State of Emergency Declared in France

AP ^ | 11/8/05 | By JAMEY KEATEN

[minus_273]

President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency Tuesday, paving the way for curfews to be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure to halt France's worst civil unrest in decades after 12 nights of violence.

Police, meanwhile, said overnight unrest Monday-Tuesday, while still widespread and destructive, was not as violent as previous nights.

"The intensity of this violence is on the way down," National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said, citing fewer attacks on public buildings and fewer direct clashes between youths and police. He said rioting was reported in 226 towns across France, compared to nearly 300 the night before.

[prairiebreeze]

Europe is in a mess - I wonder how long it will be before we see the "wealth" of Europe begin to migrate to the U.S.

They darned well better leave their socialism behind and assimilate into this capitalistic, entrepreneurial and freedom-defending culture a whole lot more than the expectations they put on the Muslims in their own society.

[smonk]

State of Emergency Declared in France : the French Army is believed to be in surrender negotiations at this time. The only complication seems to be that no one knows who to surrender to. Undeterred, it is widely rumored that the French will issue a blanket surrender to any person or persons for any known or unknown wrongs.

[Waverunner]

Yes - the french invented michael moore before we did, and Hollywoood gave this one oscar's to boot.
But if we forget history, we repeat it.
Quotes from the movie " Battle for Algiers"
- any sound familiar

Col. Mathieu: There are 80,000 Arabs in the Kasbah. Are they all against us? We know they're not. In reality, it's only a small minority that dominates with terror and violence. This minority is our adversary and we must isolate and destroy it.

---

Col. Mathieu: To know them means to eliminate them. Consequently, the military aspect is secondary to the police method.

---

Col. Mathieu: Interrogation becomes a method when conducted in a manner so as always to obtain a result, or rather an answer. In practice, demonstrating a false humanitarianism only leads to ridiculousness and impotence. I'm certain that all units will understand and react accordingly.

---

Col. Mathieu: We need to have the Kasbah at our disposal. We have to sift through it and interrogate everyone. And that's where we find ourselves hindered by a conspiracy of laws and regulations that continue to operate as if Algiers were a holiday resort and not a battleground. We've requested a carte blanche, but that's very difficult to obtain. Therefore, it's necessary to find an excuse to legitimize our intervention and make it possible. It's necessary to create this for ourselves, this excuse. Unless our adversaries think of it themselves, which seems to be what they're doing.

---

Col. Mathieu: What were they saying in Paris yesterday?
Journalist: Nothing. Sartre's written another article.
Col. Mathieu: Will you kindly explain to me why the Sartres are always born on the other side?
Journalist: So you like Sartre, Colonel?
Col. Mathieu: Not really, but I like him even less as an adversary.

---

Journalist: M. Ben M'Hidi, don't you think it's a bit cowardly to use women's baskets and handbags to carry explosive devices that kill so many innocent people?
Ben M'Hidi: And doesn't it seem to you even more cowardly to drop napalm bombs on defenseless villages, so that there are a thousand times more innocent victims? Of course, if we had your airplanes it would be a lot easier for us. Give us your bombers, and you can have our baskets.

---

Col. Mathieu: The word "torture" doesn't appear in our orders. We've always spoken of interrogation as the only valid method in a police operation directed against unknown enemies. As for the NLF, they request that their members, in the event of capture, should maintain silence for twenty-four hours, and then they may talk. So, the organization has already had the time it needs to render any information useless. What type of interrogation should we choose, the one the courts use for a murder case, that drags on for months?

---

Journalist: The law's often inconvenient, Colonel.
Col. Mathieu: And those who explode bombs in public places, do they respect the law perhaps? When you put that question to Ben M'Hidi, remember what he said?

---

Col. Mathieu: We aren't madmen or sadists, gentlemen. Those who call us Fascists today, forget the contribution that many of us made to the Resistance. Those who call us Nazis, don't know that among us there are survivors of Dachau and Buchenwald. We are soldiers and our only duty is to win.

---

Col. Mathieu: Should we remain in Algeria? If you answer "yes," then you must accept all the necessary consequences.

---

Ben M'Hidi: Jaffar says you weren't in favor of the strike.
Ali La Pointe: No, I wasn't.
Ben M'Hidi: Why not?
Ali La Pointe: Because we were ordered not to use arms.
Ben M'Hidi: Acts of violence don't win wars. Neither wars nor revolutions. Terrorism is useful as a start. But then, the people themselves must act. That's the rationale behind this strike: to mobilize all Algerians, to assess our strength.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Wonder when they will ask for Chirac to resign? It only took the American left and the MSM(I know, redundant)two days after Katrina to demand Bush's resignation.

[nicmarlo]

Good point; why haven't the leftists blamed Chirac for events occurring in france that wasn't due to an "act of God".....or do they believe that President Bush has powers over God?

[Revolting cat!]

