Attacks in Paris

Well, personally speaking, I'm pleased that LaraGransnet is looking in on us.
Just watching the news, they are putting together a picture now of the terrorists, home grown and from Syria.One of them landed in Greece a few weeks ago and mingled with refugees.

Have they actually authenticated the passport and the corpse and linked them together - is this still the same speculative story that some parts of the media have been running all day?
ie was the passport a genuine one
did it belong to one of dead bodies on scene, as authenticated by fingerprints?
Whichever way, leaving this kind of evidence behind obviously a deliberate act to try to provoke further restrictions on helping with the refugee crisis.

I agree rosesarered, it's now clear that we are free to post our opinions

Not very logical to judge a religion based on the activities of 0f 0.0067% of their members (assuming ISIS has around 100,000 members/supporters)

as said before, it is like judging Christians on the activities of the IRA or the KKK.

Gavin Hewitt just told Huw Edwards on the BBC news there is no evidence of a link between the attackers and refugees. Yet the BBC Turkey Correspondent Mark Lowen says a Syrian passport found at the scene of the attack has big implications.

"The discovery of a Syrian passport near the body of one of the attackers has thrown a spotlight back on the migrant route - and on Turkey as the key transit country.

"The authenticity of the passport is still unclear: Frontex, the EU's border agency, warned earlier this year that Syrian passports were being forged as they were more likely to be accepted for asylum.

"The fear for the genuine refugees will be that this case could turn the political narrative against them, fuelling those who say Europe's doors should now be shut."

The death toll is now 132.

Is anyone judging a religion here, granjura? I thought we were agreed on the fact that they are extremists and terrorists - that's all.

Some might suggest that IS want us to reject the migrants - more potential recruits.

Ordinary Muslims have been the biggest victims of IS, so I support the suggestion that the forces which stop IS must be made up of forces from Arab countries. That means both Sunni and Shia Muslims fighting for the common cause. The end result might be a Middle East that looks different to the one we have now, but that will be the price of defeating IS.

This can be backed by UN forces, but different countries with vested interests in the area need to stop leading the fighting.

Agreed,, thank you Ana. A friend of mine came up elsewhere with that % and comment- and it struck a chord (and good to see that it is not that I am 'obsessed' with the KKK- but that thex do 'say' that they act to protect their faith- same as the Huguenots Heritage site I had joined, and who have been pouring anti-Islam vitriol on FB for last 2 days, etc.

Glad we are not doing so here.

whitewave you are spot on because one of the points about the IS caliphate is it has called for all Muslims to make their way to countries which are governed by Islamic (Sharia) law.

Muslims are mainly the ones being killed and tortured by ISIS, but they will happily behead anyone of any religion!
Muslims in Syria and Iraq are fighting back but need a lot of help.

Precisely rosesarered.

terrible terrorist attack by ISIS yesterday, against innocent Muslims in Beyrut - hardly made the headlines or news.

Some lives do seem to count a lot more than others- tragically.

It was reported on the BBC gj and mentioned by several correspondents talking about Paris, but I take your point.

I saw two reports about it yesterday as well. I don't think it's a case of some lives counting a lot more than others but it's a shock when a terrorist attack happens on our doorstep.

And a wake-up call.

Lebanon is holding a day of national mourning after at least 41 people were killed in two suicide bombings in the capital, Beirut. The Islamic State (IS) militant group says it was behind the attacks in Burj al-Barajneh, a mainly Shia southern suburb and Hezbollah stronghold,2 days ago

"Lebanon holds day of mourning after deadly Beirut blasts" - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk › news › world-middle-east

Was this what you were referring to, Granjura?
It was reported, but like the landslide election of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar or the killing of the so-called Jihadi John, has been superseded in the media.Why? More recent, more fatalities, closer to home, UK victims, and a scenario we can more easily identify with. It is a sad reflection of our preoccupation with ourselves and those nearest or most like me us, that they are deemed "worthy" of more column inches.

It seems to me,some people value lives less than others.Even their own.

Yes, goes both ways... tragically.

I hope it is a wake up call to our Government, Merlotgran. The cuts to our police force will mean that if (probably when) an attack happens here, they won't be able to respond as the French police did. We already have a force of 128,000 in England and Wales compared to France's 278,000 (most of whom are armed, of course, compared to 6,000 of ours). The Home Office plan to cut this number to 80,000. What on earth are they thinking about?

I don't normally pay much attention to the Huffington Post, but this former police officer, writing after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, knows what he's talking about.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-hobbs/police-cuts_b_6454652.html

Thanks for the link, Maggie. I agree that it's terribly worrying.

We're assuming an attack will happen in London but it could just as easily be Manchester, Birmingham or any other major city.

I am scared it will happen here. It will be like in the 70s when we had bomb scares all the time from the IRA.

I was impressed at the speed of response on Friday night and it did cross my mind that I was not sure UK police could respond as quickly, but then decided the police must do practice drills in the event of attacks. But after reading that article, the doubts are back. For the first time in my life I think our police should be armed. It is no longer viable for police officers on the front line to wait for the support of armed officers.

I feel Friday night was a game changer.

merlotgran I was thinking about that too and given the high number of armed police in London, it would make sense not to mount an attack there, but to choose a softer target.

Well said, Alea

Thanks for that link Maggie.

It is patently stupid that in times like this cuts are being made to the police and armed response teams. An attack is highly likely and it could be anywhere.