Nobody Reads the Los Angeles Times: French Jihad Edition

A bit of a followup to my previous post.

The life and death of French gunman Mohamed Merah
March 22, 2012 | 2:52 pm

At the LA Times link above, you will discover this and a lot more:

He tried to join the French Foreign Legion, but decided against it.

He threatened a girl with a sword after she came over to complain that he made her younger brother watch Al Qaeda videos.

His radicalization took place in a Salafist ideological group and appeared to have been firmed up by two journeys he made to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A fantastic bit of double-speak: Gueant said the Salafist group to which Merah belonged had no official name and had never given any indication of turning to criminal activity. - I suppose lawful jihad exists someplace, not sure where.

His trip to Iraq was arranged by his brother Abdelkader, known to French police and intelligence services as a member of an Islamist network based in the Toulouse area and suspected of having organized for "holy warriors" to travel to Iraq.

Two people familiar with the case said Mohammed Merah was on the U.S. no-fly list because in 2010 he had been in custody in Afghanistan, then sent back to France.

A French news video via the LA Times story:

This story is proceeding as expected, with the checklist outlined many times by the great Mark Steyn:

1) Blame "Right-wing" actors
2) Once outed as a Muslim extremist, call it the act of a "lone wolf." (the press is wrapping this phase up now)
3) Deny that this Islamic extremist has anything to do with Islam.
4) Brace for the "backlash" that never happens.

I used to think articles like the Times piece above were actual attempts at properly covering a story. Today I am convinced that the relevant details slip through by accident.

Nobody Listens to NPR: French Neo-Nazis on Every Corner

Some interesting dry humor from All Things Considered - 19 March 2012

In a nation where anything associated with Jews requires a 24/7 security staff, to protect them primarily from Islamofascist arsonists and shooters. Let's listen in to Eleanor Beardsley as she reports from Toulouse, France and speculates on who could possibly be behind the latest murders of Jews and Soldiers:

To be fair, Beardsley did tack on the possibility of a "terrorist" at the end.  This is just more proof that the extreme Left believes their own propaganda.  They ignored the butchery of Stalin, Mao, and others while hoisting Hitler up as the poster boy for atrocities.  He certainly deserves a place there, but so do Stalin and Arafat.

In their twisted zeal to hate all things commercial, they embrace radical Islam as allies and provide cover for them at every turn.  Who was responsible for these murders? Mohammed Merah, Islamic Terrorist.

Transcript of the above clip via NPR:

NPR's Eleanor Beardsley is in Toulouse and joins us now. And Eleanor, today's attack occurred just before classes started. The man arrived on a motorcycle. What more can you tell us about the attack and the victims?

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: That's right, Robert. I went to the school today. I arrived here, you know, after the shooting, obviously. And there were still a lot of parents and students and just, you know, neighborhood people - the school was in a really nice, quiet neighborhood of Toulouse - still standing out the street. And I spoke with witnesses who actually saw it. And they said about 8 o'clock in the morning, you know, tons of students and their parents were out in front of the school because actually, it was a pickup point for a bus to another Jewish school, just for younger children. This was like, a middle school, and people would bring their smaller children to go to a - take a bus to a, you know, an elementary school. And so he pulled up and apparently, shot a rabbi, who was the teacher at the school; and his two children, who were ages 3 and 6; and then walked into the school. And there was a younger girl - 8 years old - and point-blank held the gun to her temple and shot her, and then calmly got on his motorcycle and left. People said he was dressed in black - and, you know, everything - his face was covered; but a few witnesses said he had very clear, green eyes. People were very shaken up; it was like a state of shock. And you could feel that the neighbors and people involved actually wanted to talk about it. They were all out there, It was just a scene, all day long.

SIEGEL: Now, this is the third attack on unarmed people in the region. Where were the previous attacks, and who was targeted in those?

BEARDSLEY: That's right. We've been hearing about those and those were kind of strange because, you know, paratroopers outside of military bases were attacked - again, by a guy on a motorcycle who pulled up, all in black, and had obviously - knew who he was going to go after because one report says he pushed an old man out of the way to shoot a guy. And there was a couple guys getting money out of, you know, an ATM machine outside of the base. So in two different attacks, he killed three other people. Now, police are saying it's the same - he left his cartridges everywhere on the ground, wasn't careful - it's the same gun. They've got the license plate of the scooter - it's the same - you know - moto, they're calling it. And we think it's the same person.

SIEGEL: And again, his victims in those prior shootings, while they were all in the military, the notion that these were racist killings - the connection here, I gather, is that they've been identified as having been either - three of them North African, and one West Indian.

BEARDSLEY: That's right. Three of the people targeted were Arab Muslims serving in the French military. And one was from the Antilles so he was, you know, dark - black. And then today, it was Jewish children. I mean, who kills soldiers and children? So it's a very strange mix. And people are very much on edge by someone who would go after these different, you know, kinds of people.

SIEGEL: And do we know anything about the search for the suspect?

BEARDSLEY: Well, they're talking about that - everyone is on edge because there's a manhunt going on in France. Yeah, people are saying, you know, they can't quite figure out who would kill these disparate people. But they're saying - the biggest theory is that it's some sort of racist, neo-Nazi person who targeted Muslims and Jews and Africans. And that's the biggest thing we're going on now. And everyone - you know, there's high-security. And they're saying he could be a terrorist or a serial killer, and he may strike again.

SIEGEL: Thank you, Eleanor.

BEARDSLEY: Thank you, Robert.

SIEGEL: That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley, speaking to us from Toulouse in France.

Update: Mark Steyn got to this before me. Click through and enjoy.

Lather, Rinse, and Repeat
By Mark Steyn
March 21, 2012 9:47 P.M.