20 Dead In Bangladesh Attack Claimed By ISIS

A third major ISIS-inspired or planned attack in three weeks.

Bangladesh Attack

Late Friday night in the diplomatic sector of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, a group of gunman stormed into an upscale restaurant and began a siege that ended some eleven hours later when Bangladeshi forces stormed the restaurant, saving thirteen patrons and killing six gunmen, but also discovering at least twenty people who had been brutally killed during the course of the standoff:

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladeshi troops stormed an upscale restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter on Saturday, ending an 11-hour standoff with gunmen who had hacked patrons to death and sent photos of the carnage to the Islamic State.

The authorities said 20 hostages, many of them foreigners, had been killed in the siege, the deadliest and boldest in an accelerating series of attacks by Islamist militants that have shaken the country’s secular underpinnings.

Most of the victims were “ferociously” attacked with sharp weapons, a military spokesman said. A kitchen worker who had escaped said the attackers were armed with pistols, swords and bombs.

A team of elite army commandos rescued 13 hostages and killed six attackers in the raid on Saturday morning, the military said. A seventh attacker was arrested.

The identities and nationalities of the attackers were not released.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, in which at least 30 people were wounded, mostly from shrapnel. Two police officers were killed in the initial standoff.

“Islamic State commandos attack a restaurant frequented by foreigners in the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh,” Amaq, an information outlet linked to the Islamic State, said Friday.

Early on Saturday, the group posted photographs of what it said were the bodies of foreigners killed in the attack.

The Bangladeshi soldiers, backed by armored vehicles, swept in to the restaurant at 7:40 a.m. on Saturday.

(…)

Armed men entered the restaurant, where about 20 foreigners were dining, around 8:45 p.m. on Friday, Sumon Reza, the kitchen worker, told reporters. The attackers shouted “God is great” before opening fire and detonating several explosives, he said.

Nasirul Alam Porag, a co-owner of the restaurant, said about 20 staff members had been trapped in the restaurant, along with 15 to 20 patrons.

On a normal Friday evening during Ramadan the restaurant would have had 30 to 50 staff members, suggesting that many had escaped.

“Our Italian chef, he was able to escape,” Mr. Porag said by phone from Bangkok, where he runs a sister restaurant. “I had a little communication with him. He was able to go out on the roof and jumped onto the next building where he was still hiding. He’s safe now.”

More from The Washington Post:

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladeshi forces stormed an upscale Dhaka restaurant to end a hostage-taking by heavily armed militants early Saturday, killing six of the attackers and rescuing 13 captives including foreigners. The military said 20 hostages were killed during the 10-hour standoff, and a survivor’s father said the attackers spared people who could recite verses from the Quran.

The attack marks an escalation in militant violence that has hit the traditionally moderate Muslim-majority nation with increasing frequency in recent months. Previous attacks involved machete-wielding men singling out individual activists, foreigners and religious minorities.

About 35 people were taken hostage Friday night when gunmen stormed the popular Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan area, a diplomatic zone, during the Ramadan holy month. Two police officers were killed at the start of the attack.

Paramilitary troops who mounted the rescue operations in the morning killed six attackers and recovered explosive devices and sharp weapons from the scene, Brig. Gen. Nayeem Ashfaq Chowdhury said. He did not identify the hostages.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina condemned the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, and she said security officials arrested one of the militants.

“Because of the effort of the joint force, the terrorists could not flee,” Hasina said in a nationally televised speech, vowing to fight militant attacks in the country and urged people to come forward.

“Anyone who believes in religion cannot do such act,” Hasina said. “They do not have any religion, their only religion is terrorism.”

Japan’s government said a Japanese hostage was rescued with a gunshot wound but seven others are unaccounted for. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said the eight were together at the restaurant during the attack.

India’s External Affairs Mnister Sushma Swaraj confirmed that a young Indian woman was among those killed in the attack.

“Extremely pained to share that the terrorists have killed Tarushi, an Indian girl who was taken hostage in the terror attack in Dhaka,” Swaraj tweeted, adding that she had spoken with the girl’s father.

