IslamRising: Special feature to the Calling Out Community, Posted November 15, 2015.

A body, draped with a white cloth, lies outside the Bataclan restaurant, attacked by ISIS November 13. (Credit: CNN)

Once again, radical Islamic terrorists have struck at the heart of France – the city of Paris – and with devastating results.

The scenes were heartbreaking, as France faced its most deadly assault since the Second World War on Friday the 13th (November 2015).  With 129 dead and over 350 injured, it follows only ten months after three terrorist attacks in the French capital took the lives of 17 people.

French President Francois Hollande  condemned the attack as an “act of war” and vowed that France “will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic State group.”

An emergency security meeting was called to plan the French government’s response, and upon completion, Hollande declared three days of national mourning and raised France’s security to its highest level. In a very blunt statement, the French President declared:

“ISIS is a terrorist army … a jihadist army, against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: A free country that means something to the whole planet.”

He vowed to show “no mercy” to ISIS militants – and earlier today (Sunday, November 15), CNN broke the news at 1:23 PM that in fact he had already kept his word:

The French Ministry of Defense has announced what it called a major bombardment of Raqqa, Syria, an ISIS stronghold.

In one hour Sunday there were at least 20 airstrikes on the city, according to both a pro-ISIS news agency and the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

The French have not backed down from the war rhetoric – they have in fact launched a large-scale military operation in response.  Which brings me to a very important point regarding the North American response to this tragedy.

Article 5 of the Charter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, ratified on April 4, 1949 states:

Article 5

NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 7, 2014

In one of his first official acts as Prime Minister, Prime Minister Trudeau called his American counterpart and philosophical ally, President Barack Obama.  Trudeau advised the media that, during the October 23 phone call, he iterated Canada’s intent to pull our CF-18s out of the airstrike program against ISIS.  At the time, the leftwing patted its own back in self-congratulation.

That decision was meant to be ideological, and to show that Canada doesn’t get pushed around by the U.S.  Well, at least we’ll assume those were the goals, because frankly it just came across as stupid as hell.  ISIS is a known threat to Canada, has even stated previously that they will kill Canadians in their own bedrooms.  This incredibly immature Prime Minister, and equally pacifist Cabinet and party, honestly believes that if they just back off of ISIS, they will stop threatening us.  Again, stupid as hell.

Even more astounding than the government’s outrageous backtrack on international commitments and the security of Canadians is the Canadian news media’s response to it, in light of France’s current nightmare scenario. They seem incredulous – even openly stating their opposition – to Trudeau’s announced decision to continue with his plans to resettle refugees and pull our jet fighters from the fight with ISIS.  Some comments include:

• Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, a Liberal, reiterated his opposition to Trudeau’s position to shut down the combat mission even as he told reporters that Canada should not step back from its commitment to accept Syrian refugees.  “The democratic world is at war,” Couillard told reporters. “It is naive to think that we are not facing a state of war, different from the wars we have known but equally threatening.”
• 

  Rona Ambrose visits a memorial in Paris to the terrorist victims from the Friday the 13th attacks.

  “The fight against ISIS requires a strong humanitarian response, but also a military response,” Rona Ambrose, Leader of the Opposition, told reporters Saturday. “It’s important that we remain resolute and support our allies.” Ambrose said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have the full support of the Official Opposition if he chooses to reverse his position on Canada’s role in the airstrikes.(CBC

• Trudeau and ISIS: Is the bombing still a bad idea?  (CBC, Nov. 14)
• After Paris attacks, Trudeau’s soft power already under fire (Globe & Mail, Nov. 14)
• ‘Canada ran away’: Online jihadists celebrate Trudeau’s win as they anticipate end to airstrikes (National Post, Oct. 29)

Foreign Minister Lester B. Pearson signs the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. (Credit: NATO)

Canada’s current government, under Prime Minister Trudeau, has absolutely no right to unilaterally  pull out of NATO obligations – the organization has protected the nations of the North Atlantic for 67 years.

