The worst mistake the terrorists in Paris made: Hitting France in the first place

[jmowreader]

The French National Police has a unit called GIGN, the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (in French: "Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale.&quot It is, without question, the finest and most effective antiterrorism group in the entire world. Their charter allows them to go anywhere in the world to track down and capture terrorists who attack French soil, and they will respond to requests from other nations' antiterror forces - who train with GIGN on an exchange basis, so everyone knows these guys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gendarmerie_Intervention_Group

The French will find these guys and they will fuck them up. More importantly, that the French CT unit is part of the national police rather than the military means any laws France has against using the army against French civilians don't apply - so any French nationals who are working with the terrorists are eligible for the tender mercies of GIGN.

[msongs]

1. not anymore ->"it is, without question, the finest and most effective antiterrorism group

in the entire world.

[NutmegYankee]

5. Not sure why you come to that conclusion.

They are called in after an attack or to break a hostage situation. They are not charged with intelligence gathering to prevent attacks.

[hifiguy]

2. Might those be the no-nonsense types in uniforms

and berets I saw in deGaulle airport a decade or so ago? I wouldn't fuck with them for all the money in the world and those burp guns they carry are no laughing matter.

On an unrelated note, a couple of days ago I was thinking of your long ago post regarding creative uses for fiberglas polar bears and reindeer for holiday decorations. Still the funniest thing I have read on DU in the ten years I've been here.

[jmowreader]

3. Yup. Same guys.

Oh man, you know how long it's been since I wrote that?

[hifiguy]

4. I just reposted it in full

recently. Honest to Princess Celestia, the first time I read that back in '05 I laughed so hard I almost barfed.

[awoke_in_2003]

6. You know we are going to need a link, right?

[hifiguy]

9. Google democratic underground: polar bear reindeer

I'm on a phone now and its a big pain in the rear to do w/o a proper keyboard. It WILL turn up.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. Cool, thanks. nt

[Avalux]

7. I saw a group of them when I was in Paris last year, took a pic.

They were hanging out near the arc du triumphe. Handsome fellows, and I wouldn't want to fuck with them either.

[davsand]

8. I said that same thing earlier.

The French do not screw around with this stuff. They also are not noted for being especially tender with interrogation methods.

If you have been part of a terrorist activity in France or directed at a French citizen, you are in a world of hurt.


Laura

[philosslayer]

14. Well I hope these 'interrogation methods' are lawful

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. Apart from the US and in a very limited sense the IDF

The French have the best military and police forces in the world. Sorry, UK.

They will kill yo ass.

ISIS dudes is gonna come up missing.

[Ex Lurker]

12. This reporter spent a year with GIGN

[lovemydog]

15. That's friggin' awesome.

Do not mess with them.

[Yorktown]

13. With all due respect, I must correct some point in the OP and answers

1- the GIGN is technically not police (even if gendarmes are a close equivalent to police officers). As stated in the OP, the second G in GIGN stand for Gendarmerie, which is, by a remnant of French Revolution times, a body of military status (their budget being part of the military budget appropriation).

2- the police equivalent is the GIPN (P for police replacing the G for gendarmerie)
there are other local SWAT teams which also belong to other police branches.

3- the guys you see with machine guns at airports or at transport hubs can be either police or -in days of increased alert status- Army. But they wouldn't be either GIGN or GIPN which are elite units that are not used for routine security.