Rapid Action Battalion that conducted the rescue operations. Others included an Argentine and two Bangladeshis, local media reported.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity online. The Amaq news agency, affiliated with IS, also posted photos purportedly showing hostages’ bodies. The authenticity of the images could not be confirmed.

With the sound of gunfire and explosions, local TV stations reported that the rescue operation began at 7:40 a.m. It included army personnel with automatic weapons and at least seven armored vehicles and ambulances. The attackers did not respond to authorities’ calls for negotiation, Masud said.

The audacious attack came during Ramadan, when devout Muslims fast during the day and eat after dark.

It also comes in the midst of other attacks that have occurred during Ramadan this year in the wake of a call by ISIS at the beginning of the season for attackers to carry out attacks during Ramadan. The most notable of these, of course, have been the attack in Orlando, Florida that resulted in 49 people and the gunman being killed, and the attack just days ago at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul that resulted in at least 41 deaths. With the holy period lasting through at least next Tuesday, there are rather obvious concerns that ISIS or groups and individuals inspired by it may attempt to pull off more attacks in the coming days. As a result, security forces have heightened their states of alert in Europe, as well as here in the United States, which is entering the long 4th of July holiday weekend, although it’s important to note that there is no evidence of an imminent attack in either location.

As for Bangladesh, this attack is just the latest example of increased militant violence that the government seems ill-prepared to deal with. Since 2013, some 40 people have died in attacks for which ISIS or groups claiming to be inspired by ISIS has claimed responsibility. These attacks began with attacks on atheist bloggers but quickly spread and, unlike attacks in the Middle East have often been particularly brutal in that they have used machetes in attacks that essentially involved people being hacked to death. According to reports, the 20 hostages who were killed, all of them foreigners, were hacked to death as well. As The Guardian’s Jason Burke notes, the government in Dhaka has been seemingly hamstrung in its response to the increased violence, and this has only helped to make the situation in a once peaceful country increasingly dangerous:

 

For many observers of radical Islam, the first reaction to the attack on the diplomatic zone of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, is that it was utterly predictable.

Over the past year, Bangladesh – an overwhelmingly Muslim country of 150 million people – has seen growing violence against both foreigners and locals deemed to be enemies of extremist Islam: secular bloggers, outspoken critics of fundamentalism, members of religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians, police officers and others.

Until now, the violence has taken the form of largely low-tech attacks involving small groups of militants or even individuals armed with knives or small arms.

Friday’s attack, however, was an operation of a much greater magnitude. Early reports suggest at least five gunmen, armed with sufficient automatic weapons and grenades to repel at least one assault by local police.

Western intelligence have been nervous about a major operation for at least 18 months. Indications of a complex plan to attack a diplomatic ball last year prompted much alarm – and pressure from western capitals on Dhaka to move effectively against the militant networks existing in the unstable south Asian nation.

This did not happen. The Awami League government of Hasina Sheikh has instead looked to extract political advantage from the situation, either blaming what is left of the political opposition in Bangladesh, or denying outright that militant networks linked to organisations such as Islamic State or al-Qaida even existed in the country, despite their claims of responsibility for successive killings.

Instead of cracking down on the hardline groups which encouraged, or even sponsored, the attacks on local bloggers and minorities, the government effectively made concessions to the conservatives, with the prime minister implying those who had insulted religious sensibilities were in part responsible for their fate. Bloggers seeking police protection were ignored.

(…)

The violence in Bangladesh over recent years has attracted some interest from the press but very little from policymakers around the world. Bangladesh, though in a key pivotal position between the Asia Pacific region and South Asia, has not been a priority in Washington, London or elsewhere. There has been some focus on the economy – which remains relatively healthy – but few have paid much attention to the increasingly restricted space in the troubled country for political dissent, pluralism or traditional moderate strands of observance.

Given Bangladesh’s location, close to both India, where conflict between Hindus and Muslims has a long history, and Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim majority country, it may well be time that the world will be forced to pat attention to a part of the world that usually only gets attention during one of the many natural disaster that seems to strike that country on a regular basis. With ISIS now apparently able to extend its reach this far, it seems as though it’s going to be time that we’ll have to pay more attention to this part of the world than we have in the past. In the meantime, many in the world are wondering if the final days of Ramadan will bring more violence. Given that we had no warning of the last two major attacks, it’s not an invalid concern.

