Bites # 152-The Nickel Plated-Feet Gang* at Charlie-Hebdo

Translated by Jenny Bright, Tlaxcala

In response to legitimate horror, the proposed answer is, as usual, unity of the nation, from Mélenchon and Le Pen, to Sarkozy and Hollande. The priest-eaters sent Wednesday to another world by the Kouachi brothers must have had a chuckle at hearing the bells ringing from the towers of Notre Dame and other cathedrals of sweet France, eldest daughter of the Church. Pope Francis has only to initiate the beatification process. 

Let us remain serious, and ask some common sense questions about the horrible massacre of Charlie-Hebdo. We are told that it was committed by two professional terrorists, who behaved in a technically impeccable way. First question: you are a professional terrorist; you embark on a commando operation with weapons, hoods and bulletproof vest. And you bring your ID along with you? You leave the first car you used to continue your escape. And you "forget" your identity card in this car? Are we dreaming, or dealing with a Pied Nickelés*  scenario, Version 2015, reviewed by Luz and his cronies? Does it remind you of anything? It reminds me of something: the famous passports of certain September 11 terrorists found intact in the rubble of Ground Zero. Or the car rented by men believed to have committed the attacks of 7 July 2005 in London, and paid with a real credit card permitting their immediate identification.

Chérif Kouachi, the younger of the two brothers, was more than "known to police services": he had been imprisoned, judged, condemned, arrested once again, detained, tried, received a dismissal. In short, he had been in the intelligence services' books for 10 years. Why did they cease to monitor him, and when? Manuel Valls said a phrase on Thursday morning that is at the least, surprising: "These individuals were without a doubt followed but there is no zero risk."

Two questions come to mind: where is the driver of the car that led the two killers on the scene, and then left on a scooter? As apparently, the operation was not intended as a suicide operation - a "one-way" no return - the driver should have logically awaited the return of his henchmen so as to leave with them.

And finally: what if the identity card of Said Kouachi found in the car was a decoy to put

hunters off the scent?

These questions would breed many others, but one thing at a time

Lets await the outcome of the all-out manhunt launched .One of two things: either the Kouachi brothers are taken alive or they are slaughtered at the end of the hunt. In the latter case, they will carry their secret to the grave, like so many others before them, from Khaled Kelkal to Mohamed Merah. In the first case, we will end, perhaps, by exposing the truth of this affair. I say "may" because, like the other cases show, the surviving terrorist trials rarely allow to establish the truth about the actions of those who pull the strings of terrorism.

Meanwhile, it might be good that those in France who have expressed their emotion, challenge the Minister of the Interior on what amounts to criminal negligence in the "protection" of Charlie-Hebdo.

Have a good week, anyway!
May the Force of the spirit be with you! 
... and keep in touch!

* The "Les Pieds Nickelés", literally The Nickel Plated-Feet Gang is a comic strip started in 1908 by René Pellos, Louis Forton and others. A new version was made some years ago by Luz, one of the survivors of the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The three characters Croquignol, Filochard and Ribouldingue are essentially apaches turned into cult heroes, and their collective name  entered the language to mean both subversive ingenuity tinged with irreverent humour and any group making a mess of their enterprises.  The phrase was originally coined by Tristan Bernard to designate people little inclined to work, i.e. they had to keep their feet up so as to not ruin the nickel-plating.[Translator's Note]