Even After Killer ID'd as Radical Islamist, NYT Still Blaming French Prez Sarkozy's Appeals to 'Far Right'
Scott Sayare and Steven Erlanger reported for the New York Times from Toulouse, France on Thursday on the cornering of the killer of seven people in France, including three children: "Shooting Suspect, Cornered and Armed, Tells French Police That He Killed 7." The story was filed before the suspect, Mohammad Merah, was shot dead in a police raid.
Merah's confession obviously made it hard for the Times to avoid the fact he's an Islamic radical inspired by Al Qaeda:
A 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the methodical killings of four men and three children in this region over the past 10 days, officials said, after barricading himself in a small apartment building in Toulouse surrounded by hundreds of police officers.
The suspect was identified as Mohammed Merah, 23, a former garage mechanic who had made trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and said that he had been trained by Al Qaeda. Mr. Merah remained retrenched in an apartment building in the quiet neighborhood of Côte Pavée into the early hours of Thursday morning, in a standoff that had gone on for nearly a day. Several explosions and gunshots could be heard just before 2 a.m. Thursday, a few hours after three blasts rattled the area in what French news media reported was an attempt to destroy a window at the suspect’s apartment, as the police tried to let in the night cold in the hope that Mr. Merah might surrender peacefully.
Yet the paper could not completely abandon the irresponsible, discredited idea, forwarded by Paris bureau chief Erlanger on Wednesday, that the killing somehow resulted from President Sarkozy's campaign appeals to the right wing.
Before the authorities said on Wednesday that their prime suspect claimed ties to Al Qaeda, many analysts had speculated that he had perhaps been motivated by extreme right-wing passions coinciding with the next month’s presidential election, and most of the candidates have suspended their campaigns.
In addition to Mr. Sarkozy, who is trying to draw voters from the far-right National Front Party, Wednesday’s funeral for the soldiers in Montauban was attended by several other candidates, including the Socialist frontrunner François Hollande and the National Front’s Marine Le Pen.
- Clay Waters's blog
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Comments
Just another of France's
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 6:59am.
Just another of France's "disenfranchised youths."
John Ransom has a great article at townhall.com on the failure of France's tolerance of Islam.
Wow....
Submitted by richflanj on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 7:04am.
Let's face it, the only way the MSM would admit that radical Islam is the primary cause of violence in the world would be if they had a gun put to their heads. Unfortunately, the only people most likely to do something like that are the radical Islamists.
Typical NYT.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 8:00am.
The murderer is the 'suspect' because of course they don't have all the facts yet (even though he said he did it), but it's OK to postulate that the right wing probably drove him to do it.
NYT
Submitted by oldfart on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 8:24am.
All the news that is NOT fit to print.
Goebbels would be proud.
Next the Brown Shirts will start ransacking the homes of those who are not 'true believers".
You think this is a joke?
Nothing will interfere with the narrative,
Submitted by David Kramer on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 8:32am.
especially the truth! The narrative MUST be maintained! The politically correct narrative must be enforced! No truth must prevail!
MiniTru is alive and well today.
I didn't realize France had a far right party. Neat!!!!!!! This
Submitted by VanPastorMan on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 10:04am.
story shows that liberals will use any occasion to further their goals.
Is that
Submitted by fivestring_assassin on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 10:17am.
rag still around?
Has MSNBC or the NYT
Submitted by misterbee241 on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 11:34am.
blamed Rush for this yet?
Oh, sure
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 11:59am.
There's lots of right wing conservatives named Mohammed.
France
Submitted by Unsane on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 1:15pm.
It's going to kill these people to do a modicum of research, apparently!
No, Sarkozy is NOT to be confused with Marine Le Pen (daughter of Jean-Marie and running for President on the far-right). If either of the Le Pens were President and they were fanning the flames through the National Front party, you MIGHT have a case.
Ultimately, the problem the NYT has is that France hasn't had a Socialist president since Mitterrand left in 1995. (They had a Socialist government from 1997 to 2002 under Lionel Jospin whose sole claim to fame is hanging the albatross of the 35 hour work week around the necks of French industry.) If Francois Hollande becomes President of France in May, watch the NYT pop the champagne corks.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Love of all things Islam
Submitted by Schofield Kid on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 1:18pm.
No matter how often they cover for these terrorists, it still boggles the mind as to what their motivation is. This is more than political correctness, I can only conclude that because they hate America, that is inherently a good thing despite their killing of innocents and disgusting treatment of women. And also their hatred of Israel which despite a number of Jewish staff apparently the NYT agrees with.
Times article on Sarkozy
Submitted by Steve Cakouros on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 1:54pm.
The Times is no longer a newspaper. It is a tool for Leftist propaganda. I gave up on it a long time ago. It is good for lining the bird cage but that is all. It should be lumped in with The Nation and The New Republic.
Blame the speculators...
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 2:22pm.
"Before the authorities said on Wednesday that their prime suspect claimed ties to Al Qaeda, many analysts had speculated that he had perhaps been motivated by extreme right-wing passions coinciding with the next month’s presidential election, and most of the candidates have suspended their campaigns."
This seems to be a repeating scenario with a lot of so-called "analysts." Something happens and, viola, the analysts claim it's tied to right wing extremism, until they find out that, no, it wasn't right wing extremism at all! You would think that, after watching these "analysts" make fools of themselves time and time again, the liberal news sources would stop referring to them, but, alas, they just can't seem to stop.
I mean, really, even the "poster boy" of "right wing extremism," Timothy McVeigh, wasn't a right wing extremist, he was an isolationist, a political belief that doesn't fit in the two dimensional left-right political "spectrum." Yet the "analysts" keep using him as an example of "right wing extremism." So, I guess it's no wonder they keep getting it wrong, again and again and again.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.