How the French Fight Terror

www.foreignpolicy.com ^ | JANUARY 19, 2006 | BY MARC PERELMAN

[BBell]

Could Paris teach Washington a thing or two about protecting civil liberties while tracking down terrorists at home? In the United States, revelations that the Bush administration mandated domestic spying have caused a political uproar. France, however, has been spying on its citizens for years, as part of its effective, albeit controversial, counterterrorist system.

In 1988, the FBI invited Alain Marsaud, then Frances top antiterrorist magistrate, to speak about terrorism to the bureaus new recruits at its academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Marsaud, now a conservative lawmaker, told the audience of would-be feds of the deadly threat that radical Islamist terrorist networks posed to Western societies. His talk was an unmitigated flop. They thought we were Martians, recalls Marsaud, who chairs the French Parliaments domestic security commission. They were interested in neo-Nazis and green activists, and that was it.

Marsauds experience goes to show just how far Washington has come. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has moved swiftly to overhaul its counterterrorism policy, and has hit some bumps in the road. The recent revelation that President George W. Bush mandated domestic spying has caused a political uproar, even among Republicans. Yet questions of spying, security, civil liberties, and privacy are not new to France, which found itself in the cross hairs of Middle Eastern terrorists well before the United States did. France was the first to uncover a plot to crash a jetliner into a landmark building (the Eiffel Tower)a chilling preview of the 9/11 attacks. It was the first to face the reality that its own citizens could become assets of Islamist terrorist groups, long before British nationals bombed the London Underground last July. As a result, it has continuously adapted its judicial system and intelligence services to the terrorist threat that it faces.

Like most European countries, France

[BBell]

Read the article before commenting about cheese eating surrender monkeys. It's a dated article but still reverent especially with regard to the British habit of releasing terrorist. The French don't but terrorist in jail, they put terrorist under the jail. Remember, they did get Carlos.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

It’s that fascinating dichotomy of the French mindset: yeah, you certainly have the surrender monkeys. Then you have the French Resistance - truly noble, brave, courageous men & women who are historic inspiration.

[BlueStateRightist]

Well as long as we’re mimicking their social and economic policies...

[Carriage Hill]

The NSA makes the rest of the world look pretty meek and tame, on citizen-spying.

New facility in Utah:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/

[Buckeye McFrog]

Even Muslims I suspect would, given enough welfare, eventually become too fat and lazy to go out and engage in Jihad.

[kidd]

We are not allowed to profile at airports and traffic stops

We are not allowed to call them “terrorists”

We are not allowed to mention their religion if they are Muslims

We put unrelated film makers in jail to cover for terror acts

How in the world are we supposed to emmulate the French program when we tie our hands with PC-crappola?

[STD]

Hoist the White Flag declare “peace’ and go home.

[STD]

Hoist the White Flag declare ‘peace’ and go home.

[BBell]

Congratulations. I knew there would be an idiot out there who would read the headline and post a comment without bothering to read the article.