“Flagged,” but not stopped. Just too many jihadis for French authorities to keep track of them all.
“Paris attacks: Assailant previously flagged by police for Islamic extremist links,” Associated Press, November 14, 2015:
One of the bombers in the wave of deadly Paris attacks that killed 127 people Friday night was a young Frenchman flagged for links with Islamic extremism, police said.
As he himself would be the first to tell you, he wasn’t a “Frenchman” at all. He hated France.
Officials said the man was involved in the rampage and hostage-taking during a rock show at a Paris concert hall, one of the six sites targeted in a series of gun and bomb attacks launched in rapid succession by at least eight attackers.
Gunmen targeted Paris cafés, detonated suicide bombs near France’s national stadium and killed hostages inside the concert hall. More than 200 people were injured, dozens critically.
Earlier, police officials said at least one suicide bomber who targeted another site, France’s national stadium, was found to have a Syrian passport. Meanwhile, local Belgian media reported that Belgian police arrested a man in Brussels believed to be linked to the Paris attacks….
Speaking to the country Saturday, Hollande said the attacks were “committed by a terrorist army, the Islamic State group, a jihadist army, against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: A free country that means something to the whole planet.”
He said France “will be merciless toward the barbarians of the Islamic State group.” France “will act by all means anywhere, inside or outside the country.”…
Merciless? What, you’ll cut their welfare benefits or something?