise of non-religious equality and freedom.

In that, they were analogues of the progressive Muslims who, for analogous reasons, became followers of various European socialist political doctrines.

It is always much easier to buy a new - albeit ill-fitting - garment rather than try to make a new one from the ragged tatters of what one has been wearing for so long with shame and discomfort.

Specially, if the new garment has the approval of one's betters...

[Thomas]

"As it is, they are ISIS' rejects who didn't make it."

The Islamic State is an equal opportunity employer! We thoroughly evaluate your talent to provide the best fit for your participation in the Umayyad Imperial Restoration.

No Mujahid is left behind, we are always accepting members for the 1st Martyrdom Foot and the 5th Martyrdom Motorized Brigades.

Abu Hajjaj Ibn Yusef
Martial Mustering Emir, Islamic State Army

[Bandolero]

Dear Patrick Bahzad

thank ou for this great article.

The reason I put this comment here is that I would like to know your opinion on the following "news" piece. Quote:

Ukraine volunteer battalion possible origin of Charlie Hebdo massacre AK-47's

... French Police have asked their Ukrainian counterparts for information regarding the potential Ukrainian origin of AK-47 weapons used in the recent Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, France. The request comes after French investigation have revealed links between the perpetrators of the terrorist act Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi and Hamyd Mourad with the Ukrainian Volunteer Sheikh Mansur Battalion run by Isa Munaev a former Chechen associate of slain Islamic State in Syria leader Sheik Omar al-Shishani. ...

http://www.ukrainebusiness.com.ua/news/14554.html

Though I have absolutely no trust into the media source getting weapons from Ukraine would seem to me quite a logic flow of arms. I guess in the Ukraine war lot's of weapons were lost and I know personally, that the borders between Ukraine, Poland, Germany and France are highly porous.

What's your opinion on this?