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Photo: REUTERS / TT
The terrorist brothers Kouachi entered the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and opened fire. In all, twelve people were killed in the 2015 attack.
When the trial of the perpetrators of the massacre begins today in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, it is a reminder of two things.
Lone terrorists are almost never alone.
Violent extremists constantly find new ways to spread death and devastation.
When the two Kouachi brothers entered the newsroom and executed cartoonists and journalists with automatic weapons, it sent shockwaves around the world. How could two seemingly lonely terrorists attack free speech in the middle of Paris, one of the largest cities in Europe?
That another Islamist attacked a Jewish shop in another part of the city at the same time gave a feeling of siege. During a few days of police hunt, it was as if terrorists held the whole of France hostage.
Only now will the legal consequences come. The three terrorists were shot and killed by the police. But they weren’t as alone as they seemed at first.
14 people are accused of having helped them in various ways. With money, weapons or logistics.
Rarely punished
Because terrorists are rarely alone. Not even the so-called “lone wolf”. They almost always have a network of people behind them who are never seen and are rarely punished.
Authorities and the general public are often content to kill or bring to justice those who carried out a terrorist attack. The others do not have the same high priority even though the writing could not have been done without their help.
Today, the attack on Charlie Hebdo, which occurred in January 2015, seems very remote, but the trial is still important.
Few things are as effective in the fight against terrorism as showing how far the arm of the law reaches.
New form of terrorism
When the attack occurred, it represented a completely new form of terrorism in Europe. A soft and poorly guarded target that, however, was a clear symbol of freedom. The action became the starting signal for a new wave of terrorism in Europe with lines of actions aimed at soft targets.
Less than a year later, the act took place in the Bataclan concert hall and in various taverns when more than 130 ordinary people were killed.
Suddenly, terrorism had taken on a whole new face. The usual everyday activities we all participated in proved life threatening if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Drottninggatan event in Stockholm in 2017 was another reminder that terrorists always seem to be one step ahead.
When the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred on September 11, 2001, neither the security services, nor the police nor the airlines had the imagination to imagine that full-fledged aircraft could be used as missiles.
So simple and so unthinkable.
When tighter surveillance of important locations made large and spectacular acts of terrorism targeting the financial or military heart of the state impossible, terrorists switched to simpler operations in which military force was directed against ordinary and completely unprotected people.
The result was dire, and the panic at least as great as after 9/11.
Hasty conclusion
In the last two years, we have largely escaped major terrorist attacks with many deaths in Europe. It is easy to conclude that, above all, Islamist terrorism has been defeated.
A, I fear, a hasty conclusion.
Europe breathed a similar sigh of relief when the two major terrorist attacks on European soil after 9/11, on commuter trains in Madrid in 2004 and the London Underground in 2005, appeared to be isolated events rather than an epidemic after September 11. September 11, “European style.”
But then came a new wave of Islamist terror where Charlie Hebdo was the opening shot.
Al-Qaeda now appears to have been drastically weakened. The Islamic State has not recovered after its caliphate was crushed and the leader assassinated. But both organizations are very active and continue to attract radicalized Muslims.
Motivation and the ability to constantly think of new ways to attack the Western world remains strong. A few years ago, the truck was just a means of transportation. Today, it can also be a terrorist weapon.
So simple and so unthinkable.
What will be the next “invention” of the terrorists?
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