By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--January 18, 2016
Guns-Crime-Terror-Security | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
All you have to see is that there was an attack and that multiple people were killed, and you know who did it - the point being that it's so unnecessary to ask, you'll do a double- or triple-take if I even momentarily suggest it was anyone other than who it obviously had to be:
Attackers raided a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso overnight, shooting some and taking others hostage in a siege that lasted hours and ended with 28 people dead.An al Qaeda-linked terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault at Splendid Hotel -- a popular meeting place for Western diplomats in the capital, Ouagadougou. The attack began Friday night and dragged on under the cover of darkness. Security forces circled the perimeter to assess the situation before they stormed in hours later. "Everyone was panicked and was lying down on the floor. There was blood everywhere, they were shooting at people at point blank," said Yannick Sawadogo, who survived the siege. Security forces entered the hotel early Saturday and freed 126 hostages, half of whom were hospitalized, according to Burkina Faso's foreign minister, Alpha Barry.No one knows yet if the attack on the Hotel Splendid was totally random or if there was some sort of strategic target the radical Islamists had in their sights when they decided to go after the hotel. Burkina Faso, which you can be forgiven for never having heard of before now, is a western African nation of just under 17 million. The attack took place in the capital city of Ouagadougou. But if the attack was random, it was certainly well organized from the sound of things:
The assault appeared well-planned, with some of the attackers coming to the hotel during the day and mingling with guests, authorities said. When darkness fell, more attackers joined them. Before the hotel assault, they attacked the Cappuccino café across the street, which had about 100 people, according to the state broadcaster. They then took off to the Splendid Hotel, where they seized hostages. Witnesses said the attackers wore turbans and spoke a language not native to Burkina Faso, a former French colony.There was one American killed, and he was a Christian missionary, 45-year-old Mike Riddering from Fort Lauderdale.
In a Facebook post Saturday, Riddering's wife, Amy Boyle Riddering, wrote, "My best friend, partner in crime and love of my life. The best husband ever. An amazing father to his children and a papa to everyone. My heart is so heavy and I am having trouble believing he is gone. Mike was an example in the way he lived and loved."By the way, for what it's worth, the primary assistance to the local forces came from the French. The U.S. was asked for assistance but was willing to provide surveillance assistance only. Now whatever you do, you terrible Americans, don't say anything bad about Muslims! And don't buy guns to protect yourselves! And don't give in to fear because you're more likely to get trapped in a freezer and freeze to death than be killed by terrorists! And don't suggest for even one second that this had anything to do with Islam! You know, I have mixed emotions about being so flip at a time like this, but I'm getting tired of being listening to lectures like this from politicians who are less concerned with stopping these attacks than they are with stopping you from expecting them to take the attacks seriously. Godspeed to all who were hurt by this. And may God strike these radical Islamists down before they hurt anyone else, because it's hard to find real leaders of the human variety who have any interest in doing so. I really miss Bush and Cheney. They weren't perfect but they would kick terrorist #.
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Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
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