If terrorists hit Flight 804, why?: Other views

Mona Charen, National Review: “EgyptAir Flight 804, carrying 66 people including three children, departed from Paris on Wednesday night. Just before it was scheduled to land in Cairo, it appears to have made a 360-degree turn before plunging 9,000 feet and disappearing from radar. Was it terrorism? Donald Trump leaped onto Twitter at 6:27 a.m. to suggest as much: ‘Looks like yet another terrorist attack. Airplane departed from Paris. When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!’ While it looks like terrorism, someone who seeks the presidency ought to restrain his speculation until some facts are ascertained, but Trump is not known for circumspection. His emotional incontinence doesn’t, to put it mildly, inspire confidence about how he would handle a 3 a.m. phone call. Yet his outbursts after terror attacks have arguably clinched his nomination.”

Bloomberg View,editorial: “Airport personnel increasingly represent a weak point in the global security cordon. Airport staff likely helped an Islamic State terrorist group affiliate bring down a flight over Egypt in October. Two workers at Mogadishu’s airport helped get a laptop bomb aboard a plane in February. Intelligence officials have worried for years about radicalization among staff at Charles de Gaulle Airport, where Flight 804 originated. Addressing these worries will require better background checks, more intensive monitoring and an awful lot of vigilance. It won’t be easy.”

Robert A. Pape, The Boston Globe: “If it is proven that ISIL brought down this plane, what was the motive? While attacks like this show the group’s international reach, ISIL is facing a growing problem closer to home in its core territory in Iraq and Syria. As coalition forces shrink the group’s area of control dramatically, ISIL must find a way to turn the tide. Bombing civilian targets of one of its opponents can do this two ways. First, the loss of civilian life might persuade the country to back off its military pressure. More conceivable in this case is the possibility that the bombing could force France to overreact, potentially by sending in ground troops, an action that would be a huge propaganda and recruiting victory for ISIL, potentially refilling their depleted ranks.”