KASSERINE, Tunisia — Assassins mounted on Vespas gun down two secular politicians. Roadside bombs cripple soldiers in the mountains. An ambush leaves eight soldiers dead, five with slit throats.
Among the countries of the Arab Spring, Tunisia is widely considered to have the best chance for a successful democracy, with Egypt in an increasingly bloody and complex crisis after a military coup, Libya beset by competing armed groups, and Syria deep in a grinding full-scale war without apparent end.
That's a LIE! Syria has pretty much repelled the mercenary "Al-CIA-Duh" army and is now mopping up.
Btw, did you know the term "Arab Spring" was coined by neo-con Charles Krauthammer?
Kinda calls into question all these revolts, at least the origins of them. I suspect it was the globe-kickers attempt to replace stale old dictators with their new men, the side benefit being if any Islamist party won governance (Egypt) the place would be targeted for covert destabilization to prove Islamic (or Muslims, let's face it, that's the message from my jewsmedia) democracy just doesn't work.
But the emergence of an armed Al Qaeda-linked jihadi group in the deep wooded valleys and caves of a mountainous region near the Algerian border threatens to derail the tenuous transition.
It is a remote region of unpaved streets, smugglers, and strong distrust of the government, despite a stepped-up military effort to defeat the militants.
The Jebel Chaambi mountains, established as a national park to protect curved-horned Barbary sheep and endangered species of gazelles in Tunisia’s southwest, has now become a haven for Al Qaeda in North Africa.
The stakes are high for this North African nation, whose educated, mostly middle-class population kicked off revolutions around the Arab world in 2011, and which is on the cusp of completing a constitution written by Islamist and secular parties working together.
A-huh.
The government ascribes the mounting violence to a jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda’s branch in North Africa, including militants who fled the French military intervention in Mali.
Related: "[The following was allegedly found in an abandoned temple in Timbuktu, where “al-CIA-da” forces allegedly left it behind. It predicts international intervention in late January, the rebel defeat and subsequent dispersal among the civilian population. The alleged “al-Qaeda” acolytes are admonished to establish civilian protest groups as cover for their activities and to encourage locals to assume the fight.] -- MALI-AL-QAIDA’S SAHARA PLAYBOOK
Also see: Mali Post a Mile Long
Bastille Day Parade Marred by Militarism
African, UN forces merge in Mali
Nigeria pulls battalion of troops from Mali
Apparently they have their own problems with "Islamic extremists."
That threat is jeopardizing Tunisia’s delicate balance, exacerbating the climate of distrust between political parties, and enraging many Tunisians who don’t think the moderate Islamist government is doing enough to take them down.
Can't even have one of those, apparently.
The unrest is challenging security services too underfunded and overstretched to fight a major terrorist threat, one that could also lead to attacks on Europe and undermine the democratic prospects of the Arab revolutions.
And the Obama administration and U.S government are ringing alarm bells about a BIG FALSE FLAG coming! What timing, huh!?
‘‘Tunisia could become like Somalia. Other countries have the economic resources to fight terrorism but we have nothing,’’ General Rachid Ammar, then the head of Tunisia’s Army, warned at the end of June. ‘‘I see in Tunisia today signs that make me afraid and keep me from sleeping.’’ He resigned shortly after those comments.
The "terrorists" going to build a school?
The source of this fear is lurking in training camps hidden in Jebel Chaambi national park at the tail end of the Atlas Mountains that stretch across North Africa. It also hides in nearby cities and towns where smuggling, unemployment, and resentment of the central government hold powerful sway.
Extremism was long kept in check under the strong-arm regime of secular dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, but after Tunisians overthrew him in January 2011, political prisoners were given amnesty. The government says that among them were Islamist extremists who have gathered new Tunisian recruits and set up training camps with the help of Algerian Al Qaeda veterans and the support of ultraconservative Muslims, known as Salafis.
Btw, who is "Al-CIA-Duh, and what do you mean they were made up, and created for the courtroom!? What a nightmare! Yup, you must have dreamed the whole thing.
Related:
Prop 101: Al-CIA-Duh and the OSI
Prop 101: Al-CIA-Duh's Greatest Hits
Prop 101: The "Terrorism" Business
New York Times Admits War on Terror is U.S. Creation
Oh, AmeriKa's MSM KNOWS ALL ABOUT and yet STILL PUSHES the CHARADE, huh?
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African branch of the global terror network and patron of local jihadi groups, had originally taken a hands-off approach to Tunisia.
That attitude is changing as the ruling moderate Islamist Ennahda Party has increasingly turned against Salafi groups and reached out more to secular opposition parties. The party’s decision not to enshrine Islamic law in the new constitution earned it a sharp Al Qaeda rebuke.
In March, Al Qaeda issued a statement urging Tunisians not to join the hundreds already fighting in Syria, but instead to stay home and oppose efforts to secularize the country.
The Tunisian militants call their organization the Oqba Ibn Nafaa brigade, after the seventh-century Arab warrior who conquered Tunisia.
Nice tough, CIA scriptwriter.
--more--"
Related: Turmoil in Tunisia
Well, we better intervene, right?
"Tunisia opposition leader killed, sparking crisis; 2d assassination since February" by Carlotta Gall and Rick Gladstone | New York Times, July 26, 2013
TUNIS — Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutionary movement, was plunged into a new political crisis Thursday when assassins shot an opposition party leader outside his home in a hail of gunfire.
It was the second political assassination in Tunisia since February and quickly incited protests blaming Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that leads the government. Crowds of protesters gathered outside the offices of the Interior Ministry in Tunis, the capital, calling on Ennahda to relinquish power. Security forces were deployed to contain them.