FILED UNDER: Asia, Middle East, National Security, Religion, Terrorism, , , , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. bill says:

    so what’s bangladesh done to the muslim community that makes it a target? i mean aside from not being totally muslim and such?

  2. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @bill: Didn’t read close enough (again), I see. The site of the attack was a place where foreigners congregate–i.e. target of opportunity. But keep trying; the snark and smarmy tone help your credibility a lot, and soon, you’ll get your dream–a byline on “Bit’s Blog.”

  3. Guarneri says:

    Is it true Obama is going to address the nation today about these home grown extremists? Has he determined for sure if they were Methodists, Mormons or Jews, and if they were using assault swords?

    Time for tougher sword laws.

  4. stonetools says:

    My condolences for the victims of the violence. Congrats to the Bangladeshi government for their successful response.However:

    The Awami League government of Hasina Sheikh has instead looked to extract political advantage from the situation, either blaming what is left of the political opposition in Bangladesh, or denying outright that militant networks linked to organisations such as Islamic State or al-Qaida even existed in the country, despite their claims of responsibility for successive killings.
    Instead of cracking down on the hardline groups which encouraged, or even sponsored, the attacks on local bloggers and minorities, the government effectively made concessions to the conservatives, with the prime minister implying those who had insulted religious sensibilities were in part responsible for their fate. Bloggers seeking police protection were ignored.
    (…)

    It’s rather clear that the government bent over backward to accommodate the hardliners, in the hope that they would not resort to this kind of violence. Bad idea.Hopefully, the Bangladeshi people will vote tout the government that encouraged the hardliners, and vote in a government that will try a new approach.

  5. Jack says:

    What more can we expect from these right wing, Christian, NRA members? Oh, wait, wrong liberal narrative.

    We must pass no fly, no buy legislation. Oh, wait, that doesn’t fit either.

    We must ban the Confederate flag and the hate that it portrays. Oh, wait, that’s no good either.

    OK, what group, symbol, or ideology are we blaming again?

  6. Jack says:

    @stonetools:

    and vote in a government that will try a new approach.

    You mean like the Obama/Lynch kumbaya, hug it out approach? Yeah, I’m sure that will work.

  7. Stormy Dragon says:

    @stonetools:

    I wouldn’t worry too much. As Michael Reynolds assured us last October, ISIS is just a bunch of losers who would collapse in a couple of months.

  8. Jack says:

    @Stormy Dragon:

    I wouldn’t worry too much. As Michael Reynolds assured us last October, ISIS is just a bunch of losers who would collapse in a couple of months.

    He was only following Obama’s lead. You know, they are a JV team, and they are on the run.

  9. anjin-san says:

    Considering the large numbers of Americans that die violent deaths at the hands of other Americans every day of the year, year in and year out, I really don’t understand where the smug remarks from the right such as those above are coming from.

  10. anjin-san says:

    @Jack:

    the Obama/Lynch kumbaya, hug it out approach?

    Are you really an utterly ignorant twit, or do you just play one on a blog?

    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/12/06/us-air-force-running-out-of-bombs-to-fight-isis.html

  11. Jack says:

    @anjin-san:

    Are you really an utterly ignorant twit, or do you just play one on a blog?

    Apparently you are not following the lunacy of your chosen party.

    “Our most effective response to terror and hatred is compassion, unity and love,” Lynch said after meeting with officials in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday — a week after a gunman at a gay nightclub killed 49 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

  12. michael reynolds says:

    @Stormy Dragon: @Jack:

    You are aware that ISIS has lost Fallujah to the Iraqis, right? Have you bothered to actually look at recent territorial losses by the Islamic State? Of course not, silly of me to expect it.

    Listen, geniuses, ISIS is two things: a self-proclaimed caliphate holding territory, and Al Qaeda 2.0. The entry of the Russians backing Assad, and the surprisingly competent work of Iraqi (Kurds and Shia militia as well as government forces), and the ongoing drone war have indisputably trimmed the sails of the “caliphate.” They now control far less territory than they once did.

