Holder of Syrian passport found in Paris passed through Greece
Source: Reuters
THENS, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The holder of a Syrian passport found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in Friday night's attacks in Paris passed though Greece in October, a Greek minister said.
"The holder of the passport passed through the island of Leros on Oct. 3, 2015, where he was identified according to EU rules," said Greece's deputy minister in charge of police, Nikos Toscas.
Toscas did not know if the passport was checked by other countries through which the holder possibly passed on his way to France. A Greek police source said French authorities had asked other countries in Europe, including Greece, to check on the passport.
Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20151114162424-k7uxy
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Marthe48
(16,962 posts)When I travel, I keep my passport well-secured. I hope that this isn't a trick to blame refugees for the murderous attacks in Paris. If the killer had this passport, I hope that it actually belonged to the killer, and not some refugee who is dead in an unmarked grave.
If the killer slipped in with refugees, it had to be taking advantage of an opportunity. Surely it would take longer than a few weeks to plan a coordinated killing spree like this?
B2G
(9,766 posts)things are bound to get scattered around a bit.
Marthe48
(16,962 posts)so I imagined a dead body, an attacker shot by French authorities. There's not much to the story, hard to fill in the blanks.
B2G
(9,766 posts)The 8th detonated after being shot on the street by the police.
IOW, they all ended up a mess.
merrily
(45,251 posts)What a miracle that a passport to have fell to the ground intact from one of the planes after it flew right into a tower and instantly burst into flames!
I heard it only once. I guess the incredulity after they said it the first time tipped them off to zip it on that ludicrous lie.
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)n/t
MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)
Imajika
(4,072 posts)Whatever good will was remaining for them is probably going to diminish rapidly.
philosslayer
(3,076 posts)Imajika
(4,072 posts)I mean, before anyone starts jumping to conspiracy theories I think it's fair to say most refugees are good people simply trying to get out of a war zone. I think we can also agree that these types of terror attacks are exactly what most refugees are trying to escape from.
But the idea that some, perhaps even many, terrorists mixed in with the refugees is really not very far fetched. I'd be shocked if there weren't some ISIS types blending in and taking advantage of the situation.
Either way, the feelings in Europe towards these refugees was already hardening. If it turns that this was a refugee from Syria, then my guess is the idea of a no-fly safe zone in Syria is going to gain ground. Possibly a no-fly safe zone in Iraq too. Not sure what can be done about all the refugees suddenly coming from places like Pakistan.
Jarqui
(10,125 posts)who turn around and start killing your fellow countrymen like this group did in Paris (while it's undetermined that any of the terrorists in Paris were Syrian refugees), I don't like your future politically.
Having said that, this passport news - even though it hasn't been fully proven, probably killed or severely altered the lives of a bunch of Syrian refugees because folks have to and will be under much more pressure to be more careful.
Imajika
(4,072 posts)Merkel is probably in trouble in Germany, though I am not sure the left of center opposition really disagrees with her notable support of the refugees. She might face a revolt from within her own coalition though.
Feelings towards the refugees was already hardening in Europe anyway, so this will just accelerate that - even if none of the refugees are responsible.
The real underlying issue is more and more Europeans don't see a place for Islam in Europe. Many people won't say that, but this is the reality. Taking those feelings out on refugees is only a symptom of what is really happening under the surface which is a rise in anti Islam sentiment.
Jarqui
(10,125 posts)When we look at Paris or back to 9/11 or various other acts of terror, it's pretty frightening stuff. It's bound to induce quite a bit of fear.
And I'm a healthy adult male who can take care of himself. A key part of my concern is the more vulnerable family members I'm supposed to protect and my seeming inability to protect them from something like this. Women, children, the elderly or disabled - they're probably even more frightened,
These terrorists set about to do these evil acts as a means to get something they want through intimidation. They haven't got what they wanted so they carry on. But they've been fairly successful at elevating peoples concern or scaring folks. These acts are horrific.
