Paris attacks 13 November 2015

[dsmrp]

This might seem off topic, but I have a renewed gratitude and appreciation for OUR armed forces, national guard, police, etc and emergency responders (medical and security). The tasks their French counterparts have had since last Friday are long and arduous

 

[Passepartout]

French bomb ISIS headquarters in Syria

Here, from Reuters:

PARIS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - French fighter jets launched their biggest raids in Syria to date targeting the Islamic State's stronghold in Raqqa just two days after the group claimed coordinated attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people, the defense ministry said.

"The raid ... including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Twenty bombs were dropped," the statement said, adding that the mission had taken place this evening.

The operation, carried out in coordination with U.S. forces, struck a command center, recruitment center for jihadists, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters, it said.

French President Francois Hollande vowed in the wake of the attacks in Paris to respond "merciless" to the terror group. "France will be merciless towards these barbarians from Daesh," Hollande said on Saturday, using the Arab acronym for the group.

 

[Makai Guy]

Reminder: Posts discussing politics, religion, and controversial social issues that are not directly related to timesharing are not permitted.

Yes, these occurrences in Paris are truly reprehensible and distressing. But let's keep the discussion on the Paris incidents and leave domestic politics and social issues out of it.

It has been necessary to remove more than one post already. Please don't force us to shut down this thread.

 

[PStreet1]

I understand the non-political nature of TUG, but if you don't talk about causes/solutions, then what good is just saying "I'm so sorry"? It will just happen again and you'll say, again, "I'm so sorry," or "We are all French/Russian/Spanish/American."

 

[DeniseM]

I understand the non-political nature of TUG, but if you don't talk about causes/solutions, then what good is just saying "I'm so sorry"? It will just happen again and you'll say, again, "I'm so sorry," or "We are all French/Russian/Spanish/American."

There are many other places on the internet to talk politics.

 

[SueDonJ]

I understand the non-political nature of TUG, but if you don't talk about causes/solutions, then what good is just saying "I'm so sorry"? It will just happen again and you'll say, again, "I'm so sorry," or "We are all French/Russian/Spanish/American."

Hopefully every time something happens we'll all still have a reserve of compassion to be able to say, "I'm so sorry." Call it empathy, sympathy, catharsis, whatever - there is solace in knowing that others share in your feelings.

True, that's not enough to fix the causes but none of us here on TUG, nor TUG itself, are in any position to fix the causes anyway. Or if we are, hopefully we're sharing our opinions on websites and/or with people who have influence to act on what we say.

 

[PStreet1]

I think it highly unlikely anyone on TUG has any power to do anything, and certainly, if someone does, this isn't a spot that would receive a post about future plans.

I guess I just question what the point is of an entire thread of people saying how much they love Paris and how sad they are. For me, the only conversations worth having are related to causes/responses--and as I said, I realize that's not TUG's function, but anything less winds up being (to me) pretty meaningless. I thought maybe we could manage to discuss the situation and the several types of response that are possible, and remain civil, and not go into attack mode, but evidently, since responses have been removed, that isn't what was happening.

And yes, I realize I can skip this thread, and my intent is not to insult those who choose a forum like this one on which to react--fortunately, we still have a free country and we are allowed to see things different ways.

 

[DeniseM]

The problem is that what may be a civil response from one person's point of view, may be highly inflammatory to someone from a different camp.

Political discussions are not TUG's purpose, and when they flare up, it requires a lot of extra moderation.

So in the words of Brian Rogers: "We aren't going there."

*BTW - I enjoy discussing current events, without getting into a political debate.

 

[SueDonJ]

I think it highly unlikely anyone on TUG has any power to do anything, and certainly, if someone does, this isn't a spot that would receive a post about future plans.

I guess I just question what the point is of an entire thread of people saying how much they love Paris and how sad they are. For me, the only conversations worth having are related to causes/responses--and as I said, I realize that's not TUG's function, but anything less winds up being (to me) pretty meaningless. I thought maybe we could manage to discuss the situation and the several types of response that are possible, and remain civil, and not go into attack mode, but evidently, since responses have been removed, that isn't what was happening.