So much for 'the end of history', huh? (Incidentally, Fukuyama wrote a sensible piece on the riots in last week's WSJ.) Europe has been pursuing the 'end of history' idea long before Fukuyama articulated it. After the two conflagrations of last century and the collapse of colonialism, (Western) Europe decided to be 'good', (or goodie-goodie, as Doris Day would say,) secular, super tolerant of unassimilated minorities (mea culpa for the Holocaust), and blissfully ignorant of the history of movements and conquest. Religion, to the leaders, academics, intellectuals has become little more than a harmless Sunday (or Saturday or Friday) activity, just an opiate of the masses. To disregard the role of religious faith in the Middle East and Africa has been the ultimate expression of ethnocentrism, or Eurocentrism, or as we Americans like to ignorantly call (everything) 'racism'.

Unfortunately, we Westerners forgot to send the memo about the end of history and the superiority of our culture to the masses of Muslims we've invited into our midst. Now what? Expell the native born muzzies from France (Belgium, Sweden, US, etc) to where?

I imagine that the nations of Eastern Europe so eager up to now to join the economic paradise of borderless united Europe are watching these events intently. And I expect that Europe, if it is to be saved for Christianity and Western values, will be saved this time from the eastern direction.

[NCSteve]

...elitism and socialism (I know - a contradiction in terms to everyone but Parisians).

Not at all. Socialism is the ultimate form of elitism.

[jeffers]

Are the riots dying down, or did the small towns run out of cars to burn in the middle of last night, catching the rioters unprepared?

Tonight tells the tale. If the intent to riot remains, and the targets are lacking, new ones will be found.

It's dinnertime in Paris now.

[Convert from ECUSA]

I keep waiting for someone to send Jimmuh, Kofi, Jessie, and Mr. Heinz-Kerry over to Paris to mediate a "cease-fire" and "peace" between Chirac and the jihadstinians. Hans Blix and inspection teams could be sent to verify that French nukes really, really, really won't end up in the hands of the allahu fubarheads.

[NewJerseyJoe]

>> Chirac remained silent until this past Sunday

Which exposes a very interesting dichotomy. Every crisis that Bush and/or Republicans have faced -- the liberal "elite" immediately start up the "where was he" cry. Example: "Four drops of rain have already fallen from this approaching hurricane -- where is the President?!?"

I have read no similar criticism of Chiraq.

[livius]

Letting the cities burn - you could stand in Upper Manhattan and watch the smoke rise from the South Bronx, day after day - was one of the stupidest tactics of liberal policy. The Dinkins policy of letting black thugs have an occasional riot and tear up their own neighborhoods and destroy the only successful businesses (Korean and Lebanese owned) in them was an extension of this.

Once the grownups got back in charge - with the election of Giuliani - all this stopped. Strangely enough. Of course, the press fought it tooth and nail, and did everything to hunt down the cops and destroy anyone who opposed its favorite thug-class. But it worked, and after awhile, the good people in the thug neighborhoods began to emerge and the general consensus was that nobody liked having the lowest elements running their lives.

The thing that complicates it with the French is that this is connected with an international movement (radical Islam) and connected with, in fact, a cult based on the visions of a petty bandit who initially used his "religion" to excuse and justify his criminal career. Banditry and destruction are part and parcel of Islam, whereas they were not a fundamental part of some ideology shared by American blacks. The black rioters were criminals, and they were in it for what they could get, both in terms of city payoffs and criminal proceeds, but they didn't have the ideological motivation to keep it up very long.

[bboop]

Yes, of course, he MUST get the entire United Nations to agree with him before he imposes curfew or even puts out the fire. Perhaps burning things is part of the Ramadan celebration -- wouldn't want to be insensitive to the 'visitors' in your midst.

[bboop]

My sister in Colorado said some funny radio host there suggested that France buy 'Invasion Insurance' from the US. hahaha.

[Lessingham]

Expel native born Muzzies to where? Good question.

These rioters have certainly surrendered their right to be considered French. A policy of shooting as many rioters as possible, and then following that up with harsh policies against the radicals and trouble-makers would probably be a good beginning.

[AmishDude]

The wind resustance from that surfboard must be either killing the gas mileage or the thing will just break in half.

[millefleur]

I have yet to hear the name "Le Pen" in all of this (is he dead?).

He was mentioned by name just this morning on NPR.

[karnage]

Yeah, I'm catching up with news on him. But he has been laying quite low.

[television is just wrong]

We are a heart beat away from having the same thing happen in this country.

[television is just wrong]

We are a heart beat away from having the same thing happen in this country.

[John O]

What's that arabic word used by the PA to describe a temporary truce, while the "insurgents" continue arming, plotting, building/stocking more incendiary devices... until the next surge of violence? Sounds like there may be some "Hudna" going on here...

Oh there's lots of them. Peace treaty, cease fire, surrender, non-agression pact etc. Whatever will stop the moslems enemies from defending themselves is what the moslems will use. You can't trust someone from a religion that commands them to lie

Islam is the enemy