French Killings - Nazi, Muslim or Nutter? (Poll)

[Svartalf]

Seems like vengance was the main motivation, one of the most ancient motivators of fatal violence in dumb saps, another one missing from the list?

Vengeance? Silly, as far as is known, none of the victims had personally wronged the man.

[JimC]

I am a detractor, big time...

[klr]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17446999

The man, named as Mohammed Merah, 24, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, has said he belongs to al-Qaeda and acted to "avenge Palestinian children".

Police are negotiating with the man, who is still said to be armed but says he may give himself up this afternoon.

(For the rest of the story, follow the link.)

I was just going to post this myself. A Muslim nutter after all. Just as well I didn't bet any money on it.

Someone prepared to kill both his fellow Muslims as well as Jews. Maybe he just hadn't gotten around to Christians yet.

[Svartalf]

Fellow muslims? Although of Berber extraction, the second slain soldier was apparently a practicing catholic.
He was killed for being in the French military, not as some kind of islam traitor.

[Atheist-Lite]

Apparently he's from a conservative religious family, it would be easy to radicalise him then? It is those who work in the propoganda dept. who need targeting. There will always be rednecks, half the population has a IQ below a hundred and can easily be radicalised.

[Jesus_of_Nazareth]

My bet is on Muslim - who either was surprised that the soldiers turned out to be Muslim! or considered them fair game as in the French Army.

The power of second sight strikes again!

[klr]

Fellow muslims? Although of Berber extraction, the second slain soldier was apparently a practicing catholic.
He was killed for being in the French military, not as some kind of islam traitor.

Would he have actually known the individual identities and religious affiliations of the soldiers he killed? It seems unlikely to me. The odds are that any French soldier of North African extraction would be a Muslim.

Also, if he was just targeting the French military, why didn't he shoot any white soldiers, of whom there must be plenty of in that area?

[mistermack]

The only way I can think of this stuff happening is the lure of the virgins up there in heaven.
Because you know you're going to get caught unless you're completely self delusional.

This guy isn't very bright, by the sound of it, using email and a traceable scooter.

However, he's only done what the Israelis do every day, and there ain't much outrage over the deaths in Gaza.
This is only an outrage to the media because it didn't happen to palestinians in Gaza.

[Atheist-Lite]

Fellow muslims? Although of Berber extraction, the second slain soldier was apparently a practicing catholic.
He was killed for being in the French military, not as some kind of islam traitor.

Would he have actually known the individual identities and religious affiliations of the soldiers he killed? It seems unlikely to me. The odds are that any French soldier of North African extraction would be a Muslim.

Also, if he was just targeting the French military, why didn't he shoot any white soldiers, of whom there must be plenty of in that area?

Ultimately there is no point trying to think through stuff like this. Garbage in, garbage out.

[Svartalf]

Fellow muslims? Although of Berber extraction, the second slain soldier was apparently a practicing catholic.
He was killed for being in the French military, not as some kind of islam traitor.

Would he have actually known the individual identities and religious affiliations of the soldiers he killed? It seems unlikely to me. The odds are that any French soldier of North African extraction would be a Muslim.

Also, if he was just targeting the French military, why didn't he shoot any white soldiers, of whom there must be plenty of in that area?

I suspect he knew the first victim, the Caribbean guy who was lured into ambush, but the ones he killed at the bank, he'd have known only by their uniforms.

[Lozzer]

[klr]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/17455224

From the live text feed:

According to France's Le Telegramme, Mr Mehra had shown his capacity for violence in the past. The newspaper says it has spoken to a former neighbour, Malika, who told of a young man he locked in his flat, forcing him to watch videos of decapitations.

[Svartalf]

The guy tried to enlist in the armies between two trips to Pakistan, but couldn't get in because his rap sheet was longer than the list of woment I've lusted after.

[HomerJay]

Dead now, apparently on BBC

[klr]

"The BBC's Chris Bockman who's at the scene in Toulouse has heard unconfirmed reports from residents who've just left the area that the gunman is dead, with a gun still in his hand."

So he seems to have got his "dying" wish, apparently.