Germany's New Reality

"There is also the prominent and symbolic target of a Christmas market, and the modus operandi that mirrors at least past calls by jihadi terror organizations."
"We don't know for sure whether it was one or several perpetrators. We don't know for sure whether he, or they, had support. These investigations aren't concluded yet."
Peter Frank, prosecutor, Germany

"I'm not going to change my lifestyle now. The chances that I get killed in a car or bike accident are bigger."
"We've all been prepared that something like this could happen, so we were not surprised."
Maximilian Much, 24, economics student, Berlin

Security and rescue workers tend to the area after a lorry truck ploughed through a Christmas market on December 20, 2016 in Berlin, Germany    

Michele Tantussi/Getty Images

Information gradually emerges when intelligence agencies scrutinize their own records to realize that a suspect they are hunting was already in their sights for suspected terrorist activity, but resources to keep constant watch on the number of these suspects before they commit their acts of jihadist terrorism are in short supply. Add that to the fact that Germany's laws do not permit anyone to be held longer than 24  hours without incriminating evidence, and add to that the fact that recruiters from Islamic State in Germany are actively inciting 'fragile' personalities such as 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, and you've inherited an explosive cocktail.

It is almost as though, having succeeded fairly well in his goal to launch a terrorist attack and kill and maim as many civilians as possible, after first killing the driver of the truck he hijacked, this man felt his mission would not be complete until he was martyred. He did make his escape immediately following his successful carnage-purposeful attack, but left behind his wallet containing personal papers identifying him, leading to a nation-wide alert for his apprehension. So he will likely have his sacred mission for Islam completed after all, and become eligible for a tryst with countless virgins in Paradise.

Anis Amri, Tunisian refused asylum in Berlin

Chancellor Merkel might never have envisioned in the goodness of her wide open heart that her generosity on behalf of the German people and her confidence that she is so beloved of them that a fourth term in office would be handily achieved in the next election, that her country was next in the revolving cycle of Islamist atrocities perpetrated in Europe against the hospitality proffered to Muslims escaping tyranny and bloodshed at home. But there it is, a dozen dead, 48 injured and a nation feeling pulverized by medieval inspired hatred that a sacred book inspires in its faithful.

Although the news media describe the Christmas market attack in Berlin as the "first mass casualty attack by Islamic extremists carried out on German soil", it is not, in fact, the first mass casualty at all, since an estimated thousand women on New Year's Eve were assaulted at traditional German celebrations in the cities of Cologne and Hamburg and elsewhere, involving over two thousand men, most of whom were described as "Middle Eastern", the details of which were scrupulously withheld by German authorities until the unauthorized release of incriminating documents.


Police deployed outside the main train station in Cologne, Germany, on Jan. 6, 2016. (Naja Hitij/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Holger Munch, president of the German Federal Crime Police Office, "There is a connection between the emergence of this phenomenon and the rapid migration in 2015. We have to presume that many of those crimes will never be fully investigated." Many of the suspects originated from North African countries according to officials. Since the New Year's Eve sex assaults there has resulted an ongoing crisis of violent sex attacks against women in Germany attributed to refugees, along with other types of crime that keep police busy and frustrated at the lack of political will and the deliberate hushing up of the incidents.

Pride in the success of this latest attack in Europe is more than evident in Islamic State's description of "a soldier of the Islamic State carried out the attack in response to calls or targeting citizens of the Crusader coalition." The German element in the "crusade" against Islam is confined to Tornado jets and a refuelling plane in Turkey supporting the U.S.-led coalition fighting militants in Syria, along with a frigate stationed to protect a French aircraft carrier int he Mediterranean.

The heavy transport truck carrying a cargo of industrial steel to Berlin from Poland was driven through the market for up to 80 metres before stopping, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Last year five people were wounded on a train near Wuerzburg in an axe attack by a jihadist, while 15 people sustained wounds in a bombing attack at Ansback in the southern state of Bavaria. In each instance the attackers qualified for their trysts with virgins in Paradise, blessed martyrs to the cause of imperial Islam.

"I know that it would be particularly hard for us all to hear if it were confirmed that a person committed this act who asked for protection and asylum in Germany", stated Frau Merkel. And she certainly got that right. Obviously there are some Germans who will maintain a 'that's life' attitude, while others, quite a few others, will feel horribly unfamiliar with what has become of their country, their culture, their heritage. All will be well, however, since German authorities have arranged for concrete barriers to be erected for security around those quaint and beloved Christmas markets.