Terrorism investigation when French paratroopers killed
The Associated Press reports that the deaths of two French paratroopers near Toulouse France may have been a terrorist attack and the commanders of troops in the area are warning off-duty troops to dress in civilian clothes;
A gunman on a motorbike opened fire on three uniformed paratroopers at a bank machine Thursday in the southern town of Montauban, killing two and critically wounding the other. The attack occurred not far from their barracks. The gunman appeared to be waiting for them, police said.
Four days earlier, a gunman on a motorbike shot and killed another paratrooper in Toulouse, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away. The judicial official said the same caliber of weapon was used in both attacks.
So it looks like the war against terror is following the French troops home, too. But, don’t worry that old “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them at home” thing is just jingoism from the neo-cons.
Category: Terror War
This illustrates my point nicely. I believe it will get worse, far worse.
When one fights in a foreign land, it’s the foreign land that that gets destroyed. Not your own.
Take your pick.
Are they making up surrender plans yet?
And some French official was talking about disbanding the French Foreign Legion, just a few months ago.
I wonder when the leaders of the world are going to wake up.
@3 CI, I heard the frogs have already put in an order for 10,000 white flags from the Chinese company that mad the obanana rag for the democRATS,?
Apparently the weapon used, left 17 .45ACP casings behind. Possible US Supplied Thompson or Greasegun to the resistance and never accounted for, or a MAC10
I’ll be the contrarian here and point out that the French sent combat forces to fight in the 1991 Gulf War, and to Afghanistan as well. The Germans only sent combat forces to the latter conflict. And the Japanese sent no combat forces to support either.
After years of kissing Arab butt, the French are finally running out of patience. And Hondo is right. Let’s not forget they put the Legion into Mogadishu, and those lads did not practice “soft” diplomacy.
Isn’t MAC10 a 9MM?
Mac-11 is .380 MAC 10 is .45
Must be a dirty nasty leg as well. Shooter was probably an Algerian practicing Muslim who got his ass whipped at a bar by a paratrooper, over a woman, who ran towards a real man. The Algerian Muslim will claim Jihad as a defense.
Maybe instead of telling the troops to wear civilian clothes, they should be instructing them to carry side arms off-post while in uniform.
Hondo, I’ll point out that the Japanese are prevented from sending combat troops by the constitution we massaged them into adopting at the end of WWII. It only allows them to keep a defensive force under arms.
That being said, they did send support troops to the Multi National Division in Iraq in 2003. I personally saw them there on ‘hearts and minds’ type missions.
If they used a MAC, I doubt it would have fired that many rounds without jamming.
“So it looks like the war against terror is following the French troops home, too. But, don’t worry that old “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them at home” thing is just jingoism from the neo-cons.” I agree with you but I have a feeling that the assailant is some kind of asylum seeker/legal immigrant. I bet he/she has some kind of islamic background.
#4 The entire Legion is less the 8,000 men. The size of two US Army brigades, that includes support personal. A french regiment is the equivalent of one US battalion, last time I looked they had less then 10(I think its more around 8). The reason the Legion’s future is in doubt is the demise of consription in France has led to a volunteer force. I don’t think it will be disbanded but its manpower contribution is relatively tiny.
Jacobite: Yeah, I saw one of Nippon’s “Smurf” planes myself somewhat later – it was a very pretty shade of blue. But I don’t recall seeing any of their ground forces while I was there. And as you noted: if they were there at all, they were there in strictly a non-combat role. But I guess that’s worth something.
However, as I recall they did keep a maritime force in either the Persian or Arabian Gulfs for a while, and did participate in mine sweeping operations after the First Gulf War – after the end of hostilities, of course. So I guess they can stretch their definition of self-defense a bit when it suits Japan’s purposes.
[…] terrorist attacks in France March 19th, 2012 The other day we mentioned the shootings of some French paratroopers near Toulouse, France. Well, today the Washington Post […]
For all of you Arab Haters… three of the French Paratroopers were of Arab descent that were shot last week. Of course they didn’t make the news, but todays killings at the Jewish school sure is making headlines. The killing of anyone no matter their religion or race is a horrible act… the same gun that killed the guys killed at the school too. At least the school had cameras, that got the tag of the motorcycle… so the murderer can be brought to Justice.
Like I said, the paratroopers were shot from the street while they were inside a bank. I’m pretty sure that all the gunmen saw was a uniform and didn’t stop to ask them if they were Muslims before they shot. Unless there’s a Muslim equivalent to gay-dar.
Nah, Tee…we’re too busy hating trolls to worry about “Arabs.”