As with any real-life news of import when it hits the internet, opinions vary widely. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, but there are also those that blame the refugees. There are even those who blame the current French administration.
I feel that this is perhaps a step in the wrong direction.
Could France have been more prepared? Perhaps. It's no secret that while the US is often accused of spending too much on its military, continental Europe perhaps spends too little. They don't want warfare--they want to use economic tools to keep peace and prosperity in their time. As a strategist I shake my head, but as a human being, I admire the sentiment behind the decision.
Some have laid this at the feet of the Syrian refugees--and to be sure, that may have played a major part in allowing these attacks to occur. If that's the case, then these attacks are all the more cowardly, because to me France is guilty of nothing more than trying to be a generous host, to take care of those in need.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the French publication Le Monde (the world) had a front page editorial with the headline, "Nous sommes tous Américains" (we are all Americans). I cannot speak for my country, but it is my fervent hope that we will have the courage and integrity to finally respond, "Nous sommes tous Parisiens."
