Word: jacquard
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...French terrorism expert Roland Jacquard thinks Alliot-Marie is right to be concerned - especially given similarities between the accused anarchist group and Action Directe, which carried out the unit's robberies, assassinations, and machine gunning attacks. "Like Action Directe, these anarchists set themselves up in out-of-the-way, rural communities where no one would suspect them of anything more troubling than perhaps a general ecologist lifestyle," Jacquard says. "Like Action Directe, these anarchists used that cover for their plots, and fled back under cover once operations were over. But like Action Directe, that escalation of activity - and its success...
...Islamists prefer large, spectacular attacks, and the Corsicans usually blow up empty structures as a warning - or gun down foes when those warnings fail," says independent terror expert Roland Jacquard, who notes he has no firm idea who was behind Thursday's office attack in Paris' 8th arrondissement. "Basque terrorists have the kind of technical expertise to build such a surgically small bomb, but why would they be using it against a law practice? What little evidence we have suggests whomever was behind it was going after someone inside that office...
...What makes Jacquard and a growing number of French officials think that's the case? A messenger who entered and exited without removing his motorcycle helmet delivered the accurately addressed package containing the two explosive devices to the offices. The law firm secretary who opened the parcel was killed by the twin blasts; it was addressed to her boss - one of the firm's partners - who himself was seriously wounded. Meanwhile, the limited strength of the explosion leads experts like Jacquard to doubt other organizations in the same building might have actually been the primary targets of attack. Those include...
...other offices were the real target, the bomb would have had to been built with a much bigger charge to be sure it reached that far," says Jacquard. Visiting the building several hours after the bomb exploded at 12:50 p.m., French Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie seemed to concur: "It really appears it was someone in this office who was the target...
...bomb wasn't meant to kill or harm someone in the law firm, then Jacquard says the only possibilities are that it was intended to be a far larger blast, or sought to gain a wider impact than its actual fire thanks to vast media coverage. That first scenario is unlikely at best, Jacquard explains, since successful detonation of the bomb - usually the aspect that goes awry in failed attacks - would have almost certainly set off the totality of the charge. The theory that the smaller explosion sought to generate an even larger shock wave in media reports seems...