As well, we see numerous signs that many don't understand this religion. Many of us do not know the middle east or it's people. We do tend to fear or not trust things we do not understand or are not familiar to us. Some of that is the basis for bigotry. And fear.
Longer term, as the terrorist problem is better controlled (if they can ever achieve that) and as people get educated on Islam, etc, people will eventually come around and experience less fear. Short term? It a tough sell.
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)taking care of themselves against semiautomatic rifles and bombs than a child or an old person.
Education is not a panacea. It is better to be educated, but if you are part of a pathological group it will do no good (need to look no farther than the highly educated Nazis).
Jarqui
(10,125 posts)Bigger, faster, stronger. If a fit man, who weighs 40 more lbs and is 5" taller than a woman on average, and a similarly aged, fit woman were in that concert hall, which do you think has a better chance of getting out? If they were both by a terrorist when he was reloading, which would be likely to physically do better trying to take his gun away or fight him? She's a smaller target but I think that's more than offset by him being better able to keep going if he's shot in the same place because he's stronger and he's got more blood volume - all other things being equal, he should be able to go further before passing out. Just a few examples. I think the adult male has a better chance in that terrorist situation. If these sick bastards hadn't gone after the folks in the wheel chair, you might think they'd give women, children and the elderly a break.
Education certainly isn't everything. Some of it is the fear of the unknown for example. Having a bunch of Syrians come and live in the US has some upside. When the war settles down, they' can communicate with family still in Syria "hey, this place isn't so bad!! I like this..., this ..., and this...!" because a few of their neighbors will be like the folks around here - without prejudice and will break down the barriers to become their friends.
The vast majority of Muslims are decent people and are against this conduct. Acceptance of refugees will come about easier when more Americans know, trust and accept that. We agree that will never happen with the few in the pathological group.
cynzke
(1,254 posts)The person on that passport was traced further to Serbia where they were granted asylum. So now authorities are trying to determine if this is the SAME person or a terrorist using a forged passport.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)w/absorbing so many Syrians were the occasional extremist Syrian who manages to slip in.
You are living in a dream world if you think this wasn't/isn't happening.
840high
(17,196 posts)Jarqui
(10,125 posts)Beyond the horror of what we generally know they did, being associated this won't help either
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11995836/Paris-attacks-who-are-the-victims.html
Miss Wilson, 49, originally from New Orleans, also told how she witnessed the gunmen deliberately targeting concert-goers in wheelchairs. The gunmen hunted down disabled people who were sat in an area specially set aside for wheelchair users.
These terrorists have no limits ..
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)To deliberately seek out disabled people is just beyond comprehension! 
Jarqui
(10,125 posts)In light of the Paris terror attacks, Poland cannot go ahead with EU decisions on immigration and accept refugees without guarantees of security.
Konrad Szymanski, Poland's prospective minister for European affairs, told reporters that Poland "this is a key condition that today was put under a giant question mark in all of Europe."
Szymanski is in Poland's new conservative government that is to be sworn in Monday. The outgoing government agreed to accept 7,000 refugees from Syria and Eritrea over the next two years.
In comments online, Szymanski said Poland must have "full control" of its borders and migration policy.
One of the Paris attackers reportedly came into the EU through Greece last month.
Obama’s vow to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees under fire after Paris attack
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/14/obama-vow-take-10000-syrian-refugees-under-fire-af/
Cruz, Huckabee and other weigh in
Imajika
(4,072 posts)It will end up a centerpiece of their nominees campaign. I also suspect it will be a winning issue for them. Not saying the Republicans will win the White House, I seriously doubt they will, but this issue is probably a winner for them.
rockfordfile
(8,704 posts)The republicans helped cause this problem.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)thats the surest way to destroy ISIS.
...
