Morocco loses 400 Al Queda members...

[insein]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040725/wl_nm/spain_morocco_militants_dc_1

Morocco Lost Track of 400 Al Qaeda Suspects-Report

Sun Jul 25, 9:47 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

MADRID (Reuters) - Morocco has warned Spain that it has lost track of 400 Moroccan Islamist militants who trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan (news - web sites), Bosnia or Chechnya (news - web sites), Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Sunday.

Moroccan authorities gave the warning to Judge Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading al Qaeda expert, in Rabat earlier this month, El Pais said, citing a person who was present at the meeting.

Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso, asked about the report, neither confirmed nor denied it but said Spain and Morocco were cooperating closely in the fight against al Qaeda and there was a constant flow of information between them.

"The media report you refer to is connected to cooperation between Spain and Morocco that has been going on for a long time and is yielding very good results," Alonso told reporters.

"We're going to continue in this route as it is essential to cooperate with Morocco and the other Maghreb countries in the fight against Islamic-based terrorism."

Spain and Morocco have worked together on the probe into the March 11 train bombings that killed 191 people and injured 1,900 in Madrid.

Investigators blame the attacks on Islamist militants acting in the name of al Qaeda, and a Spanish judge has formally accused 24 people of involvement, most of whom are Moroccan.

Authorities in Rabat told Garzon they knew of 600 Moroccan nationals who had trained at al Qaeda camps but only knew the whereabouts of 200 of them, El Pais said.

Garzon has been investigating suspected al Qaeda cells in Spain for years and has ordered 15 suspected members of the network to face trial. He was in Morocco to question several militants who are in jail there.

Morocco has suffered its own deadly attacks by radical Islamists.

Coordinated attacks in May last year killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers, in Casablanca, shocking a pro-Western kingdom which had prided itself on being a haven of stability in the Arab world.

The assailants, who the government says were bankrolled by al Qaeda, targeted international restaurants, a hotel, a Jewish center and a Jewish cemetery in Morocco's largest city.

Morocco's Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa said earlier this month that two Casablanca suspects were still on the run but the case had been all but closed.

About 1,000 people have been jailed on terrorist charges since the May 16 attacks, he said. These included 16 death penalties and several terms of life imprisonment.

Morocco has tried hard to dispel the image of a country harbouring hundreds of Islamists who pose a threat to Europe.

 

[freeandfun1]

Morocco Lost Track of 400 Al Qaeda Suspects

Oops....

 

[freeandfun1]

My first reply was in jest. You know, it irks me that we are continually giving the muslims credit for a half-assed job. I know some are trying and that we need to give those that do, public credit as it helps, but sometimes I think we need to be even more clear about calling a pig a pig instead of dressing it up and calling it a sow. Those that help us should be treated with respect and we should protect them, but those that do a half-assed job need to me called to the mat. Frankly, I (and I know that the Philippines is NOT a Muslim nation) hope we continue publicly letting Manila know how much they have fucked over the rest of the world by giving in to the terrorists demands. Instead of praising those that do what they should be doing anyway, let's start calling out those that are doing nothing while gently reminding US what the other ARE doing.

JMHO after smoking a nice bowl for the first time in a few days (or is it hours.... I forget).

 

[Annie]

Spain and Morocco. I thought I remembered something from last week. Seems Spain had identified Morocco as the largest threat Muslim wise to Europe:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...189&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037

 

[waltky]

Ridin' the Marrakesh Express...

Thousands demand change in Morocco
Mon, Feb 21, 2011 - Several thousand people rallied in Moroccan cities yesterday demanding political reform and limits on the powers of Moroccan King Mohammed VI, the latest protests demanding change that have rocked the region.

More than 2,000 people took to the streets of the capital Rabat, shouting: “The people want change.” In Casablanca, the North African nation’s biggest city, over 1,000 people came out demanding: “Freedom, dignity, justice,” a reporter said. Demonstrations were held in other Moroccan cities, including the port of Tangier. The demonstrations were peaceful as of midday.

Thousands of young Moroccans have joined the “February 20” movement on the social networking site Facebook, calling for peaceful demonstrations demanding a new constitution limiting the king’s powers and more social justice. The call has similar origins to the so-called “Facebook revolutions” that toppled decades-old regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and sparked deadly protests in Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya.

In Rabat, protestors carried banners that read: “The king must reign, not govern” and “The people want a new constitution.” “I want a Morocco that’s more fair and with less corruption,” a student demonstrator said in Casablanca who asked not to be named. “We’ve got nothing against the king, but we want more justice and work,” said another student who gave his name as Brahim.

Ahead of the protest, Morocco promised to inject 1.4 billion euros (US$1.9 billion) in subsidies to soften price hikes for staples — a key factor among others including rampant unemployment behind the spreading unrest in the Arab world. That came despite an earlier reassurance that Morocco was unlikely to see Tunisia or Egypt-style unrest because of ongoing reforms by the king, who has ruled the country for more than a decade. Human rights and civil groups as well as independent journalists joined the movement, calling for the adoption of a democratic Constitution.

MORE

See also:

From Libya to Bahrain, Mideast autocracy under fire
February 18, 2011 - After Egypt set Arab imaginations alight, autocrats from Qaddafi to the Khalifa dynasty face an assault unparalleled since the post-World War II revolutions that brought independence.

The stunning victories of Tunisians and Egyptians in ousting their entrenched dictators have set imaginations alight across the Middle East like nothing since Gamal Abdul Nasser's fiery anticolonial rhetoric in the 1950s. "We assumed that if one day an uprising emerged, it would be at the hands of a bold leader. Another strongman to replace the ones we didn't like," wrote popular Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawnah in a letter of thanks to the Egyptian people. "Never, in our wildest imaginations, did we think this uprising would come from the people. Whatever happens, this ... is something no one can take away from them, or from us. It has been embedded in our memories."

Now, the beleaguered ship of Middle Eastern autocracy is under an assault unparalleled since the post-World War II revolutions that brought independence to much of the region. Tunisia was the first shot across the bow. But the upheaval in Egypt, the Arab world's largest country, has unleashed a volley of fire from Libya to Iran. It is not so much the aspirations that are new, but a shared spirit of hope that success is possible against long odds. It's a feeling that is unlikely to dissipate quickly and could fundamentally reshape the region – though how democratic the changes will be remains to be seen.

"It would be wrong to say that Tunisia or Egypt ignited a new pattern of protest or generated new expectations ... they've existed, but the organizers in many of these countries sense a new opportunity," says Toby Craig Jones, a historian of the Middle East at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "There's this talk about a new Pan-Arabism, a new nationalist moment – I'm not sure that's right yet, but there is a perception that people across international borders are aware they have a common experience and interests given the autocrats and economic challenges they share, so whatever it is that exists up in the stratosphere, it's meaningful," Dr. Jones adds, referring to the spirit of revolt in the region.

Protests pose quandary for US