PrintHe is Muslim, he had a job and opportunities, and he is still a terrorist
According to French police, they foiled a terrorism attack when they arrested a young, male "Islamic extremist," originally from Algeria studying computer science in Paris, France, who had numerous powerful loaded guns that he planned to use to slaughter churchgoers in that city. Apparently he accidentally shot himself in the leg and was caught when he sought medical help.
The 24-year-old computer science student, who was also suspected in the death of a young woman whose body was found on Sunday shortly before his arrest, had been flagged as a risk for intent to travel to Syria but there had been no specific reason to open a judicial investigation, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Wednesday.
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said the suspect — an Algerian who had lived in France for several years — was arrested in Paris Sunday after he apparently shot himself by accident and called for an ambulance.
He was waiting outside his apartment building for first aid when police arrived. They followed a trail of blood to his car, which contained loaded guns, and notes about potential targets.
A search of his apartment in southeastern Paris turned up more weapons including three Kalashnikov assault rifles along with phones and computers that police used to establish that he'd been in communication with someone "who could have been in Syria," Molins said at a news conference.
But...but...how can that be? The suspect had numerous present and future opportunities, as he was studying computer science in a well-governed city and country. After all, didn't the ever profound U.S. State Department spokescritter, Marie Harf, profoundly state just a few months ago that young male Muslims turn to extremism because of lack of jobs?
We can not kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium and longer term to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups, whether it is lack of opportunity for jobs--
A few days later, she repeated her nuanced assertion to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Just to be precise I want to give you a chance to respond to some of the critics who have been out there. You say it's important to find these guys jobs so they don't become terrorists. Explain what you meant.
HARF: Where there are places around the world where there's a lack of governance, a lack of economic opportunity. President George W. Bush talked about poverty being one of the drivers leading people to extremism. Where they are lacking in these kinds of opportunities, we need to talk about how to make that different, how to help our partners around the world give young men in that vulnerable age group a different path in life. Show them that there's a different chance for them than joining a terrorist organization. Again, it's one part of it, Wolf, but this is really a comprehensive way of looking how to combat extremism and it's not one that fits into a sound bite sometimes as I've seen over the last 24 hours but it's a really important piece of this.
For some reason, this attitude amused and confused some people. So it wasn't Islam; it wasn't Muslim beliefs that forced Muslim young men to blow up defenseless women and children, chop off heads of "non-believers," spew hatred toward Jews, Christians, Israel, America, and those who don't follow their particular brand of Islam. It was lack of opportunities and jobs.
So who is correct? Marie Harf and the State Department, or those who are condemned as Islamophobic? Presumed Islamophobes or the State Department? Hmmmm.
