School isn't going to be the same for these kids for some time to come. A few short months ago the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris "caught fire" in what was immediately – like while the fire was still burning – labeled an industrial accident. Those premature pronouncements reminded me of nothing more than the ongoing "Russia" did it pronouncements here in the US.
No Smoking – you can't smoke in a restaurant but behind a closed door on a jobsite is apparently ok.
Yesterday five individuals were attacked with a ceramic knife that was smuggled through the security screening at the Préfecture de police de Paris Headquarters building. Four are dead and one critically injured. That did not strike me as an act of rage over a management dispute but rather as a premeditated act of murder. Is it terrorism?
Quoting from leParisien. (The original is in French, this is the basic translation per google.)
<<Tout le monde est surpris, confie une fonctionnaire de la PP qui a croisé l'auteur de la tuerie quelques minutes avant le coup de folie de Mickaël H. C'est un homme sans histoire, il ne s'est jamais montré violent. >>
"Everyone is surprised, confides a public servant of the PP who crossed the author of the slaughter a few minutes before the blow of madness of Mickaël H. It is a man without history, it was never violent. "
Yes, everyone is always surprised. You shouldn't be. Did anyone notice any behavioral change beyond that which might be expected by getting married? How many terrorist acts have occurred in France in recent years? Where did the people this individual murdered work? The answer to that last question is from the same article:
"The assailant neutralized. Mickaël H., shot in the prefecture court, was an administrative agent of the intelligence department of the Prefecture of Police…"
From an update:
"… the 45-year-old was employed as a specialist in computer maintenance at the highly sensitive Intelligence Directorate of the Paris Police Headquarters (DRPP), which specializes in the fight against terrorism. He had entered in 2003." ….. "
"He was very closed, like a geek can be, says a colleague of Mickaël H. …"
I read this earlier in the day. The initial thought that came to mind was the killing of British police intelligence offices in Ireland by the IRA a hundred years ago. Then more recent events in Afghanistan came to mind. The CIA chief of base at Camp Chapman who new that her contact was never violent and well vetted. That didn't keep him from killing her and her entire team.
Just what were the three dead DRPP officers and thier assistant in Paris working on?
Another example pre-dating that attack in Afghanistan was the attack at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 30 injured. There were many signs that Major Nidal Hassan was going to be violent, but of course all the professionals working with him knew they could not violate the rules of political correctness and point out the risks to anyone. Thirteen dead and more than a decade later PC culture is still alive and kicking her in the USA, how is it in France?
At this point I have a number of questions, few answers, but to me this event sure stinks to high heaven.
What is the possibility this is an act of terrorism and this individual an ISIS plant (or convert)? What is the probability that if that is true a great deal of information held by the DRPP is compromised? I'm sure that with a couple of decades of experience working in IT this man has to be at least as capable as Bradley Manning or Reality Winner or the congressional IT team lead by Imran Awan.
Like I said, lots of questions and not too many answers. What do those with more experience in police and intellegence work think?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/03/one-dead-three-injured-paris-police-hq-stabbing/
posted by Fred
Let’s say this Mickaël H. was an operative of an organized terrorist group. His penetration of the DRPP IT department would be a major coup. His access would be a major plus for that terrorist group. To destroy that lucrative access in exchange for a handful of victims would be a terrible error. Not only would the access be lost, but the damage assessment would wipe out most of the gain garnered from the operation up to this attack. If a terrorist group ordered this attack, the group is stupid beyond belief. The attacker could be a terrorist operative who just snapped for some reason and perpetrated this attack on his own. In that case, the attacker was stupid beyond belief. He screwed over his terrorist group. OTOH, he could just be a lone wolf attacker motivated by ideological or personal reasons. I guess we’ll know more in the days and weeks ahead.
From the Daily Mail:
Deaf ‘Islamic convert’ is named as Paris police HQ attacker: IT worker who fell out with supervisor ‘over dealing with women’ slaughters four colleagues, including female officer, with a knife before being shot dead. Michael Harpon, 45, stabbed and killed four colleagues with a ceramic knife. The knifeman was shot dead in the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters. Colleagues said he had worked there for 20 years and had security clearance.
JMH,
Do you have an actual idea you wish to discuss or did you think no one would read any of the linked articles?
Elora,
Wisdom from the mouth of babes. “The CIA done it”; to help Macron. Well, at least the latter part is a new one.
The culprit was a convert. That has not only been reported by the French media but actually acknowledged by the government. So, yes, it’s obviously linked to islamism and could be labelled terrorism – or would be if the dead weren’t kind of linked to security forces, which makes it rather targetted murders rather than killing of random civilians.
At some point, the West should simply admit that every single Muslim convert is potentially a jihadi; that would be massively unfair, but the safest way to act.
There are somewhere over 300 risk assessment tools that have been developed to try to predict if someone will become violent. None are especially accurate or useful. (That should be self-evident since if any of them gave reliable results we would have a lot fewer.) So about the best anyone can do is guess. If you are comfortable with government guessing about who will become violent and then locking them up and/or taking their guns then you should probably advocate for a lot more intervention, understanding you will be locking up or taking guns away from a lot of innocent people. If you dont trust government to get this correct, then you should probably advocate for a higher degree of certainty. Liberty vs safety.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151112091649.htm
Steve
Fourth,
The lead has to be ingested to cause an effect and you have to ingest quite a bit.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14574651
Clueless,
There are plenty of people who convert and do not kill anyone.
