Immigration, oil, air strikes? Here's what caused the Paris terror attacks, according to some 'experts'

The horrific Paris terror attacks, in which at least 129 people were killed, have evoked a lot of strong reactions from leaders from across over the world. Many of them have made controversial statements on the cause of the attack, blaming immigration or the US air strikes on the Islamic State targets for the attacks. Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan faced a lot of criticism on Monday when he linked the Paris attacks to the air strikes on Islamic State targets. “The bombardments in Iraq and Syria on suspected IS strongholds apart from killing innocent civilians are also rendering thousands homeless. What justification do they have for this?” The Times of India quoted Khan as saying. [caption id=“attachment_2508040” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Paris terror attack killed at least 129 people. Reuters[/caption] In what could be construed as a case of schadenfreude, Khan went on to ask, “Do you want to light up cities like Paris, known for their wine and party culture, with the money earned through illegally occupying oil reserves in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Iran?” However, Khan is not the only leader to have made such remarks. Leaders from other countries also gave controversial reasons for the Paris terror attacks, with many of them, apart from making remarks on air strikes on Islamic State targets, also linking immigration with the attack and calling for an immediate ban on immigration of Syrian refugees. Bill Maher, host of HBO political talk show ‘Real Time’, also said that the cause for the attack was “bombing IS”. “Bombing (IS) over there is what is causing the Paris thing to happen!” The Daily Beast quoted Maher as saying. However, Maher’s remark was less of a justification for the attack and more of a cause behind it, unlike Khan’s remark. On Saturday, US presidential candidate Donald Trump, infamous for his views on immigration, said that it would be “insane” for the United States to accept any refugees from Syria in the wake of the Paris attacks, according to AP. Apart from his rigid stance on immigration, Trump also said that the terror attacks in Paris would have been “a much, much different situation” had the victims been armed with guns. Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio on Sunday said the United States should no longer accept Syrian refugees because it’s impossible to know whether they have links to Islamic militants. Another Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson said Syrian refugees should not be brought to the US because it is too easy for jihadis, intent on “wreaking havoc in this country,” to embed with them. Other US politicians like Chris Christie, Rand Paul and Bobby Jindal also linked the attacks to immigration. “President (Barack) Obama and Hillary Clinton’s idea that we should bring tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America: It is nothing less than lunacy,” Politico quoted US politician Ted Cruz as saying. The new right-wing government in Poland declared that the Paris attacks showed that the European Union’s compulsory system of quotas for sharing refugees had to be rejected, according to The Guardian . “Poland must retain full control over its borders, asylum and immigration,” the report quoted Konrad Szymanski, the new minister for European affairs, as saying. Will McCants, an expert on terrorism and author of The ISIS Apocalypse, linked the airstrikes by France on Islamic State targets to the terror attack, although he did not blame the airstrikes for the attack and did not say that the airstrikes should be stopped. “(It could be) to say to France, ‘If you continue to bomb our positions, there’s going to be more of the same and you had better leave off or more of your civilians will die,’” Business Insider quoted McCants as saying.