12 Dead in Daytime Paris Attack at Satirical Magazine

[David Guyatt]

Oh dear, what a surprise. France is now demanding tougher anti-terrorism laws.

According to a live BBC News interview with a French terrorism expert, Francois Heisberg (?) Coulibaly received a Euro 6,000 loan from a reputable Paris consumer loan "establishment" which he used to buy the weapons.

Meanwhile, stunned into semi silence over the event in recent days, both Al-Qaeda Yemen and IS are now claiming responsibility for the attack, causing the above expert to conclude that both are now seeking "market share". Very evidently neither were responsible.

France: Terror funding, attack weapons came from abroad
Associated Press By LORI HINNANT and ANGELA CHARLTON
11 hours ago
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TouchVision

France is looking for terror suspects

France is looking for terror suspects

PARIS (AP) France's prime minister demanded tougher anti-terrorism measures Tuesday after deadly attacks that some call this country's Sept. 11 and that may already be leading to a crackdown on liberties in exchange for greater security.

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Police told The Associated Press that the weapons used came from abroad, as authorities in several countries searched for possible accomplices and the sources of financing for last week's attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher market and police. A new suspect was identified in Bulgaria.

"We must not lower our guard, at any time," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told Parliament, adding that "serious and very high risks remain."

Lawmakers in the often argumentative chamber lined up overwhelmingly behind the government, giving repeated standing ovations to Valls' rousing, indignant address and then voted 488-1 to extend French airstrikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq.

"France is at war against terrorism, jihadism, and radical Islamism," Valls declared. "France is not at war against Islam."

He called for increased surveillance of imprisoned radicals and told the interior minister to quickly come up with new security proposals.

French police say as many as six members of the terrorist cell that carried out the Paris attacks may still be at large, including a man seen driving a car registered to the widow of one of the gunmen. The country has deployed 10,000 troops to protect sensitive sites, including Jewish schools and synagogues, mosques and travel hubs.

View galleryFrench citizen Joachin is pictured inside the courtroom …
French citizen Fritz-Joly Joachin, 29, is pictured inside the courtroom before his trial in the town …
Several people are being sought in connection with the "substantial" financing of the three gunmen behind the terror campaign, said Christophe Crepin, a French police union official. The gunmen's weapons stockpile came from abroad, and the size of it, plus the military sophistication of the attacks, indicated an organized terror network, he added.

"This cell did not include just those three. We think with all seriousness that they had accomplices, because of the weaponry, the logistics and the costs of it," Crepin said. "These are heavy weapons. When I talk about things like a rocket launcher it's not like buying a baguette on the corner. It's for targeted acts."

Speaking to legislators in London, the head of the European police agency Europol, Rob Wainwright, said that 3,000 to 5,000 European nationals have gone to fight in the Mideast, calling it a "startling figure" and "the most serious threat Europe has faced since 9/11."

He urged better intel sharing, saying later to the BBC: "The way the network is diffuse in nature, not homogenous, not centralized, but a gathering of thousands of independent and semi-independent actors makes it very, very difficult for the security agencies to monitor it wholesale."

In a sign that French judicial authorities were using laws against defending terrorism to their fullest extent, a man who had praised the terror attacks while resisting arrest on a drunk driving violation was swiftly sentenced to four years in prison.

While the attacks have left France in jitters, some warned against going as far as a French version of the U.S. Patriot Act passed after Sept. 11.

View galleryJerusalem funerals for four killed in Paris attack
The mother ©, sister and brother ® of Yoav Hattab, killed in an attack on a Paris grocery on Fri …
"This must not lead to the renouncing of fundamental freedoms, otherwise we prove right those who come to fight on our soil," former Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on France-Inter radio.

The investigation spread to yet another country: A Bulgarian prosecutor announced that a Frenchman jailed since Jan. 1 had ties to Cherif Kouachi, one of the brothers who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack.

The man, identified by French prosecutors as Joachim Fritz-Joly, was arrested as he tried to cross into Turkey. He was facing two European arrest warrants, one citing his alleged links to a terrorist organization and a second for allegedly kidnapping his 3-year-old son and smuggling him out of the country, said Darina Slavova, the regional prosecutor for Bulgaria's southern province of Haskovo.

"He met with Kouachi several times at the end of December," Slavova said. The child was sent back to his mother in France.

At a hearing in Haskovo on Tuesday, authorities decided to keep Fritz-Joly in custody until another hearing to determine whether he will be extradited to France. The Frenchman told the court he had known Cherif Kouachi since childhood.

"A man can have friends and they can do whatever they want, but I am simply going on vacation and have nothing to do with it," he told the court.