Abandoning the Enlightenment values that produced democracy will not plumb the depths of the vestigial authoritarian impulse that resides in us all, the wish for kings, the desire for order, to be governed, and not to govern. Flexing and posturing and empty venting will not cure the deep sickness in the human spirit that leads people to slaughter the innocent in the middle of a weekend's laughter. The expression of bigotry and hatred will not solve the deep desperation in the human heart that leads people to kill their fellow human beings and then blow themselves up as a final act of murderous vengeance against those they perceive to be their enemies, seen and unseen, real and imagined. Tough talk in the context of what happened in Paris is as empty as a bell rung at the bottom of a well.
...
It's not like this is any kind of secret. In 2010, thanks to WikiLeaks, we learned that the State Department, under the direction of then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, knew full well where the money for foreign terrorism came from. It came from countries and not from a faith. It came from sovereign states and not from an organized religion. It came from politicians and dictators, not from clerics, at least not directly. It was paid to maintain a political and social order, not to promulgate a religious revival or to launch a religious war. Religion was the fuel, the ammonium nitrate and the diesel fuel. Authoritarian oligarchy built the bomb. As long as people are dying in Paris, nobody important is dying in Doha or Riyadh.
...
It's time for this to stop. It's time to be pitiless against the bankers and against the people who invest in murder to assure their own survival in power. Assets from these states should be frozen, all over the west. Money trails should be followed, wherever they lead. People should go to jail, in every country in the world. It should be done state-to-state. Stop funding the murder of our citizens and you can have your money back. Maybe. If we're satisfied that you'll stop doing it. And, it goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway – not another bullet will be sold to you, let alone advanced warplanes, until this act gets cleaned up to our satisfaction. If that endangers your political position back home, that's your problem, not ours. You are no longer trusted allies. Complain, and your diplomats will be going home. Complain more loudly, and your diplomats will be investigated and, if necessary, detained. Retaliate, and you do not want to know what will happen, but it will done with cold, reasoned and, yes, pitiless calculation. It will not be a blind punch. You will not see it coming. It will not be an attack on your faith. It will be an attack on how you conduct your business as sovereign states in a world full of sovereign states.
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a39727/paris-attacks-middle-eastern-oligarchies/
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)Lets not confuse the two...
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)<snip>
If a Syrian passport was found on the attacker's body — and if it was authentic — experts still say it is likely the attackers had closer ties to France than to Syria.
"It would certainly suggest that they'd spent time in Syria," counterterrorism expert Michael Leiter, who served in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, told MSNBC's Alex Witt on Saturday. "But I think we're probably going to find out that these individuals had very, very deep ties to France, which will likely be many of these guys' homeland."
One of the attackers in the Bataclan concert hall, where 118 people were killed, has reportedly been identified as a 30-year-old French national.
The authenticity of the passport, if found, is also unclear.
Syrian IDs and passports are coveted in Europe because it gives refugees from other countries, such as Afghanistan or Pakistan, a better chance of being granted asylum. Most Syrians are automatically given refugee status under international law because of the civil war that has raged in Syria since 2011.
As such, the market for fake Syrian passports is booming.
"There are people who are in Turkey now who buy fake Syrian passports because they know Syrians get the right to asylum in all the member states of the European Union," Fabrice Leggeri, the head of Europe's border agency, told radio station Europe 1 in September.
<snip>
Jarqui
(10,125 posts)Syrian passport found near Paris' stadium bomber: sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/14/us-france-shooting-syria-passport-idUSKCN0T30R520151114#SLCpoS7MtvczTLZf.97
A Syrian passport has been found near the body of one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up on Friday near a Paris soccer stadium, sources close the investigation of the deadly attacks in Paris said.
http://www.espnfc.us/international-friendly/story/2712112/attacks-kill-several-people-outside-stade-de-france-in-paris
At least three people died outside Stade de France in Paris during France's match against Germany on Friday as the country dealt with a series of unprecedented terrorist attacks on the city.
Two loud explosions were heard inside the stadium around 15 minutes into the match
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/nov/14/paris-terror-attacks-attackers-dead-mass-killing-live-updates
A Syrian and an Egyptian passport were found on the bodies of the two suicide bombers who targeted the Stade de France.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/magic-passports-redux-syrian-passport-allegedly-discovered-on-paris-suicide-bomber/5489003
AFP, RT, Reuters, ITV, Sky News, AP, Fox News and Sputnik, are all reporting that a Syrian passport was found either on, or near, the body of one of the suicide bombers in Paris.
