I felt the need to write a little something on the thought that I had yesterday. Does anyone remember the attack in Paris where a man attacked Paris police with a hammer. This thought popped into my head just after I had heard that they locked a bunch of people in Notre Dame Cathedral in a panic, after police gave the warning to the public to stay away from the Cathedral. My thought was that they just condemned these people to a potential death trap, when they locked the doors. Anyone that has studied terrorism, and the terror tactics used by those that perpetrate these atrocities, knows that they always try to inflict the greatest number of casualties that they can. They are looking for shock factor, and gore. Even if the victims do not die of their injuries, they want to see a bloody mess that the TV cameras can capture and report on.
One may remember San Bernardino, when a terrorist couple went to a Christmas party and opened fire on the guests there. One thing that was not broadcast as much as it should have been, is the fact that there were explosives planted in alternate locations that were designed to explode at the time EMS showed up on scene to tend to the mass casualties. It was a trap that they set for those looking to give care to the others that were wounded by gunfire. Luckily, those explosives never went off but they were there and rigged to explode. This is a signature move by Islamic terrorists, in an attempt to cause more casualties and inflict maximum destruction and to create fear among the masses. Fear is the ultimate goal of terror as it is used to take away one’s freedom and also to coerce some into capitulation to Islam. Ignorance of these terror calling cards, or just the willingness to disregard them, puts peoples’ lives in danger, especially when the public officials that we trust to protect us, are the ones displaying this ignorance and denial. One more important factor in all of this, is that terrorists study us, they study law enforcement, the way they conduct investigations, and how first responders operate when it comes to mass casualty events.
So, back to Paris. Now with what the terrorists have seen in Paris, they now know that they can cause a panic with a single attacker, in an area with large buildings that are not unlike Notre Dame Cathedral. The response yesterday has shown the willingness of Paris police to lock the doors of that large building with the people inside. This shows the terrorists that aside from the diversion that is created with the single attacker, they only need to place a suicide bomber inside one of these large buildings, and when they lock the doors, the worst case scenario becomes evident. A suicide bomber locked inside of a building with a bunch of people that can’t go anywhere.
My question here is, do the authorities in Paris recognize the fact that they are showing their hand here? If so, are they going to fix it? These are the intricate parts of counterterrorism that these authorities that law enforcement must recognize, and respond to. Putting more military armed police and military on the streets does nothing, it only adds the optics. These optics are designed to deceive the people, by showing them a ramping up of the European police state. While this might make some feel better, it gives them a false sense of security, as those in charge of security policy, are not changing a thing. The whole world needs to wake up!