"State of Emergency"

AP: Restive France Declares State of Emergency---

PARIS - France declared a state of emergency Tuesday to quell the country's worst unrest since the student uprisings of 1968 that toppled a government, and the prime minister said the nation faced a "moment of truth" over its failure to integrate Arab and African immigrants and their children.

The extraordinary security measures, which began Wednesday and are valid for 12 days, clear the way for curfews after nearly two weeks of rioting in neglected and impoverished neighborhoods with largely Muslim communities.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, reached out to the heavily immigrant suburbs where the rioting began. He said France must make a priority of working against the discrimination that feeds the frustration of youths made to feel that they do not belong in France.

"We must be lucid: The Republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin told parliament. "The effectiveness of our integration model is in question." He called the riots "a warning" and "an appeal."

Despite his conciliatory tone, Villepin said riot police faced "determined individuals, structured gangs, organized criminality," and that restoring order "will take time." Rioters have been using mobile phone text messages and the Internet to organize arson attacks, said police, who arrested two teenage bloggers accused of inciting other youths to riot.

The rioting is forcing France to confront anger building for decades among residents who complain of discrimination and unemployment. Although many of the French-born children of Arab and black African immigrants are Muslim, police say the violence is not being driven by Islamic groups.

Images of teenagers from immigrant families pelting riot police with stones and gasoline bombs — reminiscent of Palestinian youths attacking Israeli patrols — are striking a cord throughout the Arab world.

Blah, blah, blah. Not because of Islamic groups. Blah, blah, blah.

One question: are there groups of Christians or Jews rioting in the streets, burning cars, killing a person, destroying property?

If the footage of these rioters is so similar to Palestinian youths, then there must be a reason. That would reason would be the attitude of many Muslims in the world. They are on a jihad against all that is the West, even France, which sought to appease them.

It hasn't worked. It doesn't work. It won't work. Allowing these people to remain the 13th century is a danger to the world, as evidenced by the continual assault of Muslims on the rest of us.

If we don't continue to fight the War on Terror, where ever it takes us, we will soon have states of emergency every where. We don't want to follow France's poor example, do we?