And yes, I realize I can skip this thread, and my intent is not to insult those who choose a forum like this one on which to react--fortunately, we still have a free country and we are allowed to see things different ways.

I agree with you, wish we could delve far deeper into topics than we're allowed on TUG. And in fact, I have skirted the boundaries in several "social issue" threads in the past. The few posts that were reported/removed from here this morning, though, went far beyond skirting boundaries and deep into enemy territory.

It's completely understandable that these events bring us to strong opinions on a number of fronts. Sharing in the pain is unfortunately one of the only ones for which TUGgers - or any varied group of people, really - can present a civil, united front.

 

[Egret1986]

It's enough for me that I have TUG to come to for sharing pain over what's happened.

Hopefully every time something happens we'll all still have a reserve of compassion to be able to say, "I'm so sorry." Call it empathy, sympathy, catharsis, whatever - there is solace in knowing that others share in your feelings.

It's completely understandable that these events bring us to strong opinions on a number of fronts. Sharing in the pain is unfortunately one of the only ones for which TUGgers - or any varied group of people, really - can present a civil, united front.

Sharing the pain and empathy on TUG is all I need. I'm thankful for the moderators. I don't want to come here for the political and the would'a, could'a, should'a posts.

As stated, there's enough other places for that to take place.

 

[dreamin]

Just returned from Paris

My 29 year old daughter and her partner just returned to Canada from Paris. Last week they were in a rented apartment in Paris about 10 minutes away from where all the tragic events occurred. They were traveling in Belgium when they heard the news. Yesterday they drove their rented car from Brussels to Paris and encountered security checks at the border which took 15 minutes. As they approached Paris there was another security check which took them an hour before they could carry on. In both cases they were not asked to produce their passports nor were they questioned by the armed guards but were just waved through. Both my daughter and partner are border officers, one at the Canada/USA border and one at our international airport, so they were expecting more security measures. They did say that CDG was teeming with armed officers at the check-in counters, in security screening, and throughout the terminal. My daughter loves travel but she admitted that she was very anxious on the flight and was relieved to be on Canadian soil....and so was I!

 

[PStreet1]

Thanks for sharing a direct report; I suspect the security checks would have been very different had they appeared to be middle eastern ethnicity, but still, one would think there would have been more. Good that CDG is being heavily monitored, though.

 

[am1]

Thanks for sharing a direct report; I suspect the security checks would have been very different had they appeared to be middle eastern ethnicity, but still, one would think there would have been more. Good that CDG is being heavily monitored, though.

Then it is a 3 hour wait for everyone. It is a fine line but there are only so many resources to go around.

 

[winger]

Father and son

Unsure if anyone already posted this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9bk76nB6Bk

 

[MULTIZ321]

Paris Attacks: How Europe's Migrant Crisis Gave Terrorist Abdelhamid Abaaoud the Perfect Cover - by Gordon Rayner and Rory Mulholland in Paris/ World News/ Europe/ France/ The Telegraph/ telegraph.co.uk

"Abdelhamid Abaaoud - and others involved in the Paris attacks - exploited the chaos of Europe’s migrant crisis to come and go as they pleased by posing as refugees.

As one of Europe’s most wanted men, Abdelhamid Abaaoud should, in theory, have struggled to move anywhere on the continent without being picked up by the security services sooner or later.

For two years he had been a known Isil fanatic, recruiting his own 13-year-old brother to the terrorist organisation and becoming linked with increasing numbers of murderous plots.

But as he planned his return from the terrorist training grounds of Syria to cause carnage on the streets of Paris, the perfect cover presented itself. He, and others involved in the Paris attacks, could exploit the chaos of Europe’s migrant crisis to come and go as they pleased by posing as refugees..."

A framegrab made from an undated video released by the jihadist group calling itself Islamic State (IS) video allegedly showing Abdelhamid Abaaoud at an undisclosed location Photo: EPA


Richard

 

[ace2000]

"Abdelhamid Abaaoud - and others involved in the Paris attacks - exploited the chaos of Europe’s migrant crisis to come and go as they pleased by posing as refugees.

There have already been a couple of posts that have been deleted in this thread related to the Syrian immigrant topic, but it is the big elephant in the room right now that we can't really talk about. But I agree with the moderators, it is a sensitive issue.