View galleryFrance deploys 10,000 troops
A soldier patrols outside a synagogue in Paris, Monday, Jan. 12, 2015. France on Monday ordered 10,0 …
Kouachi and his older brother, Said, killed 12 people at the satirical paper's offices on Jan. 7, while their friend, Amedy Coulibaly, killed a French policewoman Thursday and four hostages Friday in a Paris kosher grocery. All three claimed ties to Islamic extremists in the Middle East the Kouachis to al-Qaida in Yemen and Coulibaly to the Islamic State group.

All three gunmen died Friday in clashes with French police.

Authorities were searching around Paris for the Mini Cooper registered to Hayat Boumeddiene, Coulibaly's widow, who Turkish officials say is now in Syria. French police also sought the person or persons who filmed and posted a video of Coulibaly explaining how the attacks in Paris would unfold.

Earlier Tuesday, in ceremonies thousands of miles apart, France and Israel paid tribute to the victims of the terror attacks.

At police headquarters in Paris, French President Francois Hollande placed Legion of Honor medals on the flag-draped caskets of the three police officers killed in the attacks.

France will be "merciless in the face of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim acts, and unrelenting against those who defend and carry out terrorism, notably the jihadists who go to Iraq and Syria," Hollande vowed.

A ceremonial unit of the New York Police Department, including Muslim officers, was among those attending the service for the slain officers.

As Chopin's funeral march played and the caskets were led from the building, a procession began in Jerusalem for the four Jewish victims at the kosher store.

Defying the bloodshed and terror of last week, a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad was to appear Wednesday on the cover of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo, weeping and holding a placard with the words "I am Charlie."

Criticism and threats immediately appeared on militant websites, with calls for more strikes against the newspaper and anonymous threats from radicals, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based terrorism monitor.

Charlie Hebdo, which lampoons religion indiscriminately, had received threats after depicting Muhammad before.

[David Guyatt]

It seems to me that we are in the throes of a media propaganda campaign now, with various media claiming an international conspiracy over the paris attacks. Yet what I see is more like a blowback situation ate best - and something altogether different at worst. Many places we look we find conflicting information.

On the one hand, as per previous post, Coulibaly got a Paris bank loan to buy the weapons. But according to the LA Times, he got $20,000 from his 2011 trip to Yemen AQAP that he used to "help finance [these] attacks". Not-with-standing the fact that AQAP seemed very reluctant to accept responsibility for these events - until today.

And now that many of those named or believed to have been associated with the attackers have been found to be innocent, the media are pressing hard on the on the hunt for an international cell of 8-10 members.

[David Guyatt]

More on Erdogan's comments about the West being behind the Paris attacks.

Turkish president accuses 'the West' of being behind Charlie Hebdo attacks and deliberately 'blaming Muslims' as conspiracy theories sweep the Internet accusing Israel of orchestrating it

• Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan suggested French security forces knew of attack
  
• Turkish President said the West is 'playing games with the Islamic world'
  
• Said: 'French citizens carried out massacre, and Muslims pay the price'
  

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 15:45, 13 January 2015 | UPDATED: 19:27, 13 January 2015

The President of Turkey has suggested French security forces are to blame for the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week, since the culprits had recently served prison sentences.
Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan accused the West of 'playing games with the Islamic world', warning fellow Muslims to be 'aware'.
Erdogan said Muslims are 'paying the price' for the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish kosher supermarket in Paris last week.
Scroll down for video


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Blame game: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested French security forces were behind the Paris attacks as they 'track' former prisoners and the culprits in the Charlie Hebdo shootings had served time

'French citizens carry out such a massacre, and Muslims pay the price,' Erdogan said yesterday.
'That's very meaningful ... Doesn't their intelligence organisation track those who leave prison?
'Games are being played with the Islamic world, we need to be aware of this.

'The West's hypocrisy is obvious. As Muslims, we've never taken part in terrorist massacres. Behind these lie racism, hatespeech and Islamophobia,' Erdogan added.
Erdogan also denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attending a solidarity rally in France on Sunday with other world leaders after the Paris attacks.
'How can a man who has killed 2,500 people in Gaza with state terrorism wave his hand in Paris, like people are waiting in excitement for him to do so? How dare he go there?' he said.

Turkish President: Muslims paying price for French massacre









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Erdogan denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his attendance at the Unity rally in Paris alongside, from left to right, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas



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Erdogan made the comments at a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara on Monday


World leaders link arms in emotional display of solidarity








Erdogan did not attend the Sunday march, though Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu participated.
Erdogan is not the only senior Turkish politicianpublicly voicing conspiracy theories over the Paris attacks.
The Mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek, said he was convinced the Israeli intelligence service Mossad was behind the attacks, linking them to France's recent move towards recognising Palestine as an independent state.
'Mossad is definitely behind such incidents… it is boosting enmity towards Islam.' Mr Gokcek said, according to Financial Times.
In Russia, several pro-Kremlin commentators blamed the United States and the CIA for the attack, the newspaper reported.
One, Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute for New States, said 'I am sure that some American supervisors are responsible for the terror attacks in Paris, or in any case the Islamists who carried them out.'

