“The flaws in the European system are multiple. The Paris and Brussels attacks should never have happened. I don’t know what we are waiting for. Do we have to wait for hundreds of deaths?”
Jean-Louis Bruguiere — Former French investigating magistrate in charge of counter-terrorism affairs
June 6 2017 — Since January 2015, an unprecedented wave of terror attacks has overwhelmed Europe’s defenses. That month, attacks against Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in Paris left 17 people dead. On November 13th in Paris, ISIS attacked multiple targets, killing 130 people. Four months later, suicide bombings killed 32 in Brussels. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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“If the veil was only the claim of an affirmation or a religion, it would not pose a problem. However, the veil is also a political, radical claim. These people do not want our model of society. They do not share our values, and they sure do not want to fight for these values.”
Georges Dallemagne (May 29 2021)
UPDATE (July 13 2021) — I have long argued that the Belgium Green Party has ties to terrorist groups. Suddenly, I am no longer alone as State Security and prominent Belgian politicians appear to wake up to reality.
At the end of May 2021, Secretary of State Sarah Schlitz (Green Party — Ecolo) appointed Ihsane Haouach as a commissioner in the Belgian Federal Government.
Haouach created a political storm when she suggested that the separation between church and state should be reconsidered in the light of a growing Muslim population.
On Friday (July 9 2021), Belgian newspaper Le Soir revealed that the State Security Service was investigating Haouach plausible ties to a Muslim terrorist organization.
The Prime Minister — Alexander De Croo — does not want to comment on the contents of the report as the information is classified. Sarah Schlitz claims that Haouach resigned before she was aware of the Intelligence report.
Quick analysis — Obviously, the report is classified and therefore very little can be inferred from this case. But…
A quick look at the timeline would indicate that both Alexander De Croo and Sarah Schlitz are lying about who knew what and when.
There is already some allegations that — once again — the State Security failed to pass the information they had when they should have done so.
There is no doubt whatsoever that Secretary of State Sarah Schlitz did not take the vetting process seriously. Guilty or innocent, Haouach should not have been appointed while the investigation was ongoing.
Both the Intelligence and Police oversight Committees are expected to meet soon over this case. The State Security is expected to question Haouach this week.
Although I cannot be sure, I suspect that the organization referred to in the State Security report is the Muslim Brotherhood, which is listed a a terrorist group in many countries.
Both the Obama and Trump administrations have considered designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization but did not do so at the request of the CIA.
“MB groups enjoy widespread support across the Near East-North Africa region and many Arabs and Muslims worldwide would view an MB designation as an affront to their core religious and societal values. Moreover, a US designation would probably weaken MB leaders’ arguments against violence and provide ISIS and al-Qa’ida additional grist for propaganda to win followers and support, particularly for attacks against US interests.” [CIA Memo]
According to Jean-Marc Gheraille — Editor in chief of Belgian Newspaper ‘La Dernière Heure’ — the appointment of Ihsane Haouach as a commissioner in the Belgian Federal Government is a very serious mistake that has the potential to destabilize the country.
Considering all the threats and challenges Belgium is currently facing, this foretold crisis could have been avoided. Those responsible should pay the consequences.
When one consider the risk of a civil war, the following five conditions must be met:
— entrenched national polarization, with no obvious meeting place for resolution;
— increasingly divisive press coverage and information flows;
— weakened institutions, notably Congress and the Judiciary;
— a sellout or abandonment of responsibility by political leadership;
— and the legitimization of violence as the “in” way to either conduct discourse or solve disputes.
Belgium would appear to be well on its way…
Quick update — (Tuesday, 13 July 2021, 13H00) — According to people who have read the document, the State Security report indicates that Ihsane Haouach is “known” to their services because of her “close contact with the Muslim Brotherhood”.
END of UPDATE
“What do Molenbeek’s failures reveal about the deep dysfunction in the Belgian state? That Molenbeek has been allowed to become a breeding-ground for jihadism says some damning things about formal and informal structures in Belgium, and in particular Brussels.”
Belgium is a Failed State – POLITICO
UPDATE (June 6 2021) — First thing first. Let me remind you that the Brussels Green Party (ECOLO) was instrumental in obtaining the release of Oussama Atar from an Iraqi jail. Today, we know that Atar masterminded the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks.
And just last week, Green Party Minister Alain Maron argued that Muslim women should be allowed to wear the veil in the Belgian administrations.
The ‘good minister’ has not yet articulated which veils should be authorized: hijab, niqab, chador, shayla, al-amira, khimar, burka, or all of those?
Belgian politician and doctor Georges Dallemagne is the only elected Belgian official who had the courage to ask hard questions about the role of the Belgian deep State in the Oussama Atar scandal.
RELATED POST: 5 Years Ago — Remembering the Brussels Attacks (March 22, 2016)
Years later, Georges Dallemagne is once again the only Belgian politician who has both the brain to understand this new crisis and the courage to explain it clearly.
Here are the exact words of Georges Dallemagne.
“If the veil was only the claim of an affirmation or a religion, it would not pose a problem. However, the veil is also a political, radical claim. These people do not want our model of society. They do not share our values, and they sure do not want to fight for these values.” (May 29 2021)
Well said. Very well said. Absurdity does not go to infinity…
END of UPDATE
“A jihadi loves a vacuum. Belgium as a state, and Belgium as the heart of the European Union are as close to a vacuum as Europe offers these days.”
The Islamic State of Molenbeek (New York Times — April 11 2016)
In interviews, some on camera with FRONTLINE, counter-terror veterans in Europe and the United States outlined systemic problems they said they had warned political leaders about for years.
The list includes:
Weak and uncoordinated enforcement of Europe’s international borders, a situation aggravated by the chaotic influx of refugees from Syria.
Differences in laws and security cultures that hamper intelligence-sharing and law enforcement cooperation among nations.
Fragmented and incomplete databases, and the lack of a universal database of terror suspects effectively used and supplied by all European nations.
Short prison sentences for terrorism and violent crime that have freed ex-convicts to play prominent roles in the jihad.
Limited resources and support for security forces in some nations, such as Belgium and Greece — a weakness that terrorists have studied and exploited.
“While the government has acknowledged that hundreds of Belgians have gone to fight with ISIS or for other groups in the Syrian civil war, Pieter Van Ostaeyen, an independent researcher, calculated in October (2015) that 516 Belgians had fought in Iraq or Syria, far higher than the government’s figures. Based on his numbers, Belgium has contributed more fighters per capita to the fight in the Levant than any other European country.”
David A. Graham — The Atlantic (November 2015)
Terror in Europe — About Sebastian Rotella
ProPublica reporter Sebastian Rotella has been covering terrorism for two decades.
Years before the attacks, he was already reporting on some of the jihadists who would go on to strike Europe and the counter-terror officials trying to stop them.
In this film, he sits down with the men and women on the inside of the fight against al Qaeda and ISIS.
They revealed the missteps and systemic breakdowns that allowed known terrorists to hit the heart of Europe, how the problems persist today and the unprecedented threat the continent faces.
REFERENCES
How Europe Left Itself Open to Terrorism — Frontline
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How Europe Left Itself Open to Terrorism
Three Years Ago — How Europe Left Itself Open to Terrorism
Four Years Ago — How Europe Left Itself Open to Terrorism [UPDATE — And it is only getting worse!]
Four Years Ago — How Europe Left Itself Open to Terrorism [UPDATE — State Security investigates Green party politician’s ties to terrorist group]
Intel Today 