"Civil liberties versus privacy” debate doesn’t exist in France — and it's
hardly considered any less democratic because of it.
Though no security is perfect, moments like massacre at Charlie Hebdo
remind us that winning war on terrorism inside democratic nations depends on
first-rate espionage and intelligence gathering capabilities
By: Rachel Marsden
French President Francois Hollande has wasted no time in qualifying the murder
of 12 people, including cartoonists who had spoofed Islam, at the Paris-based
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, as a “terrorist attack.”
Granted, it’s not your average criminal who yells “the prophet has been avenged”
and “Allahu akbar” while committing the act. Hollande added that authorities
have quietly foiled “several terror attacks” recently.
This attack cannot be explained away as a reaction to provocative cartoons the
magazine may have published — aimed, mind you, at every religion under the sun.
That’s a pathetic excuse. If you live in a democratic society, then you’re not
exempt from having fun poked at your sacred cows — whatever they may be.
In fact, if you find yourself offended by something, it’s in that moment that
you’re witnessing freedom of expression at work. You’re free to respond in kind
— to use your words and creativity to counter it.
The moment you stop using your words and reach for a weapon instead is the exact
moment in which you have not only lost the debate but have checked yourself out
of democracy entirely. At that same moment, the person who takes up arms against
words in a democracy is attempting to unilaterally hijack it.
So let’s not pretend that this act has any social justification whatsoever. If
you want to be a soldier for your cause, then you go fight the enemy on the
battlefield and deal with the consequences. At the moment, there are plenty from
which to choose.
France has been quietly leading the charge against radical Islamists in North
Africa. Operation Serval to eject radical Islamists from power in Mali was such
a success that many probably haven’t even heard of it — or of its successor,
Operation Barkhane, underway to eradicate extremists in five more African
countries. Local African soldiers are fighting alongside the French in these
efforts, equally intent on wiping out terrorism.
French Rafale fighter jets based out of Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have
been launching surgical strikes on Islamic State terrorist strongholds in Iraq
since last year. So, terrorist murderers, go there and defend your cause — and
don’t come back. Terror tourism is becoming a real problem for France —
particularly when the revolving doors in and out of terrorist swamps combine
with the revolving doors in and out of French prisons where many petty criminals
end up “finding” radical Islam.
Many believe radical Islam is a corrosive danger in French society, and
Wednesday’s attacks give credence to that view.
A couple of years ago, for example, Mohammed Mehra committed drive-by terrorist
shootings of soldiers and civilians in Toulouse, France. At the time he was
tracked down and liquidated by French police, he was just 23, but had spent his
life in and out of French prisons when not traveling to terror-ridden countries
trying to connect with the like-minded.
And as with Mehra, the perpetrators of the latest attack will be brought to
justice one way or another.
France boasts one of the top intelligence services in the world. When talking of
the world’s hardest targets for espionage, the country is usually mentioned in
the same breath as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
The kind of “civil liberties versus privacy” debate doesn’t exist in France like
it does in some other democracies — and France is hardly considered any less
democratic because of it.
Although no security is perfect, it’s precisely in moments like this that we’re
reminded that winning the war on terrorism inside democratic nations boils down
to the deployment and practice of superior nation-state intelligence and
espionage capabilities — from human asset intelligence to data collection.
Weakening those capacities, particularly in the interest of the mere potential
of civil liberties abuses that haven’t even manifested, is the shortest road to
defeat.
(Rachel Marsden is a Paris-based international political risk strategist and
syndicated columnist.)
Copyright 2015 New York Daily News