Three died at the Stadium initially (one since). At least two of them were suicide bombers. There were some injured (can't find the stadium numbers I'd seen) but not lots. Many of the injured would still have their possessions/passports. So the odds are strong that the Syrian passport belongs to one of the suicide bombers.
Whether it was stolen or not - something like that - remains to be determined.
EDIT: According to this:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/attacker-tried-to-enter-paris-stadium-but-was-turned-away-1447520571
While attempting to back away from security, Zouheir said, the attacker detonated the vest, which was loaded with explosives and bolts, according to Paris prosecutor François Molins. Zouheir, who was stationed by the players’ tunnel, said he was briefed on the sequence by the security frisking team at the gate.
A police officer confirmed the sequence, adding that police suspect the attacker aimed to detonate his vest inside the stadium in order to provoke a deadly stampede.
Around three minutes later, a second person also blew himself up outside the stadium. A third suicide attacker detonated explosives at a nearby McDonald’s, police said. One civilian died in the attacks, police said.
So the first three dead were the three suicide bombers (as opposed to two above) - further increasing the chances that the Syrian passport belonged to one of them.
Jarqui
(10,125 posts)Syrian Migrant Was Among the Bombers
Nov. 14, 2015 7:29 p.m. ET
PARIS—One of the assailants in Friday’s deadly attacks in and near the French capital recently entered Europe as a Syrian migrant, people familiar with the matter said, exposing gaps in the continent’s security as it copes with the biggest refugee crisis in decades.
French investigators were able to match the remains of one of the suicide bombers who attacked France’s main stadium to a Syrian passport that was used to enter Europe’s free-travel area and apply for asylum, the people familiar with the matter said.
European security officials have worried that Islamic State operatives would bring terror by mixing with the cohort of Iraqi and Syrian migrants who are fleeing war each week.
Screening migrants represents a formidable security challenge at a time when European intelligence agencies are straining to keep track of thousands of their own nationals who have rallied to Islamic State, officials say.
According to CBS, maybe not
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-attacks-teams-extremists-france-prosecutor/
A U.S. intelligence official told CBS News that a name and picture were recovered from the Syrian passport and the individual was not known to intelligence officials.
However, a U.S. intelligence official told CBS News the Syrian passport might be fake. The official said the passport did not contain the correct numbers for a legitimate Syrian passport and the picture did not match the name.
A U.S. intelligence official told CBS News that a name and picture were recovered from the Syrian passport and the individual was not known to intelligence officials.
A U.S. law enforcement source told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton French law enforcement officials were taking DNA and fingerprints from the dead terrorists. The test results were being run through databases as part of effort to identify the terrorists and their networks.
Hard to keep up with this.
cynzke
(1,254 posts)Was reportedly traced further to entering Serbia and granted asylum there. No authorities are uncertain at this point if it is the same person or not.
drray23
(7,629 posts)However, this does not in any way reflect on the refugees themselves. Lets face it, terrorists have penetrated into France before, refugee crisis or not so it is disingenuous to blame the refugee situation on it. Of course, this will not stop some to do so.
PSPS
(13,599 posts)Imajika
(4,072 posts)It sounds like many of them came from Belgium?
Also, ISIS is claiming responsibility and it appears the attackers did nothing to hide their identities.
I don't think this cell really cared if the internals of it were understood later. In fact, ISIS might want to show off how advanced they are in recruiting and arranging such an operation.
840high
(17,196 posts)PSPS
(13,599 posts)tabasco
(22,974 posts)Why do you assume a police stop while walking? A vehicle stop is much more likely.
PSPS
(13,599 posts)MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)https://twitter.com/AFP/status/665611357216235520
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)moondust
(19,984 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)I look forward to their arrests.