Berlin truck attacker shot by police in Italy.

The body of the Berlin truck attack suspect Anis Amri under a blanket. Reuters. 

The main suspect in the Berlin truck attack that killed 12 people, Anis Amri, was shot and killed by a police officer in Italy. Reuters. Amri had just arrived in Milan when he was stopped by two police officers that though he looked suspicious. He pulled out a gun and during the ensuing gunfight he was killed. One officer was slightly wounded in the fight. Video released today also showed Amri pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. Euroskeptics condemned the handling of Amri's presence in Europe as he was a criminal who should have been deported but was not because he did not have an ID.. Amri had lied when he had arrived in Europe in 2011 and had falsely claimed that he was a minor. 

My Comment:

First of all, great work by the Italian police. They did a great job identifying someone suspicious and when confronted they handled the situation correctly. When he opened fire they returned it and took this guy down quickly. Had the Italian cops not been on the ball Amri could have escaped and conducted another terrorist attack and set a dangerous precedent for terrorist escaping after conducting an attack. 

I don't think there was any doubt that Amri was still a danger. He had a gun and, failing anything else, he could have shot a few people. It wouldn't be a very effective terror attack, but it could have still happened. More likely he was in Milan looking for other ISIS fighters who could shield him and perhaps plan another attack. 

If he was looking to do another attack he probably needed to get away from things for awhile. A terror attack isn't just something you do on a whim. You need to pick a target and choose a method of attack. Since Amri was traveling alone with little money he needed to find someone to help him as well. What the Italian police need to do now is find out who he was trying to meet and if that person or persons are planning further attacks. 

I have little doubt that Amri had help. His escape from the scene of the attack is evidence alone that he had someone helping him. Though I guess it is possible he just walked or ran away after the attack, I can't imagine that happening. My guess is he had someone there with a car or other vehicle to pick him up. The only other thing I could think of is that he had left a vehicle there, but that seems like it would be pretty hard for him to do alone. 

The threat from ISIS in Europe is sky high right now. To the point where it is greatly impacting how Europeans are acting. Germans have put up barriers at their Christmas markets and from what I have seen, there are less people going to them as well. Of course there is a chance that there will be secular attacks from Muslims as well. After all, the Cologne sex attacks happened on New Year's Eve. Either way I would not be surprised if 2016 has another European terror attack before it concludes. 

The Amri case is going to throw fuel on the fire for anti-Islam and anti-EU people in Europe. By almost any standard Amri had no business being in Europe. He lied about his age to get into Italy and after getting arrested and jailed for four years he went to Germany. While there he continued to commit crime and had his asylum request denied. He even came under investigation from the German government for his obvious ties to terrorism. Despite several chances, he was still not deported. It boggles the mind that he was able to be in Europe under these circumstances. 

And you can't really argue against them either. Like I said, there was absolutely no reason for Amri to be in Europe and the fact that he was means that the entire system failed. The fact that it did is not surprising. Europe has been completely flooded by migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, along with hundreds of terrorists and even more potential terrorists. With the pressure on the system so great, it is not surprising that someone like Amri was able to slip through the cracks.

So what could Europe do? Well for one they could shut down the flow of refugees. Just turn away everyone at the borders. Anyone that shows up via boat gets a free ride back to wherever they came from. Anyone that showed up in the migrant wave and is in Europe illegally gets deported, end of discussion. That would solve most, but not all, of the problems in Europe right now.

But it won't happen. For whatever reason deporting people who are in the country illegally is "racist". Hell, in many European countries being critical of the largely Muslim migrants publicly can result in actual jail time. This state of affairs can not last. Either Europe fixes its immigration system or they are likely to head to war. Right now they essentially have a low grade insurgency but eventually it could degrade into open war with right wingers, angered at the situation and the fact that the governments of Europe are siding with the migrants,  possibly opening up a second front...