The bloody attack on an Algerian gas installation and France’s invasion of Mali are the result of troubles that have been brewing for years – we simply have not been paying attention.
Jihadist guerilla leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, headlined as a new Great Islamic Satan by French media, has been making trouble in the Sahara for a long time, kidnapping westerners, robbing caravans, smuggling cigarettes.
Belmokhtar was known as a "man of honor," one of the western-financed jihadists who went to battle the Soviets and their communist allies in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and 90’s. He retuned to his native Algeria, minus an eye lost in combat, and, with his fellow "Afghani," sought to overthrow Algeria’s western-backed military regime, a major oil and gas supplier to France.
In 1991, Algeria’s junta, bankrupt of ideas, allowed a free election. Big mistake. Algeria’s Islamists won the first round parliamentary vote. The military panicked. Backed by France and the US, Algeria’s military crushed the Islamic movement and arrested its leaders. Full story...
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Jihadist guerilla leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, headlined as a new Great Islamic Satan by French media, has been making trouble in the Sahara for a long time, kidnapping westerners, robbing caravans, smuggling cigarettes.
Belmokhtar was known as a "man of honor," one of the western-financed jihadists who went to battle the Soviets and their communist allies in Afghanistan in the 1980’s and 90’s. He retuned to his native Algeria, minus an eye lost in combat, and, with his fellow "Afghani," sought to overthrow Algeria’s western-backed military regime, a major oil and gas supplier to France.
In 1991, Algeria’s junta, bankrupt of ideas, allowed a free election. Big mistake. Algeria’s Islamists won the first round parliamentary vote. The military panicked. Backed by France and the US, Algeria’s military crushed the Islamic movement and arrested its leaders. Full story...
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