AP IMPACT: Al-Qaida carves out own country in Mali
Deep inside caves, in remote desert bases, in the escarpments and cliff faces of northern Mali, Islamic fighters are burrowing into the earth, erecting a formidable set of defenses to protect what has essentially become al-Qaida's new country.
They have used the bulldozers, earth movers and Caterpillar machines left behind by fleeing construction crews to dig what residents and local officials describe as an elaborate network of tunnels, trenches, shafts and ramparts. In just one case, inside a cave large enough to drive trucks into, they have stored up to 100 drums of gasoline, guaranteeing their fuel supply in the face of a foreign intervention, according to experts.
Northern Mali is now the biggest territory held by al-Qaida and its allies. And as the world hesitates, delaying a military intervention, the extremists who seized control of the area earlier this year are preparing for a war they boast will be worse than the decade-old struggle in Afghanistan.
"Al-Qaida never owned Afghanistan," said former United Nations diplomat Robert Fowler, a Canadian kidnapped and held for 130 days by al-Qaida's local chapter, whose fighters now control the main cities in the north. "They do own northern Mali."
More at: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-al-qaida-carves-own-country-mali-091304997.html
AldoLeopold
(617 posts)[link:|
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)there was obviously some truth to it, but we never saw any camera footage of it.
Igel
(35,317 posts)We traded in two fairly despotic countries for a country that is a bit ramshackle but offers hope (and oil) and a split country that is entirely ramshackle and offers irritation.
As long as we treat them as entirely unconnected results, it's okay, I guess.
Lucky Luciano
(11,257 posts)All your kills here will be good.