    The part of ISIS that is AQ 2.0 is still with us and will be in one form or another for quite some time. Neither of you two has a single practical solution to offer, other than what we are already doing: decapitation strikes, defensive intelligence and security moves, and attempts to shore up Muslim opposition to ISIS.

    But, bottom line, you have to be willfully ignorant to fail to see that ISIS today is far less potent than it was thought to be a year ago. The caliphate is dying. The terror operation is ineffectual, but still dangerous.

    Stop wetting yourselves.

    In the last six months alone, 23 people have been shot in this country. . . by toddlers. Now, what do we do about NRA support for terrorism in this country? Let me guess: more mental health screening for three year-olds.

  13. Stormy Dragon says:

    @anjin-san:

    In fall 2014, I was saying that the “ISIS is no big deal” line was basically repeating the Rumsfeld response to the original insurgency and was just as naïve about how easy defeating them was going to be. I took a ton of verbal abuse, particularly from Reynolds, about how stupid I was for thinking this.

  14. Jack says:

    @michael reynolds:

    Now, what do we do about NRA support for terrorism in this country?

    There is zero NRA support for terrorism in this country, and you know it. Toddlers shooting others is an accident no different than toddlers drowning in pools. Both are preventable, but they require competent adult supervision.

    I am more than willing to discuss competency tests before allowing a person to be a parent. Are you?

  15. Lounsbury says:

    @stonetools:
    Leaving aside the idiot bigot-troll brigade – “hoping” that Bangledeshi voters will vote out the current government is rather grossly naïve: the current government is about 2cm from outright authortiarianism and the idea that a government so cynical [and incompetent] as to play with DAESH type elements (although their elite is quite secular) is going to play a fair game in elections is rather amusing.

    To that, you rather completely misread the motivations – appeasement was not in their minds, exploitation to suppress the opposition was.

    As an overall matter linking Bangladesh to Indonesia as a consideration is a very strange thing to do – I suppose when one is thinking in geopolitcal abstracctions without any sense of the local landscape it could make sense – although it’s rather the same analytical error of the infamous domino theory.

    Bangladesh has issues that are fundamentally tied to the awful confluence of a grossly corrupt clan-based political system (the historical opposition is sadly not terribly better than the current party in power – and the two aged dinosaurs fighting a personal clannish feud over decades hasn’t allowed any real reform) with a slow- rolling ecological disaster as rising sea-levels lead to higher and higher levels of salt intrusion in the historically massively productive delta farmlands, and a staggering population density that is driving a rapid and poorly digested urbanization. Pop per sq km is a staggering 1115 (or 2889 per sq mile).

    So a toxic mix of moribund economy with rural economics in decline from both farm sub-division and enviro decline, general economy subject to gross corruption (and still unreformed from the typically Indian sub-con semi-socialism experiment of the 70s-80s) and a completely dysfunction political system – secular democratic yes, but utterly subject to out-dated clans – and you’ve got quite the fertilizer for extremism. (add to this a catastrophi

    Whatever Indonesian issues are, the country is in no way in the state of long-term dysfunction that Bangladesh is.

  16. michael reynolds says:

    @Jack:

    The NRA’s relationship to domestic terror in this country is like Saudi Arabia’s relationship to ISIS: a loudly-voiced pretense of opposition, followed by providing guns to both the terrorists and the terrorized, and racking up big profits. You and your fellow gun cultists are the equivalent of the Muslims you always complain aren’t really standing up to terrorism, except that they are, and you aren’t.

    And of course you’re willing to test parents but not gun owners, because the only freedom that matters to you is the sexual thrill you get from your gun-stroking fantasies. You’d rather place government limits on reproduction than give up extended magazines for rifles whose only purpose is to murder humans.

  17. anjin-san says:

    @Jack:

    Our most effective response to terror and hatred is compassion, unity and love,

    Ummm. Yea. She was talking about supporting the victims families and the LGBT community.

  18. Jack says:

    @michael reynolds: Michael, you ignorant slut.

    I was proposing a competency test for all parents. Gun owning and non gun owning parents alike.

    Of course, you are too focused on “The scourge of gun deaths” to see my clearly stated point.

