There is a paradox to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. As it claimed responsibility for them, Islamic State said they were meant as a strike against European depravity. Yet the perpetrators of the attack were apparently no puritans.
The Islamic State message called Paris "the capital of prostitution and obscenity" and the rock concert at the Bataclan, where most of the victims died, a "profligate prostitution party" for "hundreds of apostates." That's standard rhetoric for the group, which has been known to execute people for smoking, drinking or homosexuality. It's supposed to have a low tolerance of vice, though slavery and rape are tolerated, encouraged, if the victim is an infidel.
Yet after the Paris attacks, witnesses reported seeing one of the top suspects — Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was later killed by French police — sitting outside his apartment drinking and smoking pot with his friends. He was apparently known on his street as someone who liked to hang out.
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