The Friday the 13th attacks by ISIS/ISIL, unlike any other terrorist attacks seen on a large scale in recent history, were a coordinated effort by a Sunni Muslim jihadist terrorist group that is in fact an army – with tanks, armed personnel carriers, rocket launchers and many other sophisticated weapons, as well as an estimated 20,000 troops, according to the Telegraph.

How do they afford to arm themselves?  The Foreign Policy site reported:

ISIS captured many tanks from the Iraqi army, including the relatively modern Soviet T-72, of which it may have as many as 10.

Much of the Islamic State’s arms and ammunition were captured on the battlefield, but intelligence reports have suggested that the group’s income from oil sales and other sources is high enough to finance purchases of additional weapons directly from the companies and dealers that routinely profit from strife in the Middle East. 

While the complete list of countries is unknown, Newsweek stated on September 16 that the United States, Russia, France, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Israel and Iran are all fighting ISIS.  Canada wasn’t mentioned I guess in error.

ISIS territory mapped (The Economist, June 2015)

Unlike Al Qaeda, Boko Haram or any other previously seen terrorist group, ISIS has a set geographic area of the world in which they are headquartered and operate – or more appropriately to state, which they have majority “control” over.

Territory is both being conquered and lost by ISIS on an almost daily basis. In fact, the venerable New York Times reported, on the morning of Friday the 13th, that several factions of Kurdish and Yazidi fighters had just retaken the city of Sinjar from ISIS fighters.

Satellite map showing the first day of fighting over the city of Sinjar, which Kurdish forces retook from ISIS on November 13. (Credit: Planet Labs)

They have a “capital city” of sorts – in Raqqa, Syria – which is exactly where French fighter pilots have attacked just today.

I’ve had it with President Obama and his pacifist BS. I’ve had it with “Prime Minister” Trudeau and his weak, emasculated, pathetic (I’m trying not to swear so this’ll have to do) world philosophy.

As my beloved home-away-from-home Paris was burned, bombed and blown up, over 350 hundred were rushed to hospitals, and 129 were driven to the morgue, in a series of coordinated attacks on Friday the 13th (not likely a coincidental date) I grew angry enough watching the news clips to fly over there, grab a gun and start defending her.

What did the two pathetic leftwing pantywaists have to say? Obama called it an “attack on humanity” – which basically dismissed it from being an attack on a sovereign nation like France, so he could cover his bases possibly if the NATO Charter was invoked; or an attack on a Western power, because frankly this socialist doesn’t give a damn about the West, including his own country.  But at least the US is still fighting ISIS regardless.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered “all of Canada’s support” to France on Friday night in the wake of “deeply worrying” terrorist attacks.

ALL of our support? That doesn’t include our military obviously, as he just ordered them out of the fight against ISIS, and confirmed 24 hours ago that, regardless of the horror played out Paris, that the stupidity would continue.

Trudeau is giving lip service to mass murder. We should be ashamed of this asshole. I know I am.  It wasn’t an attack on humanity – it was an attack on a Western power, the second in France alone in 10 months. Both were horrific events that brought the world to a standstill.

I’m sorry to remind both of you pantywaists this, but France is a member of NATO. French President Hollande has declared the Friday the 13th terrorist attacks an ACT OF WAR. Under the NATO Charter,  both Canada and the United States may have a legal responsibility to come to the aid of a member nation when attacked in an act of war.

The Jerusalem Post has asked the question – will France invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter, as NATO did after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.  The Post doesn’t think France will actually do it, however.

Regardless, how dare you violate a 67-year old international accord for your own ideological purposes? This must be discussed by the people and/or the Parliament of Canada.  Canada deserves better leadership than this.  We are pulling out of Syria only because air strikes were started under the Conservatives.  Would you have pulled out of D-Day for the same reasons?  The Korean War?  We think you would – which is why we will never trust you, nor acknowledge you as our Prime Minister.  You are a coward, a sham leader, and the global village idiot.