  19. Jack says:

    @anjin-san:

    Ummm. Yea. She was talking about supporting the victims families and the LGBT community.

    Bullshit. She said response to terrorism, not response for victims. Clearly you don’t read well.

  20. michael reynolds says:

    @Jack:

    You’re proposing that the US Government outlaw childbirth unless a government competency test is administered, and this is your genius response to the fact that morons like you let toddlers get their hands on guns. Trigger locks! Never, that would be a violation of the constitution! But government licensing of reproduction? Sure!

    Idiot.

  21. Jack says:

    @michael reynolds: I said I am willing to discuss it. Not in a response to toddlers getting their hands on guns, but in response to a multitude of child deaths, for which gun related is not even in the top 20.

    Cretin.

  22. anjin-san says:

    @Jack:

    Clearly you don’t read well.

    What I did was read the entire transcript, not a single out of context quote designed to elicit a panicky emotional response from the rubes… people such as yourself.

  23. Jack says:

    @anjin-san:

    What I did was read the entire transcript, not a single out of context quote designed to elicit a panicky emotional response from the rubes… people such as yourself.

    Well, apparently she needs to choose her words better. But then again, we are talking about a woman who had a 30-minute meeting with the husband of a the target on an FBI investigation, so…I guess we cannot expect much.

    I guess her words were misconstrued, like her boss saying ISIS is the JV team.

  24. Jack says:

    If we have to count on Obama for an answer, we will all have to learn to quote from the Koran.

    I can just hear it now. Well, if the victims had just learned the Koran, and been able to spout off some of the favorite passages from the religion of Peace, those poor, misunderstood terrorists wouldn’t have a reason to kill them. From now on, instead of math and science, I am directing the DOE to initiate a program where the Koran be taught in all k-12 schools. – Obama.

  25. anjin-san says:

    @Jack:

    I guess her words were misconstrued

    They were. Purposefully. By folks who know that people such as yourself are easily frightened and manipulated.

  26. Bob@Youngstown says:

    @Jack:

    There is zero NRA support for terrorism in this country, and you know it.

    “awash” supported by NRA

  27. Gustopher says:

    @anjin-san: I blame “The Big Lebowski” — it popularized the phrase “you’re right, but you’re an asshole.”

    it’s caused people who are just assholes to think that they are right because they are assholes.

  28. Bob@Youngstown says:

    @Jack:

    target on an FBI investigation

    Yes, words have meaning. Has the FBI ever said that Clinton was a target ?

    Perhaps a bit of ‘word misconstruction’ on your part.

  29. MikeSJ says:

    DId I miss something ?

    Because I don’t remember Obama becoming President of Bangladesh which obviously must have happened since he’s getting blamed for the attack there.

    Now back in reality land Bangladesh is a huge Muslim country and surprisingly not everything that happens there is Obama’s responsibility.

    Imagine that.

  30. Gustopher says:

    So, the short version of this is that a corrupt government does everything it can to crush dissent, which leaves only the most radical and aggrieved willing to act on their dissent? And the most radical and aggrieved Muslims are going to find ISIS and their ilk an enticing example to follow, as a pure, moral, Islamic Caliphate will be the exact opposite of what they have now?

    I mean, Bangladesh is, traditionally, something of a disaster. And countries with no significant functioning middle class can tip into radicalism very easily.

    30 years ago, this would have been a homegrown extremist group that no one in the west ever would have heard of, we would raise a collective eyebrow, and go back to ignoring Bangladesh. al Qaeda tried to globalize, and was modestly successful, and ISIS is just plain better at marketing.

    How is this different from the white supremacists, other than white people living in places with a mostly functioning middle class?

  31. Gustopher says:

    @Jack:
    @Guarneri:

    Do you have a point, or are you just taking pleasure in the deaths of 20 people?

    Do you know anything about the current situation in Bangadesh? Do they have strong gun control laws there? Is there a recent history of radicalism and violence there, or does this come entirely out of the blue? Do you know what sects of Islam are practiced there? Do you know about the income distribution and social mobility of the lower classes? What’s the unemployment rate?

    Or, do you know nothing, and just spout off gibberish and talking points regardless of their relevance?

