Christians Under Attack

Twenty-one-year-old Arid
U. has already confessed to being the gunman and to acting alone, but
that doesn't seem to be of much comfort to Germans. Instead, the incident, which
took place in a public area of the airport, has highlighted just how little can
be done to prevent a lone gunman from carrying out an attack.

The man, who lived in Frankfurt but was originally from Kosovo, was not
previously known to authorities and appears not to have been a member of an
Islamist group. However, the suspect's Facebook page, which has now been taken
offline, indicates that he had contacts to Islamists from the radical Salafist
movement.

More details of the attack emerged at a press conference held Friday by the
Federal Prosecutor General's office, which has taken over the investigation.
Rainer Griesbaum, the deputy federal prosecutor general, said there was no
evidence that Arid U. had belonged to a terrorist organization, although he
appeared to be influenced by Islamist thinking and had visited Islamist
websites.

Execution-Style Killings

Griesbaum revealed that the suspect had killed his victims with eight
execution-style shots to the head. Arid U. had apparently gone to the airport
armed with a pistol and two knives to look for American soldiers. When he
recognized a group of soldiers, he asked one of them for a cigarette and checked
whether they were on their way to Afghanistan. After the airman had confirmed
that they were, U. shot him in the head from behind as he turned back toward the
bus.

Then, prosecutors said, U. boarded the bus and shot the 21-year-old driver
dead. He then went farther into the bus and shot two other airmen, aged 25 and
21. The two men survived the attack with serious injuries, though one is still
in a critical condition.

The suspect's pistol apparently jammed as he held the weapon against the head
of a fifth victim and pulled the trigger. Prosecutors said it was only the gun's
defect that prevented additional deaths. When the attacker tried to escape, the
soldier went after him and caught him after a few meters. A number of police
officers came to his assistance.

On Thursday, Arid U. was formally charged with two counts of murder and three
counts of attempted murder. At Friday's press conference, prosecutors stressed
that there were still many open questions surrounding the attack, and that
investigations into the suspect's motives and links to the Islamist scene were
ongoing. Investigators said they were also confused about how a man who seemed
to have no previous experience with weapons was able to carry out the attack
with such cold-blooded efficiency.

Challenge to New Interior Minister

The incident also presents a challenge to Germany's new interior minister,
Hans-Peter
Friedrich, who was only sworn into office on Thursday morning. He
immediately expressed his shock and outrage at the attack but said there was no
need to raise the alert level in Germany. His predecessor, Thomas de Maizière,
had only recently relaxed public-security measures as previous fears of a
Mumbai-style terror attack in Germany subsided.

Somewhat controversially, Friedrich also repeated his criticism of a
much-publicized October 2010
statement by German President Christian Wulff, who said that "Islam
also belongs to Germany." On Thursday, Friedrich said that the view that Islam
was part of Germany was something "that could never be substantiated by
historical evidence."

On Friday, commentators in Germany's main newspapers reflect on what the
attack means for German society.

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"The attacker's actions confirmed the worst fears of the security authorities
-- that they can't prevent the murderous plans of lone perpetrators."

"After weeks of fear of terrorism, the interior minister had only recently
relaxed security arrangements. Warnings of armed attacks on public places had
not come to anything, and there was no further information about planned
attacks. And then this attack had to happen."

"The security authorities can not be criticized. It appears that Arid U. was
not known to them. He had not drawn attention to himself by distributing
propaganda or by making contact to Islamist groups under observation."

"It would, of course, be wrong to pin the blame for this attack on Islam as a
religion. Around the world, many Muslims distance themselves from violence and
terror. The peaceful revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia have shown that Muslim
populations also long for freedom and democracy. Their magnificent victories
have also been a crushing defeat for terrorism. Violent Islamists only make up a
small group of people in Germany, but they are extremely dangerous. The
authorities must do everything possible to monitor this group and neutralize
them."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The man, whose confused thoughts can be read online, apparently acted as a
deranged lone perpetrator. That fact cannot, and should not, reassure us. Many
of the thoughts that went through the head of this disturbed young man before he
got hold of a pistol are widespread in Germany's small but opinionated Islamist
scene. They include ideas such as ones saying that infidels are inferior beings,
that Jews and their friends are the enemy, and that one should not be squeamish
in fighting the good fight. … It is a community that likes to present itself as
pious, but it now has to ask itself how it came about that one of its members
became willing to carry out an attack."

"The vast majority of Muslims in Germany must show that this way of thinking
has no place in their mosques and associations. They have to do so for the sake
of their faith and in order to rescue and preserve Islam, which must have its
place in Germany. This is the real 'jihad,' the true religious struggle. The
rest of German society should support the country's Muslims in that process.
They need to … distinguish between Muslims and murderers."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

"Although many details are still unclear, everything indicates that the
attack on a US military bus in Frankfurt was carried out by an anti-American
Islamist. If that is true, then March 2, 2011 will go down in German history as
a decisive turning point: the day of the first Islamist attack in this country.
Admittedly, the incident can in no way be compared with the large-scale,
laboriously planned terrorist attacks in London, Madrid and New York. But, like
those attacks, it was apparently a deliberate murder committed by a disturbed
religious fanatic."

"The fact that Arid U. appears not to have been a member of a jihadist group
or terrorist network is of little comfort. It will never be possible to entirely
prevent attacks by radicalized individuals -- unless Germany becomes a total
surveillance state. And no one can want that."

"Even among the radical Salafists -- who form only a minority of Muslims --
only a very few are willing to use violence. The debate (about combating terror)
is a difficult one in which shrill voices can quickly gain the upper hand ...
But the issue has to be discussed. Simply ignoring the problem does not
work."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The first deadly attack with an Islamist motive in Germany comes at a time
of transition. Newly appointed Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich had just
been sworn in when he already had to express his shock and sorrow about the
murder of two Allied soldiers at Frankfurt Airport and to assure both Americans
and Germans that the incident would be quickly cleared up."

"Contrary to what some people like to continually predict, there can be no
talk of Germans panicking in the face of a terrorist threat. Interior Minister
Friedrich managed to make his difficult first appearance a successful one by
emphasizing that there is no reason to increase the police presence across the
country."

"Friedrich also showed self-confidence when he repeated -- on this day of all
days -- his criticism of President Wulff's (October 2010) statement, saying
there is no historical evidence for the claim that Islam belongs to Germany.
Whatever the case may be, Friedrich is now the interior minister, and part of
his job is helping to integrate the many Germans who practice the Muslim faith.
Nevertheless, the kind of fundamentalism that showed its ugly face at Frankfurt
Airport cannot be allowed to belong to Germany. It needs to be fought."

Franz Josef Wagner, a
columnist for the mass-circulation daily Bild, writes:

"Dear American soldiers, your president is shocked, and we are, too. Two of
your comrades became victims of Islamist violence at Frankfurt Airport, and two
other soldiers are in critical condition. The perpetrator reportedly shouted
'Allahu Akbar!' ('God is great!') as he attacked you. It is the first Islamist
attack in Germany."

"The terrible thing about this attack if that it is so close to our normal
life. … The awful truth of the Frankfurt attack is that nobody is safe any
more."

-- David Gordon Smith