Overnight (or at least “overnight” for most of us in the United States anyway) authorities in England arrested three more persons of interest in the Manchester Islamic terror attack. The Brits tend to do a better job of keeping their cards close to the vest in terms of media leaks, so it’s difficult to say exactly how close of a connection there is between these individuals and Salman Abedi. (Associated Press)
Police in Manchester say they have arrested three more men in connection with the suicide bombing at a pop concert that killed 22 people.
They said Wednesday the arrests had been made in the south of the city, where a day earlier a 23-year-old man was also arrested and a number of homes were searched.
Police are trying to establish if bomber Salman Abedi acted alone or whether there could be a risk of further attacks.
The more we learn about this guy, the more we wind up asking the same sickening question that crops up after so many terror attacks. How did nobody see this coming? The Telegraph has done a roundup of the details which have emerged so far and if there’s a standard profile for an ISIS bomber it should probably have Abedi’s picture next to it. For one thing, he’s been back and forth to Libya and his last trip only ended a few days before the bombing. The mosque he worshiped at had already been in trouble for fundraising for jihadists. An imam was quoted yesterday as saying that Abedi had shown him “the face of hate” when he warned against the dangers of ISIS. One of his associates, Abd al-Baset Azzouz, is described as “an expert bomb maker” who was accused of running an AQ group in Libya.
Put all of that together and you have to wonder… did nobody in his community think to report this guy to the authorities? The police said he’d already been on their radar, but apparently not at a high enough signal to noise level. If there are more people being arrested today, clearly somebody knew this monster was up to no good and probably could have alerted authorities so he could be stopped. But that didn’t happen.
What am I driving at here? Without putting too fine of a point on it, Great Britain has more of a problem than one “lone wolf” who suddenly went off the rails and decided to blow up a bunch of children at a concert. This had been brewing for a while and they’ve got an entire community there which is breeding terror. Will this result in any changes going forward? One rather pessimistic view of that subject came from an unexpected source… Israel’s Defense Minister. (Emphasis added)
Israel’s defense minister says he doubts the devastating bombing in Manchester will have any impact on European counterterrorism tactics because of the continent’s “politically correct” character.
Avigdor Lieberman says every bombing in Europe results in much talk, but little action. He told Israel’s Army Radio Wednesday the problem is extremism among Muslim youths who are not integrated into society.
He said nothing will change until these residents are ready to adopt “universal, European values.”
This ties into the theme we’ve seen recently in both Germany and Austria, where measures are being taken to enshrine a “dominant culture” in keeping with those nations’ traditional values. People who choose to immigrate may wish to retain some of their familiar cultural practices, but they need to learn the language and integrate themselves in the new world they have traveled to. And that applies to their entire families. Abedi was born in Manchester, but his parents were Libyan immigrants. And he grew up in what’s being described as a “tight knit Libyan community.” If there’s a tight knit Libyan community in the middle of Manchester it’s worth keeping an eye on. Yes, that sounds like hate speech to the left, I’m sure. But while they are still clearing out the bodies and sweeping up the rubble from that attack, it might be the ideal time to get the rest of the city asking such questions.
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