  32. steve s says:

    You’re proposing that the US Government outlaw childbirth unless a government competency test is administered, and this is your genius response to the fact that morons like you let toddlers get their hands on guns.

    I would totally be in favor of the Obama Administration deciding when Jack was allowed to reproduce. 😛

    Nobody else, though, just people with Jack’s level of analytical reasoning.

  33. Pch101 says:

    It’s not difficult for a small group of armed people to cause an incredible amount of mayhem.

    That’s especially the case if the perpetrators are willing to die, as they don’t require an escape plan or a Plan B, nor are they inclined to negotiate.

    The situation is even worse in a developing country that lacks much of the intel and other resources that could help to stop at least some of these threats before they occur.

    I’m not sure why any Americans would take any pleasure than this. Well, at least the ones who aren’t vindictive and stupid.

  34. bill says:

    @Just ‘nutha ig’rant cracker: google “sarcasm”- there’s a picture of my post. but thx for standing up for them, now we know we’re just “targets of opportunity” just ’cause……. we must be bad people…..
    but hey, is bangladesh a gun crazy nation full of nra types or something?!

  35. Jenos Idanian says:

    Three of the people killed in Bangladesh were Americans.

    A 13-year-old American girl was murdered in her bed in the West Bank.

    In Woodburn, Oregon, three people were murdered and a fourth was critically injured, and the suspect is an illegal alien who had been deported six times previously. (The illegal alien, amazingly enough, didn’t respect the laws regarding gun possession either.)

  36. Gustopher says:

    @Jenos Idanian: Do you have a point? Is there a connection that you are trying to make?

  37. Anjin-san says:

    @ Jenos – I know – why don’t you pucker up and plant your lips on Donald Trumps ass? Then you will feel all safe, warm and tingly. Oh wait, you started doing that a while back.

  38. Anjin-san says:

    We had such a nice evening- walked around the Berkeley lagoon, ate and shopped at The Berkeley Bowl. Kind of depressing to think that the “brown people scare me” crowd kept spewing ignorance right through that pleasant interlude….

  39. Gustopher says:

    @bill: That was sarcasm? It really read like an acknowledgement of ignorance about the area, and a genuine question.

    That was really ineffective sarcasm.

    Why is ISIS popping up in Bangladesh is an excellent question to be asking, along with whether this is really ISIS, or just the standard level of Bangladeshi turmoil, rebranded as ISIS.

    With a dispersed, uncontrolled terrorist organization like ISIS, it’s a good idea to really question whether these are people trying to glom onto ISIS’s notoriety, or whether the local government is creating connections in hopes of getting the US to help stomp out their rebels for them, or whether they were genuinely inspired or supplied by ISIS.

    My mistake for assuming you were intelligent enough to ask intelligent questions. Very well, go back to your “sarcasm”. You might want to learn about sarcasm first though, lest you be mistaken for someone saying or asking something intelligent.

  40. Gustopher says:

    @Gustopher: Of course, other questions that are worth asking are:

    How does this attack differ from the attack on the gay nightclub by a Moslem twit who was so afraid of wanting to suck cock that he hoped to go to martyr heaven, collect his 72 virgins, and actually want them?

    How does this attack differ from the San Bernadino husband/wife attack?

    How does this attack differ from the attack on the Turkish airport? (Oddly, it appears to have been organized by a Russian member of ISIS, which may or may have any bearing on the motive. Given how dependent ISIS is on a porous border with Turkey, this attack may have been a strategic mistake)

    How does this attack differ from the attacks in Paris?

    Those four were all very, very different, and yet they are all bundled under the label “ISIS” and treated as equivalent by some folks on the right because there are brown people who pray to Allah in every case.

  41. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @Jack: So much smoke and so little light.

  42. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @Gustopher: I’ll go with option 2. They’ve always proven themselves to be such class acts before, why should they change in this case?

  43. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @steve s: I expect that we’re too late in jack’s case, fortunately, idiocy skips generations.

  44. Jenos Idanian says:

    @Gustopher: It’s a radical thought, so I’m not surprised you missed it. Here it is, nice and simple:

    Killing innocent Americans should have serious consequences.

