The Maghreb is bleeding
Now can you tell me if this was only a coincidence or if the announced alliance is confirmed?
In the last few months, events in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria told us that “Al Qaida for an Islamic Maghreb” is not a joke. We may not know the exact truth about the links between well-known terrorist organizations figures, but what we do know today is that the danger is right here, all around.
Tunisian people didn’t even know they could be targeted. They thought everything happens … everywhere else. Then they were told about rockets and gun fire for weeks in the quiet suburbs of Tunis.
Moroccan people thought that after the Casablanca episode a few years ago, everything will be done to stop it quickly. Now Moroccan police is still hunting suspects, some of them preferring to kill themselves and other people around when they are trapped.
Algeria was still hardly trying to get out of the memories of violence and the horrible experience of the 90′s. And now explosions are back. Death is back. Fear is back.
Now the Maghreb is already bleeding, and there’s nothing to hide anymore.
They are telling us how great heroes they are, because they are “attacking corrupt governments or foreign interests”. But can they tell us about the civilian victims, the destruction, the fear they are spreading? … Collateral damage maybe? Can they tell us how exactly they are helping us live better and be free?
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The real heroes are the police-officers* and, in case of Morocco, the owner of the cybercafe who stopped the bearded, self-hating morons.
The events of this week showed us that the Maghreb (and especially Morocco and Tunisia) stopped being a non-violent oasis in a region marked by violence.
We have to wake up and contain/eliminate it before it contains and eliminates us (through fear, suicide attacks and economic damage)
* Police officers aren’t always heroes, especially not in the Maghreb, but in this case they are
youssef
I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, we have to stop thinking of our countries as non-violent areas, because these people won’t let us live in peace so easily. We were quite shocked in Tunisia by the recent events, but now it’s clear that something big is going on in the region, and this could be just a beginning.
Al-Qaeda is a serious cancer to the Muslim world.
Naturally i share with you this strange feeling i never known before, and i still can’t name … But these events made me think about the identity of these terrorists : are they foreigners who came especially for these “missions”, or local who have been brain-washed and thrown in these “missions”.
Because in my opinion, if the kamikazes are locals, the problem is much much bigger than it seems to be : It means that one doesn’t care about innocent fellow-citizens who will die, and that the only loyalty is no longer for one’s country and fellow-citizens, but for the “former” (brainwasher)… Loyalty and identity are totally ERASED …
I am here in Morocco and there is some controversy revolving around the most recent terror attacks, if I can call it that. In Ifrane they doubled the security forces at the main university, which is where I am right now, because of what happened very recently in Casablanca. In the papers there are many threats about this being the new face of Moroccon youth (or perhaps it’s not so new after all).
What do you guys think are the main forces behind this? And it’s not Al Qaida, that’s for sure. Not every suicide bombing or terror attack is linked to that, if we generalize and fight the wrong forces we won’t be achieving much.
I definitely agree with what Amin said about the scary local terrorists, those who don’t even care about the citizens of their own country. It is very threatening and has serious potential for major civil disputes in the future.
These “attacks” may not be linked to al qaeda after all, but the thing is these new terrorists are using the name as a reference and the organisation as a source of inspiration, especially in algeria. of course they can have different objectives and must be treated differently. as young people from the same country can think that those acts can be considered a way of reaching freedom and justice, which is total nonsense, they are killing their own fellow citizens to achieve their goal, which is even more scary, because they are using the wrong solutions to deal with real problems.