“Keeping a watchful eye on surroundings is something that has been hammered into the deepest subconscious of most members of the Armed Forces.”
A German soccer team bus was bombed in Germany on Tuesday evening as the team was preparing for a game. Luckily, no lives were taken, although one player sustained injuries to his arm that will keep him from playing for an undetermined period of time. The attack forced the soccer club to reschedule the game for Wednesday night. Authorities have said that they will beef up the security presence at the game as a response to the attack.
German authorities are currently investigating two suspects. While radical Islamic terrorism seems to be the obvious motive in terms of investigations in cases such as this, other motives are being considered. The German investigators aren’t ruling anything out — implying that this attack could have come from either left-wing or right-wing extremists of Germany.
The bombing on the team bus is reminiscent of the Paris attacks that took place only a year and a half ago where hundreds were brutally murdered in coordinated attacks carried out by explosives, gunmen, and suicide bombers on the city. One of those horrific attacks occurred outside of a soccer stadium where France was playing Germany. A suspect who was wearing a suicide vest tried entering the stadium in that incident, but was stopped by a guard.
Three copies of a note were recovered from the scene that called for Germany to withdraw jets deployed in support of the fight against the Islamic State. It also demanded the closure of US Ramstein Air Base. This is the largest American Air Force base in Europe and is no stranger to threats of violence by extremists. In 2007 three Islamic terror suspects were arrested for plotting bomb attacks on Frankfurt Airport and Ramstein Air Base, and a 17-year-old Islamic extremist was arrested in February of this year in Vienna where it was discovered one of his intentions was to plant a pipe bomb near Ramstein Air Base. The demands are unsettling, given the amount of terrorist attacks within Germany that have rocked the country and sparked debate about policy on refugees and asylum seekers.
Soccer is an incredibly big deal in Europe. In fact, I’m always surprised by how unpopular the game is in the United States compared to other countries around the world. Soccer games attract large numbers of spectators, especially during big games such as the Dortmund team in Germany.
It’s important for people to remain vigilant in the face of threats from the Islamic State. While threatening a base as large as Ramstein in a sad attempt to instill fear within that community shows extreme cowardice, they should not be taken lightly. Keeping a watchful eye on surroundings is something that has been hammered into the deepest subconscious of most members of the Armed Forces. With growing trends of isolated attacks within Germany I have no doubt that the United States military personnel who are stationed in Germany are fully capable of swiftly handling any such shenanigans from ISIS.