    In Bangladesh, it’s unknown whether the Muslim extremists knew three of their victims were Americans. If they did know, it probably encouraged them. It should have given them pause.

    In the West Bank, the Palestinian most likely didn’t know that his victim was American. All he knew was that she was a Jew and a child. That was enough, but that she was American should have also given him pause.

    In Oregon, the killer had been caught and kicked out of the country six times before he returned yet again and murdered three people. That is proof of how our immigration system (both as written and as practiced) is a complete farce.

    Those threads, pulled together, are a very easy way to draw lines. Those who think that the senseless murders of Americans are horrific will find themselves drawn to vote for Trump. Those who shrug and don’t see it as a big deal will not understand why those lives should matter, and will never understand why Trump’s doing so well.

  45. anjin-san says:

    “No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.”

    Elie Wiesel

  46. anjin-san says:

    @Jenos Idanian:

    Killing innocent Americans should have serious consequences.

    Well, we know the consequences Trump plans – pretty much ending the American experiment.

    Bush gave Bin Laden more than he could have dreamed of as a consequence of 9/11. Trump wants to repeat that mistake. No wonder ISIS is salivating at the thought of a President Trump.

  47. anjin-san says:

    Killing innocent Americans should have serious consequences.

    It should. Ask Bin Laden and Gaddafi. Oh wait, you can’t.

    Trump’s doing so well.

    Yup. Losing nationally. Losing the battleground states. Campaign broke and generating fiascos on a daily basis.

  48. humanoid.panda says:

    @Jenos Idanian:

    In the West Bank, the Palestinian most likely didn’t know that his victim was American. All he knew was that she was a Jew and a child. That was enough, but that she was American should have also given him pause.

    Let’s unpack this, shall we? The guy who stabbed the girl will be dead within 30 days or so. His family’s house will be demolished. It’s very plausible that in order to find him ,his relatives will be seized and tortured by the Israeli secret services. None of that gave him “pause.”

    During WW2, Germans went as far as anyone else in history did to give potential partisans “pause”- executing as many as 500 civilians to avenge a single German soldier in Ukraine and Belarus. None of that gave the partisans “pause.”

    So, what would you do? Carpet bomb Hebron? Land the seals there and have them slaughter every fifth male? Mass castrations? Please, be specific, just for once.

  49. humanoid.panda says:

    Jenos’ comment is so familiar to anyone who spent any time in Israeli since 2,000 or so. Whenever a major terrorist attack occurs someone, usually someone that would have voted Trump in the United States, would ask “how come they in Gaza live normal lives, while we must cower in fear.”

    Being able to ask questions like this is a sure sign that lack of empathy is strategic weakness: if you look at Gaza, living in poverty and under siege, in which every family lost a “martyr of five” being bombed into the rubble every five years, and think “oh those tykes live so well, if only we made their lives more miserable they’d change” you are utterly misunderstanding your enemy. And misunderstanding your enemy never ends well.

  50. Scott O says:

    @Jenos Idanian: I think the senseless murder of Americans, or anyone else for that matter, is horrific. I am not the least bit drawn to vote for Trump.

  51. Andrew says:

    I have read every. single. post. in this thread.

    I feel for the families of those hurt, maimed, murdered. Even those who are NOT American citizens.

    Does anyone pointing the finger at President Obama and his administration, think they personally can do a better job? Anyone? Or is this more Monday Morning Quarterbacking, because President Obama happens to be from another party?
    What should The United States do, EXACTLY?
    Should we invade Bangladesh? Should we deport all people who happen to be in the United States who have any connection to Bangladesh? Should we do a Bush/Cheney and invade Norway? What?

    I would like to know specifics on what should be done. Not pointing the finger for your own ego’s sake.
    Answers will not be accepted if they include talking about how someone else didn’t do X, without explaining why and what they should have done.

    Any takers?

  52. Pch101 says:

    The attackers who killed 20 hostages and two policemen at a restaurant in the capital of Dhaka belonged to a banned domestic group, Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and were not followers of the Islamic State, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Agence France-Presse and other media outlets.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/07/03/bangladesh-official-doubts-isils-claim-hostage-taking-attack/86654018/

    Outside of its corner of the Middle East, ISIS is more of a brand than a reality.