The Political Conundrum!

When one thinks of the nationality of Islamist terrorists, Pakistanis and Saudis are usually the ones that come to mind. But a moderate Muslim country is unfortunately slowly, against its will, providing a very concerning and large number of terrorists. This country is Morocco.

I wrote an article for the Middle East Times on that topic.
You can read it in full here.

Here is an excerpt:
Until recently Morocco was more likely to be associated with tourism, rather than terrorism. That trend however is slowly changing.

That change began on May 16, 2003 when Morocco suffered its first experience at the hands of Islamist terrorism. That day, Casablanca was hit with four simultaneous terror attacks that left 45 people dead and hundreds injured. Al-Qaida style attacks were perpetrated by Moroccan citizens belonging to the GICM (Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, known by its French acronym), a group affiliated with Osama bin Laden's organization.

Needless to say that the kingdom was stunned that its sons had turned violently against it. Since then numerous - over 30 - local Islamist cells have been dismantled by Moroccan security forces that have tackled the problem head-on. Most of the cells have been linked to terrorist networks specializing in recruitment of volunteers for al-Qaida in Iraq, some of whom cooperate with individuals based in France and Belgium. Also the Mezwak mosque in Tetouan, where over a dozen young men were recruited to commit suicide attacks against coalition forces in Iraq, has become quite infamous. The Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat called it " the highway for suicide bombers to Iraq." Unsurprisingly, among foreigners, Moroccans are second in the number of jihadists in Iraq right after the Saudi contingent.

But that is not all: Moroccans living abroad are more and more showing up in Islamist terror groups. In fact Moroccans have been involved in terror operations from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, from Iraq to Spain, from Holland to Belgium.

The first major terror operations outside of Morocco where Moroccans were involved was the Madrid Mar. 11, 2004 attacks that killed 191. Interestingly, some of the alleged perpetrators of these attacks were attending the Tetouan mosque. On Dec. 5, a Moroccan court sentenced Hisham Ahmidan to 10 years in prison for his role in the Madrid attacks.

Then in November 2004, Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan gruesomely murdered Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam.

In Feb. 2008 one of the largest Islamist networks in Morocco was dismantled. Called after its leader the Belliraj network had planned to hit multiple targets inside the kingdom; 35 people were arrested then, most of them had connections to Belgium. Unsurprisingly, on Nov. 27 Belgium arrested another 11 people linked to the Belliraj network on an international arrest warrant issued by Morocco. Six of them are Moroccans, one of them had a rocket launcher in his home.

Today’s financial mess is affecting everyone. But, is it affecting our troops who are fighting a multi-front war and maintaining split households? On this week’s Blog Talk Radio You Served show CJ and I will be talking with Mr. Nathaniel Long, CEO of the VA Mortgage Center. Mr. Long will discuss whether or not Veterans will be affected by the current mortgage crisis and whether now is a good time to buy. Another addition to our line up is Mr. Jeff Rose. Jeff Rose is a Certified Financial Planner and co-founder of Alliance Investment Planning Group. He is also the author of Good Financial Cents, a financial planning and investment blog. You can also learn more about Jeff at his website www.JeffRoseFinancial.com

We will also be talking with Mr. Ken Fisher who is Chairman and CEO of the Fisher House Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that constructs “comfort homes” for families of hospitalized military personnel and veterans. Founded in 1990 by his late uncle Zachary Fisher, the program aids more than 10,000 guest families each year and has saved families more than $80 million. To date, the foundation has built 38 houses at military bases and VA medical centers across the country and overseas, in Landstuhl, Germany. It plans to complete 21 more houses by the end of 2010. We will be talking to Ken about all the great things that Fisher House does and how the American people can help Fisher House help our Warriors and their families. You can get to know Ken a little before the show by checking out his bio at http://www.fisherhouse.org/aboutUs/5_FHkenFisherBio.pdf

Be sure to visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/youserved at 7:00 PM EST on Thursday night to listen, or come back and listen to the archive at a later time.

A German official says Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet has approved a plan to contribute one navy ship and up to 1,400 troops to an EU anti-piracy mission.

Secretary Chertoff spoke on the need to secure cyberspace, and to protect our nation's cyber-systems and infrastructure, whether it be government, military, or civilian government on December 10, 2008 at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association meeting at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

General Douglas O’Dell, President George W. Bush’s federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding, strongly emphasized the importance of businesses developing continuity of operations plans, or COOP plans, now before a disaster. In keynote remarks at the Louisiana Technology Council “Business Continuity: Planning Your Survival Kit” event, O’Dell noted the importance of technology specialists in developing and carrying out such plans.

Overwhelmed with anguish, Dong Yun Yoon walked unsteadily to a pile of rubble where his home once stood and pleaded for advice on how to cope after losing his family. And he also asked for prayers for the jet's Marine pilot, who ejected safely from the F/A-18D Hornet after his training mission went awry Dec. 8.

The Pentagon is fast-tracking a multibillion-dollar competition to outfit ground forces in Afghanistan with new, off-road terrain MRAPs that are more agile, lighter and provide increased maneuverability to handle that country's rocky terrain, according to a request for bids released Dec. 8.

U.S. Special Forces killed six Afghan police and wounded at least 11 early today in a case of mistaken identity after the police fired on the Americans during an operation against an insurgent commander, officials said.

…with friends like these.

Want to know what I am talking about? Head over to http://community.getthegouge.com/blogs/eyeonafghanistan/archive/2008/12/09/with-friends-like-these.aspx and read the entire blog post.

Preliminary findings of a study on violent crimes committed by Fort Carson, Colo., combat veterans could be released next week, the Army says.