Another day, another terror attack. I got the alert shortly before going to bed last night that a truck had run through a crowd at a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France. I'm not sure at this point that I even wonder if things are terror attacks anymore. I think I've come to just assume that unless the facts prove differently, but they rarely do. It's just the sad world that we live in today. A world that is being rattled over and over all over in the name of radical Islam.
Imagine going to a 4th of July celebration in your city, you just want to enjoy the nice summer weather and celebrate your country's independence. Enjoy a day off with your family to celebrate this joyous national holiday, when all of a sudden a truck loaded with all kinds of explosives driven by a man who was known to be violent to the police bombards through the crowd killing dozens of innocents. That's exactly what happened in Nice.
The reports are brutal to read and even worse to try to imagine, and world leaders are sending their thoughts to France from all over the world, many realizing something must be done about ISIS, who has yet to officially be named the perpetrator, but the US anti-terrorism office has good evidence pointing to the terror group being responsible as well as Twitter pages in association with the group being celebratory after the attack and using the hashtag Nice. These attacks send the world reeling almost weekly in new areas every time, but France has had the misfortune of being targeted twice in only 8 months, with French President Hollande extending the state of emergency from the attack in November. Some of the quotes from the world leaders are as follows:
"An attack on France, therefore, is an attack on the entire free world." - German president Gauck
"Those who carried out this brutal incident have nothing to do with humanity. In essence these barbarians have no place in this world or should they have." - Turkish president Recep Erdogan
"Terrorism can strike anywhere and must be fought everywhere... fight this evil until it is defeated." -Israeli prime minister Netanyahu
'"[It] runs counter to all religious teachings and humanitarian values."- Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah
"Makes it imperative for everyone to work together decisively and without hesitation to counter terrorism in all its forms." -Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayad Al Nahyan
and my favorite is from Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that terrorism can only be defeated if "all civilized mankind pulls efforts together" and promising to work closely with France and other countries willing to fight the good fight against global terrorism.
We realize this is a global problem and that as much as our current president would like to just ignore it and hope for the best, we can't. We have to do more and we have to do it soon before more of the world falls to ISIS. Even though they face harsh opposition in Syria and Iraq, they are still amping up the attacks globally and it scares me to know that at any given time, while I'm doing any normal, everyday thing I could be a victim to a terror attack, but it's the world we live in today. Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the Chattanooga shooting, but I feel no safer today than I did after that. Mostly because our government can't even admit that the attack one year ago that killed 5 military men was a terrorist attack.
I remember everything about that day. I had a stats exam in my summer class, and I had just finished up my morning swim lessons at the pool. Like every other day, I dried off and changed, but as I walked in the office my boss told me there was an active shooter situation not far from us, but that campus wasn't on lock-down because it was down the highway. I remember the knot in my stomach and the paranoia I had as I walked to class and the rest of the day, even long after the situation was safe. It broke my heart and the community, but we got through it; just like San Bernadino; just like Orlando; and just like Nice will, and France will again. But the thing is that we shouldn't have to get through it because it shouldn't be happening. If it takes a war then so be it, but this is a global matter just like it was in the 1910s and late 30s and 40s. We need to do more so we can prevent more attacks like Brussels, Paris, Nice, Chattanooga, Orlando, and whatever the next will be because if this passes with no further action just like the rest there will be a next. And the next president needs to be ready to deal with terrorism for real.
God bless Nice and the world,
B
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