Paris still burning

And the immigrant rioters are terrible shots.

The NYT reports that the rioters in France, now into their 12th day of street partying, shot and only wounded 10 policemen. Where did these people learn to shoot, Putt Putt? Can you imagine a good ol' red-blooded group of American minority rioters shooting and hitting 10 policemen and not killing even one? What is more to the point, can you imagine 10 American policemen being shot or shot at without answering with a withering return fire and killing at least half a dozen assailants?

End of riot.

As you no doubt already know, the riots began when two teenagers, fleeing police, climbed over a fence and tried to hide in an electrical substation, not realizing that there would be electricity present. They tried to hide but were fried. They were obviously unfamiliar with Robert Mitchum's most famous role, and demise, in Thunder Road. Anyway, the riots, which have now spread all across France and into Germany and Belgium, have little or nothing to do with the electrocutions of the two boys. "It was a good excuse, but it's fun to set cars on fire," said Mohamed Hammouti, a 15-year-old boy. A new type of incindiary device which we'll call a Napolean cocktail, a bottle filled with acid and nails, is being used against the police. "They make a huge bang," said Sofiane Belkalem, 13. "This is just the beginning," said Moussa Diallo, 22, a tall, unemployed French-African man in Clichy-sous-Bois, the working-class Parisian suburb where the violence started Oct. 27. "It's not going to end until there are two policemen dead."

The French government is cranking up the rhetoric in response to their cities being burned to the ground. Try to imagine George Bush saying, "The republic is completely determined to be stronger than those who want to sow violence or fear. The last word must be from the law." And then doing nothing as is French President Jacques Chirac. Or how about this? ""the absolute priority is the re-establishment of security and public order," while doing more nothing? Or how about Condaleezza Rice focusing "on a more diplomatic approach, consulting widely with community leaders and young second-generation immigrants to come up with a promised 'action plan' that would address frustrations in the underprivileged neighborhoods," while the riots, arson, destruction of private property and defiance of the law was still occurring with no increase in police action to stop it all as did Dominique Villepin. I cannot imagine such a scenario.

It is formally forbidden to any Muslim seeking divine grace and satisfaction to participate in any action that blindly hits private or public property or could constitute an attack on someone's life.

Contributing to such exactions is an illicit act, applicable to any Muslim living in France, whether a citizen or a guest of France.
Fatwa issued by the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF) after some Muslim officials "suggested Muslim militants could be partly to blame."

How many rioters who feel that "it's fun to set cars on fire," and that Napolean cocktails "make a huge bang," and that "This is just the beginning," and "It's not going to end until there are two policemen dead," are seeking "divine grace and satisfaction", much less really give a damn about Fatwas and the like?

TAGS: France, Paris riots, government inaction