Olivier Roy Quotations

First he wants to cut the grass under the feet of other elements in the regime that favor a more open stance with the U.S.. Secondly, he's a pure product of the revolution, who is just not interested in diplomacy. And finally, the situation in Iraq makes him feel in a position of strength, as an attack from the U.S. or Israel looks highly unlikely at the moment.

There's nothing easier if you follow the smugglers' route,

The second generation in America has been taken into the American mainstream, while in Europe there is a tendency to lag behind in social mobility.

Thirty years ago, you joined the Maoists, the Trotskyists, the far left, the Baader group, Action Directe. Today, where do you go? Bin Laden.

They are people who feel devalued, despised and by becoming terrorists they suddenly become supermen, heroes.

This is what Muslims want - to be treated the same as other faiths.

It's a game of cowboys and Indians, ... have become a local sport, a rite of passage.

It's difficult. When these guys turn radical, they do that in the framework of a small local network of friends. It's not a real social movement, and we have trouble connecting people who don't have any prior connection, which makes them very difficult to track.

The Islamists aren't in the affair, because it would expose them to criticism and gain them nothing.

He said aloud what everybody everywhere now says.

The French government will not face a Tony Blair moment because the police have enjoyed steadily increasing powers in France for the last few decades. What Blair tried in Britain or Bush did in the U.S. with the Patriot Act were major shifts in the legal landscape.