|
|
|
The French are taking a page from Bush's book and are starting to take pre-emptive action against terrorists.
The French had kept a group of Moroccan-born militants under surveillance for some time, but had no specific cause to arrest them when the police struck in dawn raids on Monday, seizing 13 men with suspected links to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group.
A senior French official admitted as much on Tuesday, saying "There was no evidence they were preparing an imminent attack in France." The crucial factor was that they had traveled to Afghanistan, where they learned to use weapons and make explosives.
"When they come back, they have certain ideas and certainly a technical capacity for action," the French official said.
The new French counterterrorism motto, he said, is "Every time we discover a cell, we eliminate it as a pre-emptive measure."
Posted by Ted at April 7, 2004 10:34 PM