[Magda Hassan]

Oh dear, what a surprise. France is now demanding tougher anti-terrorism wars.

According to a live BBC News interview with a French terrorism expert, Francois Heisberg (?) Coulibaly received a Euro 6,000 loan from a reputable Paris consumer loan "establishment" which he used to buy the weapons.

Meanwhile, stunned into semi silence over the event in recent days, both Al-Qaeda Yemen and IS are now claiming responsibility for the attack, causing the above expert to conclude that both are now seeking "market share". Very evidently neither were responsible.

I saw France justice dept has now opened 50 cases of 'condoning terrorism' since the attacks. Obviously many more to come.

I think the guys have had some military training. Or at least the guys in the video have. But it does seem to be some thing they have all done off their own bat. No funding, no safe houses, no spare vehicles, own weapons, own phones. I don't think either IS or AQAP have anything to do with it though pretty sure they are pleased with result. AQ and IS hate each other any way. The guys seem ideologically clueless.

[Drew Phipps]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/13...64136.html
France Votes To Extend Airstrikes Against ISIS In Iraq




Posted: 01/13/2015 12:48 pm EST Updated: 01/13/2015 1:59 pm EST

PARIS (AP) France's lower house of Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved extending French airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq. The vote came after France's worst terrorist attacks in decades. Last week in Paris, a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group killed four people in a kosher grocery and a policewoman, while two brothers that he knew for years claimed ties to al-Qaida in Yemen as they killed 12 people at a newspaper office.

"France is at war with terrorism, jihadism and radical Islamism," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the National Assembly to thundering applause ahead of the vote. "France is not at war with a religion. France is not at war with Islam and Muslims." The vote was 488 to 1. One lawmaker argued not to extend the campaign, saying the situation on the ground was improving and warning that more bombing could invite more extremist violence but the government and other lawmakers vigorously defended the campaign.

France quickly joined the United States in conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State group last year after the militants took over sections of Iraq and Syria. French law requires a vote on extending such operations after four months. France is not bombing in Syria.

[Danny Jarman]

Two thoughts

1. Any event where ISIS or Al Qaeda claim responsibility is like a stamp of approval that western intelligence agencies are involved in one way or another.

2. If you are someone that takes your religion so seriously as to kill somebody else, then why would you kill two fellow Muslims? Can you imagine the punishment in the hereafter for doing such a thing? It makes absolutely no sense and also makes me question the fact again that these guys were even Muslims and not some kind of programmed assassins.

[Tracy Riddle]

Two thoughts

1. Any event where ISIS or Al Qaeda claim responsibility is like a stamp of approval that western intelligence agencies are involved in one way or another.

2. If you are someone that takes your religion so seriously as to kill somebody else, then why would you kill two fellow Muslims? Can you imagine the punishment in the hereafter for doing such a thing? It makes absolutely no sense and also makes me question the fact again that these guys were even Muslims and not some kind of programmed assassins.

Muslims have been killing other Muslims ever since the religion was founded (same is true with Christians, Jews, etc). I know it doesn't make any sense, but organized religion isn't logical.

[Tracy Riddle]

Oh dear, what a surprise. France is now demanding tougher anti-terrorism laws.

Yay! Freedumb!

[Peter Lemkin]

Two thoughts

1. Any event where ISIS or Al Qaeda claim responsibility is like a stamp of approval that western intelligence agencies are involved in one way or another.

2. If you are someone that takes your religion so seriously as to kill somebody else, then why would you kill two fellow Muslims? Can you imagine the punishment in the hereafter for doing such a thing? It makes absolutely no sense and also makes me question the fact again that these guys were even Muslims and not some kind of programmed assassins.

While both 'organizations' seem to have been born out of a gleam of Western Intelligence eyes [and funded/trained at some points in time], I don't think everything they do now are under Western Intel command. The second group now has also split into factions - some at each other's throats. We often build Frankensteins that then act on their own.

As to the other point, only one would have been known to be at the target location - and possibly 'justified' as working for the blasphemers if not one himself. The other was a policeman who arrived just as they did....unlikely they could know who might - and unlikely if they even had known he was Muslim, they'd change their mind for one in a police uniform.

Those points said, the report of blue eyes for one, and several other unexplained or contradictory bits of information, so far, do leave open some question as to exactly who did that shooting, and who sent them to do it. Programmed assassins are known, as are patsy assassins, and false-flag assassins who let patsies take the 'flack'. I think it is too early to really tell....but I'm watching and questioning. This has very much changed the tenor in France and all over Europe - much as 911 did in the USA, if at a slightly lesser level of trauma. It all certainly bears close analysis and challenges to the official version.

[David Guyatt]

New footage released today