The Guardian view on the response to terror: the attack on Charlie Hebdo was a crime, not an act of war
If the world learned one thing from George W Bush, it was that it is a terrible mistake to confuse a crime, however monstrous, for war. After 9/11, the belligerent rhetoric of the war on terror fostered deluded ideas of a “victory”, legitimised the torture that still stains America’s moral standing and licensed ruinous misadventures overseas. In this difficult hour for France, and Europe more widely, a calmer fury must prevail.
In the wake of the devastating assault on Charlie Hebdo, some voices, not only on the right, are claiming that France is in a state of “war”. Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, said that faced with barbarity, civilisation must defend itself. These are difficult and dangerous times. Extremists of all strands may be tempted to resort to violence in a logic of revenge against Muslims at large: within 24 hours of the attack, there had been reports of at least five anti-Muslim attacks in France. Populist far-right sentiment may channel anger against the country’s 6-million-strong Muslim population, the largest in Europe, in an attempt at collective scapegoating. They will only be further provoked by some fanatical voices that are using social media to express satisfaction that the prophet Muhammad has been “avenged”, the very word used by the terrorists themselves as they unleashed their attack. These are worrying trends, to be condemned as much as the attack itself.
READ MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/08/guardian-view-response-terror-attack-charlie-hebdo-crime-act-war
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