Americans must stand with the French in defiance of terrorism

On a lively Friday night in Paris, terror struck again.

Unlike the more targeted strike in January at the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper, these new attacks killed and wounded people who simply were out and about.

Gunmen fired at people who were dining at restaurants with outdoor tables. Terrorists set off explosives outside of a soccer stadium. The worst carnage reportedly took place inside a concert hall, where police reported at least 100 persons murdered.

At an emergency cabinet meeting, President François Hollande closed the nation’s borders and mobilized the military in a national emergency.

More information about who planned and executed these reprehensible mass murders will come to light in the coming days, but a massive attack on unarmed French civilians cannot go unanswered. Americans should be prepared to stand in solidarity with French citizens, and for possible government actions on behalf of an ally nation.

The Paris attacks were clearly planned for shock and impact.

“It’s a Friday night and there’s a lot of people out, a lot of tourists out,” a senior European counterterrorism official told The New York Times. “If you want maximum exposure you do it like this, in the dark when it’s scarier and more difficult for police to act.”

Suicide bombers killed more than 40 people and wounded hundreds in early evening attacks in Lebanon this week. And less-heralded terror attacks take place frequently in African and Middle East nations.

Clearly, the world has yet to get a grip on how to stop this savagery. It is the most pressing challenge of our time.

But know this: Terrorists with grenades and Kalashnikov rifles can maim and kill and terrify, yet they cannot defeat the ideals of free society.

The terrorists’ aim is to destroy, but the purpose of civilized people is to build, and we will.

France, the United States and other nations must muster all their brainpower and resolve to hunt down the people and networks whose mission is to kill innocent civilians.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Americans must stand with the French in defiance of terrorism."