# Truck kills dozens of people in Nice, France on Bastille Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928 "2016-07-14T21:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/61 "2016-07-15T03:54:03Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Horrible, horrible. > > Stupid question, but why are the crazies targeting the French? France has been especially active in the military action against Da-esh in Syria. Plus, there are so many Muslims in France, the odds of finding whack-o radicalized ones is greater. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/62 "2016-07-15T05:00:39Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > By the way, a question for any ISIS agents lurking here: What makes France so special? It seems like all the recent major terror attacks in Western Europe are in France or Belgium, but rarely anyplace else. Is it something unique about their foreign policy? Something to do with less diligent security? Why not Germany or Spain or Italy? Seriously, what’s the f’in deal? > [@Sampsiceramos](#): > > There is a large and predominantly immigrant community of socially and economically disenfranchised in France. This community is particularly vulnerable to religious and political radicalization, and indeed, the vast majority of the perpetrators of these sorts of attacks (at least to my knowledge) in the last few years have previously completed “tours of duty” with ISIS in Syria or Iraq before returning to their countries of origin and committing acts of terror. > > If a such community that was disenfranchised to a similar degree existed anywhere else in Europe, I would expect similarly many attacks of a similar scale. Or to put it another way, France (and many other countries, for that matter) has never has the melting-pot concept that America and Canada have. > [@JoseB](#): > > Missed edit window: Throughout the last year and a half, whenever Daesh has attacked France, the only thing they have achieved is for France to increase their response against Daesh. They already had units in the area, and will add more. France has finally re-grown its backbone. WWI did quite a number on the French spirit for a long time, but they’ve pulled out of it in the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/63 "2016-07-15T05:05:52Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Horrible, horrible. > > Stupid question, but why are the crazies targeting the French? I wondered the same about Belgium. Maybe for some Islamic terrorists, any Western country will do. Spain, UK, Belgium, France…I wouldn’t be surprised to see Italy, Germany and the Netherlands next. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/64 "2016-07-15T05:27:00Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Or to put it another way, France (and many other countries, for that matter) has never has the melting-pot concept that America and Canada have. _cough_ Jim Crow _cough_ Chinatown _cough_ Ask **'mika** how many times she and her husband have been asked where are they really from. It’s not a matter of France’s laws making distinctions, it’s a matter of people asking time and again “where are you really from” or talking slowly and loudly to the person who looks different from their mental image of “someone from here”. I’d be told “but you’re American”, my only-slightly-darker, heavier-accented Moroccan coworkers would be asked where were they from, the Han would trigger “loud and slow” even when they were from Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/65 "2016-07-15T05:45:23Z")
Just for yuks I couldn’t resist watching The O’Reilly Factor and Hannity on Fox, America’s bilge pump for bad ideas. They and their guests know exactly who did this. They want to ramp things up, get an operation going and get some people killed. And they want it done Right NOW! ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/66 "2016-07-15T05:55:26Z")
> [@XT](#): > > > [@JoseB](#): > > > > Missed edit window: Throughout the last year and a half, whenever Daesh has attacked France, the only thing they have achieved is for France to increase their response against Daesh. They already had units in the area, and will add more. > > Pretty sure that’s what they want…they want France to get more involved and fight more. Same with the other European countries. And the US. And everyone else they have managed to piss off. Since they think that the apocalypse is coming, and will happen in their region, they WANT to bring on that final battle. So then what is the smart play for the West here? Withdraw from the Middle East and let them just sort it out among themselves? A total and complete pullout of Iraq and cessation of support for Syrian rebels? Tell the Israelis they are on their own and wish Turkey all our best but now is time for us to say “So long!”? Don’t get me wrong. I agree ramping up the bombing/military action is exactly what Daesh wants but considering how thoroughly we’ve managed to screw the region up over the last 15 years, what would be the best course of action going forward? [and yes, I know meddling and mischief by the West in this part of the world goes back far longer than 15 years.] ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/67 "2016-07-15T06:33:47Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Pretty sure that’s what they want…they want France to get more involved and fight more. Same with the other European countries. And the US. And everyone else they have managed to piss off. I’ve never quite understood why people point out what these folks want. If a man breaks into my home and threatens my family, I will do my level best to kill him. I will do this even if he truly wants to live, and I will do this even if he truly wants to die. I will do this even if he truly wants to rent out a big theater and put on a lavish musical production. I will do this even if what he truly wants is a nice MLT – a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean. What he wants is irrelevant; I will do my best to kill him regardless of what he wants. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/68 "2016-07-15T06:50:09Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Pretty sure that’s what they want…they want France to get more involved and fight more. Same with the other European countries. And the US. And everyone else they have managed to piss off. Since they think that the apocalypse is coming, and will happen in their region, they WANT to bring on that final battle. I doubt the sincerity of ISIS’ beliefs. I don’t think they truly \*want \* more Western military intervention. It’s one thing to _say_, “Being attacked by the West is good; we’re hastening the apocalypse.” It’s quite another to see your precious ‘caliphate’ slip away by the day, your followers deserting you in droves, your forces decimated by drone strikes, your funding dry up, your cities retaken from you, your territory shrinking rapidly, your doom imminent. IMHO Daesh actually does fear Western military intervention, no matter what it may say. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/69 "2016-07-15T07:00:02Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > According to the French newspaper “Le Figaro”, the driver of the truck was a 31-year old from Nice itself, “of French-Tunisian origin” (not clear if this means that he was from Tunis and became a French citizen, or that he was born in France from a family that came from Tunis at some point in the past. Personally I suspect the latter). He was allegedly born in Tunisia. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/70 "2016-07-15T07:25:54Z")
Another night of seeing terrified people running down the street. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/71 "2016-07-15T07:58:41Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve never quite understood why people point out what these folks want. > > If a man breaks into my home and threatens my family, I will do my level best to kill him. I will do this even if he truly wants to live, and I will do this even if he truly wants to die. I will do this even if he truly wants to rent out a big theater and put on a lavish musical production. I will do this even if what he truly wants is a nice MLT – a mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean. > > What he wants is irrelevant; I will do my best to kill him regardless of what he wants. ↑ ↑ ↑ When it gets to my front yard I agree with the above. At a national level or country level when dealing with others and the money people only looking at a way to increase profit and many wanting to truly do humanitarian type things that the fly’s start getting on everything. On the big stage, it is not simple anymore and it also is not possible to not harm innocents. Many people in the safer areas of the world have forgotten that a mean & dirty death is the lot of most of the world and no matter their mighty efforts for it to not be so, it is going to be so for a long time yet. Strive we must but we also must not destroy all that has been accomplished in trying to fix the world. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/72 "2016-07-15T08:01:16Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Another night of seeing terrified people running down the street. Where? No need to run in France tonight ( Friday AM for them now.) so where are you talking about? A new disaster? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/73 "2016-07-15T08:50:13Z")
((Nice)) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/74 "2016-07-15T10:35:08Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > I can’t find it now… CNN took it down? > > But this morning, under ‘world’, there was an article headlined about how French Intelligence thought that France was on the brink of a civil war? I skipped it because it seemed like a ridiculous statement… It did exist, I got a chance to read it. I did find it ridiculous and unconvincing. Reminded me of a lot of Donald Trump’s idiocy about Mexicans and Muslims. