Replies to post #196626 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

If we had not invaded Iraq? ... the memory of reading of the ordinary Saudi family man who said he went to fight in Iraq

I swear sometimes I believe they just like to fight each other and us for religion ... look what's happening everywhere over there? .. I mean .. My God .. .I'm disgusted with them ... I wonder if what Shimon Peres stated has anything to do with the trouble (of course, here again! religion) The great and intriguing debate in Egypt today is about the constitution, in effect about whether to give women freedom or not. It is here that the Arab Spring will be judged. President Obama asked me who I think is preventing democracy in the Middle East. I told him, “The husbands.” The husband does not want his wife to have equal rights. Without equal rights, it will be impossible to save Egypt, because if women are not educated, the children are not educated. People who cannot read and write can’t make a living. They are finished.


sometimes it seems as if all they do in the me is rape and kill each other ... and all these tyrants . .I don't blame the people for uprising .. never! ... but god! now Murbarak gets a new trial .. there is just so much corruption .. and so many many factions ..........and they ALL fight for power and sometimes it's just all the time ... but then I remember ... Progress takes time.. new democracies take time .. .there are so many many struggles .. we had ours .. over religion too I guess ... AND we had outside invaders .. (England) ... & France .. . but they must have seen an advantage in stopping and joining us instead of England .. oh who knows .... everywhere you look .. people killing each other Mali ... Nigeria ... the Sudan (still) .... where aren't they? ... and Christ! look at Pakistan! oh my what a mess! ...... with the nukes no less .. last I read someone important maybe the last guy .... said .. there should be no government for awhile ... you know? I almost agree with him ? ... I mean they've made such a mess of things and I just don't think it's all our fault .... were they all living in peace before we got there to use their roads to go into Afghanistan? ... it sure seems hard to believe that ..

[StephanieVanbryce]

It appears that the Algerian military has botched this entire hostage thing up ..

they insisted on doing it their way .. and just look at all the dead hostages ...

sure maybe it would have turned out that way anyway .. somehow I don't think so .. sometimes when you're not all that
experienced at stuff you should take the advice of others ... and I think this was one of those times ..

BAMAKO, Mali — The four-day hostage crisis in the Sahara reached a bloody conclusion on Saturday as the Algerian Army carried out a final assault on the gas field taken over by Islamist militants, killing most of the remaining kidnappers and raising the total of hostages killed to at least 23, Algerian officials said.

much more.. tsk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/world/africa/algeria-militants-hostages.html?hp

[fuagf]

Faction Splits From Islamist Group in Northern Mali


Associated Press

Fighters from the Islamic militant group Ansar Dine stood guard during
a hostage handover last year in the desert outside Timbuktu, Mali.

By LYDIA POLGREEN - Published: January 24, 2013

SÉGOU, Mali — Ansar Dine, one of the main Islamic militant groups fighting to control Mali, split in two on Thursday when one of its leaders said in a statement published by Radio France Internationale that he would form his own group to seek negotiations to settle the country’s crisis.

Multimedia

Turmoil in Mali and the Sahara [embedded video]


Interactive Feature - Turmoil in the Sahara
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/01/18/world/africa/mali-algeria-timeline.html?ref=africa#/#time231_6945

Related

Times Topic: Mali
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/mali/index.html
French Airstrikes Push Back Islamists and Regain Towns in Central Mali (January 22, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/world/africa/french-airstrikes-push-back-islamists-in-central-mali.html?ref=africa

The new group, which calls itself the Islamic Movement for the Azawad and is led by Alghabass Ag Intalla, a prominent leader of the Tuareg ethnic group, becomes at least the sixth group to be fighting in an increasingly complex battle to control northern Mali.

Azawad is a Tuareg term for the vast desert region.

Mr. Intalla was described on the French radio station as the heir to the traditional ruler of the remote and sparsely populated Kidal region in the northeast of the country.

He was said to have been among Tuareg representatives who met with Malian diplomats in Ouagadougou, the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, late last year. The talks were an attempt to resolve longstanding Tuareg complaints and lure them away from Islamists from other countries, notably Algeria, who are operating in northern Mali.

According to R.F.I. .. http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20130124-mali-membres-ansar-dine-font-secession-creent-leur-propre-mouvement-mouvement-islamique-azawad , the splinter group said it was prepared to fight its former allies. The split within Ansar Dine came after French airstrikes halted the southward advance of rebel groups trying to push toward the capital, Bamako.

French and Malian troops have retaken the central Malian town of Diabaly, which was briefly occupied by one of the Islamist groups. They also claim to have cleared Konna and Douentza, but they have not allowed journalists to visit either town.

The main cities of the north, Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, remain beyond government control.

The latest group to be formed is at least the sixth to join the fray in northern Mali, where groups liked to Al Qaeda have overrun the secular Tuareg nationalists who initially started the latest rebellion early last year.

The groups include the Algerian-dominated Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb .. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda_in_the_islamic_maghreb/index.html?inline=nyt-org ; the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, based in Gao, which is believed to be led by a Mauritanian; and the Malian-led Ansar Dine.

Mali has been in turmoil since early 2012, when the government’s tepid response to the Tuareg uprising prompted junior army officers to topple the government just before scheduled elections. The coup made matters only worse, as the Tuareg rebels took advantage of the disarray to push farther south, capturing half of the country with the help of Islamic militants.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/world/africa/faction-splits-from-islamist-group-in-northern-mali.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fafrica%2Findex.jsonp