Fucking terrorists. By now, most people who keep track of news to any significant degree are aware of the terrorist attacks in Paris. I’ve read several articles relating to the attacks from US sources, but wanted to get news from sources closer to Paris, so I’ve been reading
France24. The attacks, which apparently took place at six different locations in and around Paris, occurred around 10 pm (local time). Last time I took a look at fatalities, more than 127 people had died, with 180 injured (and 80 of those were serious injuries). You can take a wild guess who is claiming responsibility. Once again it’s those assholes in
ISIS:
In a statement posted online, the IS group (also known as ISIS, ISIL or by the Arabic acronym Daesh) said “eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles” conducted a “blessed attack on … the Crusader France”.
The statement added that the attacks were designed to show France that it will remain a top target, saying France was guilty of “striking Muslims in the caliphate with their aircraft”. France is part of a US-led coalition conducting air strikes on IS jihadists in Syria and Iraq, where the group declared a caliphate last year after seizing areas of both countries.
The statement was made in Arabic and French and circulated by IS group supporters on Saturday. It was not immediately possible to confirm the authenticity of the statement, but it bore the group’s logo and resembled previous statements issued by the jihadists.
Goddamn ISIS. All those lives lost. And all those lives shattered…the survivors. It’s an awful series of tragedies. And the ripple effects on the families (and friends) of the injured and deceased…I can’t even comprehend the effects of these awful terrorist acts. I don’t know what to say that hasn’t been said by countless people, countless times, but I’m adding my voice to the chorus that says this is contemptible, abhorrent, and absolutely unconscionable.
I’m also adding my voice to the people excoriating those who would use these attacks as a way to lash out at refugees, immigrants, and Muslims. There are billions of Muslims on this planet and they are not represented by the infinitesimal number of Islamic extremists. Yet for many people, the actions of ISIS do represent all Muslims. As if being Muslim automatically makes one a terrorist. That is no more true than claiming that Christians are automatically terrorists because there are violent Christian extremists. The Facebook page for The Londoner had a meme that illustrates the small number of Islamic terrorists and points out the inanity of regarding all Muslims as if they were religious extremists: Regarding immigrants-here too, they don’t have any interest in destroying the places they they’re migrating to! It makes no sense to blame immigrants for the actions of terrorists. And this is made all the more heinous bc the people so quick to place blame on Muslims, or immigrants, or refugees have no fucking evidence to base their claims on. It’s an irrational reaction based more on the fear-mongering that is so prevalent in the United States.
And as for refugees-who are different from immigrants, bc they are fleeing their countries to keep themselves and their families alive-as I read elsewhere, the kind of violence that occurred in Paris is exactly the kind of violence refugees are fleeing from! They’re not the cause of these terrorist acts. They want to live lives free of oppressive regimes that shoot them, bomb their homes, and sexually assault them.
So all the people pushing this shit about how Muslims are responsible…those saying we need to turn away immigrants bc of the dangers they pose…those saying that refugees are bringing the violence with them? They need to shut the entire fuck up and sit their asses down and let the grownups talk. Bc they clearly have nothing to offer but hatred, fear, and racism.
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As I wrote up this post, I learned there were *more* terrorist attacks. In Lebanon, at least 41 people were killed in the capitol city of
Beirut. Again, ISIS claims they were responsible:
The blasts on Thursday evening struck in a busy shopping street. More than 200 people were wounded – many of them seriously, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour said.
The army said that two men wearing suicide vests carried out the attack. The first bomber detonated his explosive vest outside a Shia mosque, while the second blew himself up inside a nearby bakery.
The body of a third bomber who failed to detonate his explosives was found at the scene of the second blast.
‘Satanic attack’
An IS statement – which could not be independently verified – said that its “soldiers of the Caliphate” detonated explosives which were concealed on a motorbike. It identified the three attackers as two Palestinians and a Syrian.
“After the apostates gathered in the area, one of the knights of martyrdom detonated his explosive belt in the midst of them,” the statement said. It did not refer to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria.
There was also an attack in Baghdad, during a funeral. The suicide bombing took the lives of 19 people:
Attacks targeting Shiites in Baghdad, including a suicide bombing at a funeral in a mosque, killed at least 19 people Friday, security and medical officials said.
The suicide bombing inside the Al-Ashara al-Mubashareen mosque in the Amil area of south Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded 33, the officials said.
Two officials said the funeral was for a member of the volunteer paramilitary force known as the Popular Mobilisation units.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are a tactic used exclusively by Sunni extremists in Iraq, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadist group, who consider Shiites to be heretics.
Thank you for writing about this, Tony.
I can’t translate the whole article, but here is just a part of something I read just before this:
Translation mine, such as it is. Emphasis on the last 2 sentences also mine, because really, don’t they say it all?