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Also why would terrorists target France? What has France done? I know there was the cartoon stuff, but France hasn’t been a major fighter in the war in the middle east to my knowledge. A few thousand troops in Afghanistan. France has a pool of disaffected French who have been marginalized all their lives that can be radicalized and convinced to kill French people for other people. > [@JoseB](#): > > Missed edit window: Throughout the last year and a half, whenever Daesh has attacked France, the only thing they have achieved is for France to increase their response against Daesh. They already had units in the area, and will add more. Which is apparently what Daesh wants. > [@JoseB](#): > > Of course, that would likely involve horrendous civilian casualties ☹ But I guess Daesh doesn’t care. Nope, Daesh really doesn’t care if civilians are killed or maimed. Infidel civilians? How do you feel about stepping on a cockroach? That’s how they feel. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/75 "2016-07-15T11:04:15Z")
We need more truck control. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/76 "2016-07-15T11:07:32Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > We need more truck control. You’ve been [preempted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=798450). But do you really want to go there? I’ll say no more, since we’re not in the pit. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/77 "2016-07-15T11:12:00Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > He was allegedly born in Tunisia. According to [this link to a French news source](http://www.atlantico.fr/pepites/attentat-nice-que-on-sait-tueur-14-juillet-2765127.html) ([atlantico.fr](http://atlantico.fr)), that is not the case: [[QUOTE=atlantico.fr](http://QUOTE=atlantico.fr)] _“Une source policière a rapporté à l’Agence France-Presse que des papiers d’identité au nom d’un Franco-Tunisien avaient été retrouvés dans le camion. Il était connu des services de police pour des faits de petit délinquence, mais n’était ni fiché S ni soupçonné de terrorisme. L’homme serait né à Nice, de parents tunisiens.”_ [/QUOTE] Translation: “A police source has told France-Presse that ID papers belonging to a French-Tunisian had been found in the truck. He was known to the police for petty crimes, but he was not classified S or under suspicion of terrorism. The man appears to have been born in Nice, of Tunisian parents.” But, of course, it is still early and different media sources say different things. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Nope, Daesh really doesn’t care if civilians are killed or maimed. Infidel civilians? How do you feel about stepping on a cockroach? That’s how they feel. I was thinking more about the civilians in Daesh-controlled areas, which I think would end up outnumbering the dead on our side. Of course Daesh cares not a jot about civilian deaths among the infidels, but I was also saying that it seems not to care about civilian deaths on its side. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/78 "2016-07-15T11:19:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve never quite understood why people point out what these folks want. > > [snip] > > What he wants is irrelevant; I will do my best to kill him regardless of what he wants. It’s only irrelevant when you are engaged in battle with him. It’s absolutely relevant afterward. I have no doubt that you’d ask yourself “Why did this man target ME?” afterward. Not just to quench morbid curiosity, but because you’d want to know if the attack was an isolated event, or if you should expect, and thus prepare for, another attack. Thanks to everyone who took a moment to answer my question as to why the French are being targeted. As flip as my question was, I do realize that most crazies aren’t born that way. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/79 "2016-07-15T11:20:35Z")
I’m not sure they believe there is such a thing as civilian deaths on their side. After all, the women aren’t people and the boy-children are just fighters-in-training, are they not? The infidels they keep for service aren’t truly on their side, being infidels (which usually means the wrong type of Muslim, simply because that’s the normal population in their locations) and they’re mostly women and children so see above. Understanding what terrorists want is very important, even during the fight. Many people think that ETA’s bombing of supermarket Hipercor in Barcelona, which led to them losing a lot of backing from that geographical region, was a mistake: if you understand that the whole objective was to lose that unwanted backing, it’s no mistake. Understanding an opponent’s objectives makes it possible to create a better strategy than if you’re fighting blind. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928/80 "2016-07-15T11:43:40Z")
Ugh. Horrible. It’s somehow worse when an attack takes place somewhere you’ve been before, isn’t it? Believe me, I speak from extensive experience. I spent a lovely week in Nice 20 years ago this summer during my backpacking tour of Europe, and spend a lot of time on that very promenade and the beaches it overlooks, soaking in some sun and observing the local fauna. The thought of so much death right at that spot is sickening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/truck-kills-dozens-of-people-in-nice-france-on-bastille-day/759928.md?page=5)