CNN suggested Thursday that the terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain may have been inspired by the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., because both involved a vehicle running down pedestrians.
The claim has drawn criticism because vehicle-ramming has been used before by Islamic extremists to carry out terrorist attacks. Investigators have not drawn any links between the incidents in Barcelona and Charlottesville.
This iframe is not allowed
“In light of the uproar of the last several days, five days apart you have a white supremacist use a vehicle to kill and here you have attackers at least following the modus operandi of terrorists, apparently using vehicles to kill as well, and those shared tactics should be alarming,” CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto said on air.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer responded: “There will be questions about copycats, questions about if not what happened in Barcelona was at all, at all, a copycat version of what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia. Even though they may be different characters, different political ambitions, they used the same killing device — a vehicle going at high speed into a group, a large group, of pedestrians.”
A man with ties to white nationalist groups in the U.S. has been arrested for allegedly driving his car through counterprotesters in Charlottesville following a rally organized by white supremacist groups over the weekend. One woman died in the attack.
On Thursday, at least 13 people were killed and scores more wounded when a van ran into pedestrians on a crowded city street in Barcelona.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack, as they have for similar vehicle-ramming incidents in London and Berlin over the course of the last year.
The New Yorks Times reporter covering ISIS noted that vehicle-ramming is one of the group’s calling cards.
Vehicles being used to kill and maim have been going on for a long time, whether in Europe or Israel the perpetrators have been pretty well all of the same religious/political bent wth the same MO. If anythimg, it was the one in Charlottesville that was the copy cat.
The Charlottesville attack was a hate crime. It was not one of religious extremism, It was not designed to spread terror - it was a random attack generated by hate - that simple
You feel that terror in the name of religious extremism isn't a hate crime? I beg to differ. When a Palestinian drives his car into a crowd in Jerusalem, it isn't because he loves those people. In any event I still say the method was copied.
Agreed, this is ISIS methodology. The guy in Charlottesville, while an asshole, is a copycat event at best. But CNN continues down the road being the mirror image of what the left complains about Fox News. Bullshit disguised as news with a liberal slant.
I can't believe people still watch CNN it is almost as bad as NBC these days. Even Ted Turner has admitted it turned to crap after he sold it. It reminds me of what happened to Kentucky Fried Chicken after Colonel Sanders sold out.
"CNN has not responded to a request for comment.
Vehicles being used to kill and maim have been going on for a long time, whether in Europe or Israel the perpetrators have been pretty well all of the same religious/political bent wth the same MO. If anythimg, it was the one in Charlottesville that was the copy cat.
My thoughts, also, but you said it better.
The Charlottesville attack was a hate crime. It was not one of religious extremism, It was not designed to spread terror - it was a random attack generated by hate - that simple
You feel that terror in the name of religious extremism isn't a hate crime? I beg to differ. When a Palestinian drives his car into a crowd in Jerusalem, it isn't because he loves those people. In any event I still say the method was copied.
Agreed, this is ISIS methodology. The guy in Charlottesville, while an asshole, is a copycat event at best. But CNN continues down the road being the mirror image of what the left complains about Fox News. Bullshit disguised as news with a liberal slant.
I've always thought that Wolf Blitzer is pretty incompetent. How he has kept a prominent position at CNN is a mystery to me.
I would agree that it was the guy in Charlottesville that was the copy cat.
I dont think all of CNN is tarnished by a couple sentences from Blitzer and another reporter though.
I can't believe people still watch CNN it is almost as bad as NBC these days. Even Ted Turner has admitted it turned to crap after he sold it. It reminds me of what happened to Kentucky Fried Chicken after Colonel Sanders sold out.