Egyptian court acquits 26 men in trial over police raid on gays (AP)
In the News
- Paris: “Je Suis Charlie”
- Where was the White House?
- The intelligence failure
- WH summit on violent extremism
- Holder: Attack on U.S. keeps him “up at night”
- Pols warn, worry
- Obama pushes cybersecurity
- House Dems pitch wealth transfer
- Felony charges for Petraeus?
- Keystone: Obama under pressure
- Golden Globes: the politics
Paris: “Je Suis Charlie”
• More than a million people joined over 40 presidents and prime ministers on the streets of Paris Sunday in the most striking show of solidarity in the West against the threat of Islamic extremism since the September 11 attacks. The Interior Ministry described the demonstration as the largest in modern French history: 1.6 million people
• Many waved the tricolor French flag and brandished pens in raised fists to commemorate those killed Wednesday in an attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, as well as four others killed at a Jewish supermarket on Friday. Thousands hoisted black and white signs bearing three words: “Je suis Charlie.” (NYT, WaPo, Haaretz, CNN, Reuters, me)
• The world leaders – including President Francois Hollande of France, Chancellor Angela of Germany, PM David Cameron of Britain, PM Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority – joined the march in a solemn line. They moved slowly, clasping arms to show solidarity with the victims. The crowd roared in approval
• Earlier in the day, the French Interior Ministry held what it described as a security summit meeting, bringing together top intel and law enforcement officials from across Europe and North America to discuss ways to prevent terrorism
• 11 powerful images from the Paris rally on Sunday (mashable)
• AG Eric Holder attended the meeting and announced that the WH would convene an international forum on 18 Feb to discuss new means of countering terrorism. Holder didn’t participate in the rally and march (see below); the U.S. was represented by its ambassador to France, Jane Hartley
• Mustafa Qadir, 32, a Pakistani citizen who works as an environmental consultant in London, traveled to Paris for the march. “We cannot go on like this, living in a state of fear,” he said. “There must be liberty of expression; expression cannot be met with violence.”
• Abbas and Netanyahu appeared side by side Sunday, in an unusual, if momentary, show of shared sympathy. Netanyahu drew some criticism by saying Sunday morning that “any Jew who wants to immigrate to Israel will be received here with open arms.” Hollande reportedly tried to dissuade Netanyahu from attending
• The crowd included Jews wearing skullcaps and Muslims carrying signs reading, “I’m Charlie and Muslim” and “Not in the name of Allah.” As nightfall descended, Hollande and Netanyahu went to the Grand Synagogue of Paris to pay homage to “all of the victims” and received a standing ovation
• Today’s liberal-leaning New York Daily News’ front page screams “You let the world down” and shows pics of President Obama, VP Biden, SecState Kerry and AG Holder. It’s difficult to argue with it. Holder was actually in Paris Sunday. His meeting had ended before the rally. Other ministers who’d been at the meeting attended (me, Politico, AP)
• While not necessarily expecting Obama to go (and no, he wasn’t watching football at the time), Biden could have gone. He was, in fact, at home in Wilmington DE. Kerry was on a trade trip to India. Important as that is, one day could have been reshuffled for this. Plus, Kerry spent time in France as a child and is fluent in French. He’s also a big-time global traveler
• You can expect today’s WH press briefing (scheduled for 1 pm) to be an absolute bloodbath. And rightly so. This was an appalling snub of the world. It played into every stereotype of the Arrogant American. U.S. ambassador Jane Hartley, who attended, couldn’t be picked out in a crowd, and is a former Obama bundler, with little diplomatic gravitas
• Kerry has now announced that he’ll travel to Paris Thursday and Friday for talks on countering extremist violence. Earth to Kerry: Too little too bloody late. Kerry said he’s going to reaffirm U.S. solidarity with America’s oldest ally, France. Blah. Kerry is dismissing criticism, stressing U.S. cooperation: “I really think that this is, you know, sort of quibbling a little bit.” No. It’s not
• The WH announced early Sunday morning that it would host a Feb summit on countering violent extremism. A month from now. After rescheduling it from October, for reasons that still haven’t been explained. This debacle is an absolutely pathetic, unforced error by the WH – and one that I doubt would have happened with Obama’s first-term team
The Intelligence Failure
• There are no answers yet. But a big question being asked in Paris is: How did several jihadists – and possibly a larger cell of co-conspirators – manage to evade surveillance and execute a bold attack despite being well known to the country’s police and intelligence services? (NYT, Le Parisien, Hill, me)
• In interviews Sunday, AG Eric Holder declined to say whether a breakdown in French intel contributed to the attacks. “There will be time for an after-action analysis of exactly what we might have done better,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press (shown up at the rally, for a start)
• An American official – anonymous – said, “These guys
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