The War on Terror has never been a conventional war. ISIS has moved it in that direction by actually taking over countries and attempting to govern them, but generally speaking the soldiers in the war on terror have been individuals. Sometimes they are people who have been through terrorist training, and sometimes they are simply people who have taken the violent scriptures of the Koran to heart. Because these terrorists often commit their crimes as individuals rather than in a group, they are harder to track down and stop. Sometimes the only barrier to a successful terror attack is the people at the scene of the attack. We saw that in Texas at the “Draw Mohammed” contest and recently on the train from Paris to Amsterdam.

Robert Spencer, a well-known expert on Islamism, posted an article at Frontpage Magazine today about the attack on the Paris to Amsterdam train. The article illustrates the Muslim principle of war called “taqiyya.” “Taqiyya” is defined as lying for the sake of Islam. It is permitted and encouraged in the Koran and the Hadiths (Koran 3:28 and 16:106). With that in mind, let’s look at the background of the assailant on the Paris train.

The article reports:

El-Khazzani (the attacker) is “dumbfounded” that he is being accused of being a terrorist? Any sane person should be dumbfounded that he is dumbfounded. A bearded, caftan-wearing Muslim carries a Kalashnikov, an automatic pistol, ammunition and a box cutter onto a crowded train in a country where the Islamic State has repeatedly called for lone wolf jihad attacks, opened fire with the Kalashnikov, and he is “dumbfounded” that anyone thinks he is a terrorist? How stupid does he think Western authorities are?

It gets even better. El-Khazzani claims that he found the Kalashnikov and the pistol in a park in Brussels. He claims that he only wanted to rob the people on the train because he was hungry.

The article reports the truth:

Here’s the reality. The Express reported that “a Spanish anti-terrorist official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed El Khazzani had lived in Spain until last year, moved to France then traveled to Syria where he is believed to have trained with ISIS before returning to France.” 

And a neighbor recalled: “He and his brother were very devout; they dressed like Afghans and all that, but I can’t believe this. He would sit with us while we smoked joints, you know? He didn’t smoke, but he didn’t mind that we did.” It also turns out that el-Khazzani and his brothers were “regulars” at a local mosque.

Most robbers don’t carry Kalashnikovs, automatic pistols and box cutters. Just sayin…