The day after a wave of terrorist attacks is always a turmoil of emotions, anger and rage. We still don’t know all the facts and figures about what happened, nor do we have a complete picture of the people who are involved in planning and organizing such attacks.
The nature of what’s happened last night in Paris to me resembled a lot the 2008 Mumbai attacks (see here). A small number of people, maybe eight, that perform simultaneous attacks on a list of objectives with firearms and explosives. The basic idea is to put the city in panic and force the local police department to run everywhere (not to mention all the emergency services).
It’s quite difficult to stop such a strategy since a nation cannot close its borders and/or also it’s possible to force a curfew or similar measures for more than a few days. It’s almost impossible to find all the local supporters, the people who run the logistics needed for such operations. They aren’t on the police’s radar, so to speak, because often they have no criminal records at all and – it’s high likely – they are French citizens.
So this the scenario. The attackers enter Paris in the last five days or so, separated from each other and with valid IDs. They are well dressed, they already have a place to stay and enough money for the common necessities. It’s high likely that they speak fluently French. Once in Paris, they meet with locals who provide them with weapons and explosives. That happened just a few hours before the attacks. Then the last phase, the attackers reach the pre-programmed places and start to strike.
In such a scenario it’s very difficult to stop them, not to mention block them before the attacks take place. Given what happened in the last ten years, it’s also possible that all of the attackers were French with combat experience made in places like Bosnia, Chechnya, Mali, Lybia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. So, no total control can be applied, nor it’s available any measure to get absolute security.
Are we defenseless?
Angelo Benuzzi 
wE are only defensive if leaders are not on same page. Every country need to come forth, first in helping all people understand what came first.
In the USA we have to stop this game we play/
US politics in the Middle East and in Africa has been cautious at best in the last five years. Iraq and Afghanistan proved to be resistant to the initial project to install democratic government and the influence of Iran has been understood too late. A change? It will be welcome. Starting with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, passing thru Oman and Kuwait, the US leadership need to stop all the dirty money that’s fueling terrorism. The Bush days are over, Cheney and Rumsfeld aren’t the boss of Washington DC anymore.
Dirty money; that is an understatement!
We are paying a high price for Bush family,
Terrorism
I wonder if it is true that “Clinton” with the help of elder Bush, his daddy figure first botched an attack on Us, 911
Bush is Texan, Reagan, California movies, there are a lot problems in the south west, the west coasts. It seems like the south east dominates our country, an it Mexicans;
Latinos, but not our Mexicans.
Who is the boss of Washington?
I don’t think there a single “boss” in Washington D.C.; for sure there is a number of lobbyist who represent the big names in the financial field. Think about CitiBank, JP Morgan, all the usual suspects.
Our security at airports really are not well organized, I was in Chicago flying home and held over in an ice storm. I was over searched, i was sniffed by a dog and so were other woman my age, I went through security and I was randomly stopped, but I am always randomly stopped. I do not care, of course I am sure they want every feel the same by going stopping females my age. I do not even care because because security is important, but i am concerned that while boarding, the door was closed and ran quickly out to grab a plastic bag he had forgotten on his seat and startled the employees and was running back and they took his word for it and as non employee he did not look dangerous and he was believable but if I was in securing the airline I would called security to check it out. We were told to leave plane temp, everybody took there stuff/ but this young person left the bag, on the boarding he was did not return. For the second false boarding.
I really believe he was an over nervous young person. But if we are going through all these searches as an person, I think that we can not be afraid to be cautious with American an non American middle eastern people. Obviously it is a tense situation because
In Chicago in an airport.
For what I know, no security organization is flawless. american airport security measures in places like O’Hare and such are quite good. To me, the basic point is about to go on with our lives, doing our best to achieve what we want. Fear and terror have to be in the background, we have to put some faith in our citizens in arms. Take care and have a good party for Year’s Eve.
Good advice, I think I will write that down as a reminder. thank you