Breitbart National Security Editor Dr. Sebastian Gorka, who is also the Major General Horner Chair of Military Theory at the Marine Corps University, appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday to discuss the potential reactions by the French government to yesterday’s brutal jihadist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and how a history of negotiating with terrorists might make preventing future attacks of this nature difficult.
“France has a track record all through the Cold War,” Gorka explained, “of deciding behind closed doors to basically negotiate with the bad guys.”
Highlighting terrorist affiliates and organizations, from Algerian groups the Palestinians to Iran, that the French government has worked with, Gorka explained that previous negotiations that “made it very, very difficult for international cooperation against terrorism” may now render any meaningful reaction on the part of France to the Charlie Hebdo massacre near impossible.
“Once the terrorist think that you are a potential funding stream,” Gorka asked, “what’s to stop them from kidnapping more of your citizens? … It’s a neverending cycle.” Past behavior may undermine the popular reaction to the attacks– thousands of French citizens taking to the streets yesterday night holding signs in solidarity with the magazine, with the slogans “Je Suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) and “Not Afraid.”
While positive that the French people have reacted so strongly against the attack, Gorka warned, “At the same time, it’s undermined by this track record of giving in to the bad guys”– who, he added, today are not merely partisan radical Islamists but subscribe to a fatalist global jihad ideology. Those who follow globalist Islamist ideology, he explained, cannot be negotiated with because “they want to destroy Western civilization.”
Follow Frances Martel on Twitter @francesmartel.