Town Hall Event Examines Paris, Beirut

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Over a century of expertise and scholarship on security, intelligence and global studies was present at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University in a panel on the recent attacks in Paris and beyond.

The town hall meeting, organized by the Pardee School, took place Nov. 16 – only a few days after the terrorist acts by ISIS that gripped the attention of the world. As of this writing, 129 people were killed and over 400 injured in a coordinated series of attacks, including a bombing at a soccer game attended by French President François Hollande and a hostage situation at a concert hall.

On hand to answer questions and facilitate discussion in the capacity crowd were Pardee School faculty members, including Professor Jessica Stern. An internationally-renowned expert on ISIS and former National Security Council member under former President Bill Clinton, Stern will teach “Guerrilla Warfare and Terrorism” in the spring semester.

Stern characterized ISIS, which has taken responsibility for the Paris attacks, as ‘an apocalyptic cult.’

“Their goal is to sow chaos and commit acts of savagery – to polarize Muslim against Muslim, Muslims against non-Muslims,” Stern said. “They make it difficult or impossible for people trapped in their regime to survive, so people will join them. Their goal is to goad the West into battle.”

Stern was one of many Pardee School faculty members present at the town hall. Joining her was Professor William Keylor, who has been named Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Mérite by the French government, and has served as the president of the Society for French Historical Studies.

“The first question we ask is ‘why France?’ It has the largest population of Muslims in Europe, it is a high-profile backer of U. S. bombing campaigns in Syria, and it is a prominently secular state that has come into conflict with Muslims before over issues such as dress and diet,” Keylor said. “France has pledged to be ‘merciless’ in their response to these acts.”

Keylor and Stern were also joined by Professor Joseph Wippl, a 30-year operations officer in the National Clandestine Service (NCS).

“The best way to get at [ISIS] is by going after their communications,” Wippl said. “This attack was sophisticated and well-planned, executed by well-vetted operatives. It’s difficult to see how we can frustrate actors with that capability without getting at their communications. Expect that to be a political issue in elections to come, with budgets and coordination between European nations increasing.”

Also speaking was Professor Noora Lori, who leads the Pardee School’s Forced Migration and Human Trafficking Working Group.

“For me, the most frightening aspect of the whole story was the false Syrian passport [planted by the bombers],” Lori said. “The terrorists want walls to go up. They want more airstrikes. It’s the best way to feed into the ISIS narrative that they’re fighting for Muslims against the West.”

Lori said that she hoped the global reaction in this critical moment would be to examine the use of violent retaliation to terrorist attacks.

“Right now, the global community is talking about how vulnerable we all are in our own bodies,” Lori said. “We must ask ourselves, can we use those feelings as anything other than a cry for war?”

The town hall meeting was moderated by Dean Adil Najam. It was part of the Pardee School’s Beyond the Headlines series, an ongoing platform for events responding to the breaking stories of the day. Follow future Pardee School events here.