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| Europe |
| GSPC threat, Zark's minions worry France |
| 2005-07-11 |
| France won plaudits in the Muslim world by opposing the US-led war in Iraq, but the insurgency there now poses one of the biggest terrorism threats to France, senior officials and experts warn. France tightened security last Thursday after bombs killed at least 50 people on London transport, drafting in troops to protect key sites as officials from Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin downwards warned the country could be next in line. But fears that France was a target had surfaced long before. ``We remain vulnerable, faced with the blind determination of splintered, mobile groups who know how to exploit the smallest crack in our security measures,'' Mr Villepin said on Saturday. Many French people believed they would be shielded from terror attacks as France opposed the Iraq war but in the eyes of Islamic radicals, Paris is seen as just as much an enemy as London, experts on Islam and security say. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have radicalised a certain section of Muslim youth in France, whose five million Muslims are Europe's largest Islamic minority. While France did not send troops to Iraq, its intelligence services have been working with the United States and Britain in the war on terrorism and it has soldiers in Afghanistan. And Paris' policies banning Muslim headscarves in schools and backing its former North African colonies in their struggle against radical Islamic movements have also fuelled the anti-French feeling among some radical Muslims, experts say. ``Around 20 French nationals have definitely gone to Iraq,'' says Roland Jacquard, head of the Paris-based International Terrorism Observatory. ``Four died, others are in prison. But the real figure could be 150 French nationals who went to Iraq. ``They could be very dangerous when they return because they will have gained combat experience. ``The interrogations of some of the young French jihadists who have returned from Iraq show they were determined to carry out terrorist attacks in France. Not necessarily against French targets but against foreign interests,'' Mr Jacquard said. Francois Gere, head of the French Centre for Strategic Analysis said, the US presence in Iraq had proven an effective recruiting sergeant for a new generation of fighters, not just from France. ``There is this phenomenon of to-ing and fro-ing from Iraq which we know has become a free training zone for a certain number of jihadists,'' he said. Paris police chief Pierre Mutz says his force is alive to the danger. His force has ``had some successes in dismantling networks in Paris, notably in the 19th arrondissement in the capital'', he said last week. The district was the focus of a network recruiting French youths to fight in Iraq, which police say they have dismantled. In February, Paris said US forces were holding three French nationals captured alongside insurgents in Iraq. Police said they were recruited in that district by a Paris preacher. Michel Gaudin, head of France's National Police force, has said the GSPC (the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat), a radical Algerian Islamist group, also posed a threat to France, Algeria's former colonial master. The GSPC contacted al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, last year to obtain his support for operations in Algeria, in North Africa ``and probably in our country'', Mr Gaudin said. France has long experience combating radical Islamists. After a wave of attacks in the 1980s and 1990s France revamped its judicial apparatus, notably with a broad-brush terrorist conspiracy law that enables the conviction of anyone shown to have been in regular contact with a terrorist group. Many French officials believe EU states should adopt a similar law, which makes it easier for the authorities to secure a conviction than in some countries, particularly Britain. ``The British have stepped up checks on Islamists by their intelligence services since 2001,'' said a senior anti-terrorist official referring to the Sept 11 attacks on US landmarks. ``But they still don't have a policy of cracking down on them.'' |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Oh, c'mon, MAC - even the paleos don't deserve that. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-07-11 18:19 |
| #3 give gaza back to the settlers and give france to the palastinians..... just a thought. |
| Posted by: MACOFROMOC 2005-07-11 17:42 |
| #2 But, but, the Islamists should phear our non-binding resolutions! - France |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-11 15:52 |
| #1 What to do, what to do.... Well, the Phrogs could take the cops and the army and clean out the cites and jail or ship back (or just shoot) all the bad guys living there (that would be about 95%). But they won't, gutless wonders that they are. Practice surrendering to your latest invaders, Phrance - it's what you do best. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-07-11 15:42 |