TTG,
I’m inclined to agree that this is probably someone who snapped. What are your thoughts on how to deal with someone in the workplace who starts showing those signs early? I had little help from my hr/management team when dealing with an alcoholic whose behavior became increasingly disruptive at work and downright dangerous to himself. To say the cituation is ‘delecate’ is an understatement. A harassment complaint, justified or not, at my former employer would be a career wrecker.
I don’t have an answer for you, Fred. Even if you try to help someone in the best traditions of Christianity, you will be accused of being judgmental and intolerant. It takes a disciplined and talented leader to get away with that kind of “care for one’s troops.” That leadership is rare. All segments of society seem to prefer checklists to practicing the fine art of leadership.
TTG,
“..prefer checklists to practicing the fine art of leadership” I sure agree with you there.
That is a baseless accusation against Shia Muslims.
As for Sunni converts, to which kind of Islam do they convert? That of West’s friend, i.e. Salafi, neo-Salafis etc?
You need to assess the man’s stability but also where he converted as well as what role his wife played in this. Reminds of the Sacramento case where the Jihadi bride was sent to fortify that low life.
An update from Paris:
“Francois Ricard, the anti-terrorism prosecutor, said his office had taken over the probe because of signs the crime was premeditated and because of the nature of injuries found on at least one of the victims. The prosecutor also said that the attacker had stated a desire to die.” ….
“The investigation also revealed contacts between the attacker and several individuals who are likely to belong to an Islamist Salafist movement, Ricard said.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-security/french-prosecutor-finds-signs-of-radicalization-in-paris-knife-attacker-idUSKCN1WK0D0
“Islamist Salafist Movement”.
Why I am not surprised?
Friends of the West, these Calvinists of Islam. There must be deep feelings of religious affinity here.
It’s been my experience that leadership is more a talent than a a skill one can learn. “You either got the pipes or you don’t.”
I think that covers it, not sure why the lead was buried in an otherwise well crafted piece.
Also, the PC dogma straight jacket that Western societies have fitted themselves into has real-world at-home fatal consequences. The election of Mr. Trump, Brexit, etc are examples of an attempts to escape the Lilliputian confines and constraints of the PC dogma straight jacket.
Babak,
There is a renewed push in Europe to take in more “refugees” from Syria and elsewhere. The returning Europeans who went to fight or live with ISIS are going to do just what, precisely, when they get back to Europe? There is also the little tidbit about “safe zones” in Syria:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bc-eu–europe-migrants-20191003-story.html
Then, coinciding with the government changes in Italy, this news:
https://www.politico.eu/article/4-eu-countries-agree-on-migration-relocation-system-malta/
From a policty standpoint people in France should be very concerned that a terrorist was working in the heart of French anti-terror police. What makes anyone think the Germans, the Dutch, or the EU government in Brussels are any better.
I presume you’re referring to Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, in 2014. Based on things that were published before the MSM took control of the narrative, I came to believe that he was the victim of daily bullying by a particularly obnoxious person (as described by his wife before they shut her up) over his religion. It seemed something happened that was the last straw at the Christmas party his office threw. Before lunch he stormed out, and an hour or two later he and his wife returned and shot some of his co-workers, including the one who was reported as being the main bully. I was never satisfied that either he or his wife had any jihadist leanings, and the story was dropped when it became clear there was no evidence he was radical. I remember that story better than most because several early stories mentioned the point that the MSM couldn’t find any way, even by lying, to sensationalize it as terrorism. He is, of course, now referred to as “having Islamist leanings.” Sorry, I don’t have any links available, but maybe I could track some down. Google is so crapified now it would not be easy.
NATO should not have destablized Islamdom with so little regard to the consequences of thrir actions. They were and are mad, in my opinion.
Babak,
NATO? I think you have mis-identified the source. To generalize, in the West it is the left which did this, with the complicit help of many on the right. The neocons, or neobolsheviks, or cultural marxists. Any of the labels would do. They defeated the West in Vietnam – just look at what they achived in cultural, racial and economic reforms in the US since the ’60s – and they are doing thier best to defeat Western Civilization completely so that they can usher in the brave new world of New Man in its latest incarnation. Immigration and Islamdom are just blunt instruments in that transformation of society. Besides, didn’t the Soviets spend 70 odd years working hand in hand with Muslim countries across the planet? How did that work out?
The Left, you say.
To me it looks just like Neo-conservatives, another alibi, like the SS for the Germans.
Sarkoz . who helped himself to Libya’s monies, was no leftie.
Bullying?
You bully anyone on basis of religion or sex and you will have a visit from HR and if you persist almost certain dismissal. I am not persuaded.
Babak
IMO it is both the Globalist Left and the imperialist neocons who conspire against Trump.
Procopius,
In the liberal bastion of California he had never heard of the EEOC or of lawyers? The media found plenty of ways to avoid the word terrorism in relation to two Muslims who had committed mass murder. Mandatory training in a room with a Christmas tree? How dare our employer require that! It’s in the follow up story that comes up on page 1 of the Google search.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/christmas-party-triggered-san-bernardino-terror-attack-police/story?id=43884973
Update 2:
Just in time for the Jihadis to return home.
“Police found USB sticks with data on dozens of police officers, as well as Islamic State propaganda videos, in Harpon’s apartment, France 2 television reported on Monday night.” – An update states these were found at his desk, not his apartment.
“Castaner said that in future, indications of radicalisation will be acted upon immediately.” How wonderful.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/paris-police-attacker-had-top-secret-security-clearance-1.4043140
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/macron-calls-for-society-of-vigilance-in-wake-of-police-personnel-murders-1.4044268