The Associated Press reported that protests erupted in other cities, including Sidi Bouzid, the impoverished town where the Tunisian revolution began, and in the nearby town of Meknassi, where angry demonstrators burned down the local Ennahda headquarters.
The Popular Front coalition of leftist parties that included Brahmi’s called for ‘‘civil disobedience in all locations of the country until the fall of the governing coalition.’’
I no longer trust "leftists."
The country’s largest trade unions called for a general strike Friday that will shutter the government, public transportation, and most shops, freeing people up for what are expected to be large antigovernment protests.
Ennahda issued a statement calling the assassination “cowardly and despicable.” The leader of Ennahda, Rachid al-Ghannouchi, said on Tunisian radio: “This is a crime against the democratic transition of Tunisia. The classic question is: Who is behind this? I don’t think that any political party would want this.”
I have an idea.
Mohammed Brahmi, 58, leader of the Arab nationalist People’s Party, was felled by several bullets outside his residence in Ariana, a suburb of Tunis. Other local Tunisian media said Brahmi was shot at least 11 times as he sat in his car by a pair of gunmen, who escaped on a moped.
They escaped on a MOPED?
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the assassination.
The HALLMARK of an INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OPERATION and FALSE FLAG!
At a local hospital where Brahmi’s body was taken, dozens of protesters gathered to denounce Ennahda.
The assassination, which coincided with celebrations for the 56th anniversary of Tunisian statehood after independence from France, came as Tunisia was still grappling with a democratic transition following the January 2011 revolution that toppled the country’s autocratic leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and forced him into exile. The Tunisian revolution was the catalyst that spawned similar uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria.
Gee, and WHO would want to RUIN Tunisians celebrations, 'eh?
"Assassinations in Tunisia linked" Associated Press, July 27, 2013
TUNIS — The Al Qaeda-linked Islamist extremist cell behind an earlier political assassination also killed a leftist Tunisian politician using the same weapon, a top security official said Friday.
Mohammed Brahmi was shot 14 times in front of his home within sight of his family on Thursday, plunging the country into a political crisis and unleashing demonstrations around the country blaming the government for the assassination.
Interior Minister Loutfi Ben Jeddou told reporters that ballistics tests on the 9mm bullets used in the attack showed it came from the same weapon used to kill opposition leader Chokri Belaid in February.
He alleged that the gunman is Boubakr Hakim, a 30-year-old weapons smuggler born in France, who, he said, was known for jihadi sympathies.
Hakim had already been implicated as part of the 14-person cell behind Belaid’s assassination by four members of the al Qaeda-linked group detained during that investigation, the minister said.
The press conference came after demonstrations raged around the country the night before, holding the ruling Islamist Ennahda Party responsible for the assassination and attacking local party headquarters.
Police used tear gas in central Tunis and in the provinces to disperse the protests.
The slaying of Brahmi, of the leftist Popular Current party, raised fears of new chaos in the country.
--more--"
"Thousands protest at official’s funeral
TUNIS — Thousands of protesters chanting antigovernment slogans joined a funeral march to lay to rest an assassinated Tunisian opposition politician, a display of the anger threatening the survival of a government once seen as a model in the region for the transition to democracy. Also, a bomb exploded in the early morning underneath a car at the port in Tunis outside a police station (AP)."
Also see: Thousands protest government at Tunisia funeral
"Tunisia’s leader refuses to step down" Associated Press, July 30, 2013
TUNIS — Tunisia’s prime minister rejected opposition demands that his government step down and promised on Monday to complete the country’s democratic transition with a new constitution by August and elections in December.
The assassination of two opposition legislators over the last six months has plunged Tunisia — the birthplace of the Arab Spring — into a crisis with antigovernment protests, the resignation of a Cabinet minister, and a walkout by dozens of lawmakers.
The standoff was given extra urgency by a bloody ambush that took place Monday in a mountainous region near the Algerian border known as a hideout for Islamic militants that left at least nine soldiers dead, according to a local hospital.
Prime Minister Ali Larayedh’s fiery speech, in which he called those wanting to dissolve the government ‘‘anarchists’’ and ‘‘opportunists,’’ is unlikely to appease an angry opposition that says the Islamist-led government has failed to carry out the political transition promised after the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator in January 2011.
Egypt must have been an example.
Tunisia was considered the best hope for democracy in the region — until its current crisis. On Thursday, left-wing Tunisian politician Mohammed Brahmi was assassinated in Tunis, shot 14 times outside his home in front of his family. That followed the killing of another left-wing opposition legislator, Chokri Belaid, in February.
--more--"
"Terror suspect killed in Tunisian raid" Associated Press August 05, 2013
TUNIS — A suspected terrorist was killed and another wounded Sunday after an intense firefight in a dawn raid by special forces, officials said.
Tunisia’s interior ministry said six other suspects were arrested in the operation, which took place in Tunis’s El Ouardia neighborhood. The ministry statement said the targets of the raid were wanted in connection with ‘‘other security affairs.’’ It did not say what those affairs were.
The push against suspected extremists follows the July 25 assassination of an opposition leader, which authorities have blamed on an Al Qaeda-linked cell, some of whose members have been detained.
The killing has sparked protests in the country, which was the birthplace of the Arab spring, and is threatening its nascent government.
A liberal opposition leader was assassinated in Tunisia last month, and an ambush by militants killed eight soldiers. Opposition groups have rallied daily, demanding the resignation of the government. They accuse the government of giving too much latitude to extremists.
On Friday, Tunisia’s military launched airstrikes and deployed troops in a western mountain region. The operation followed overnight clashes with suspected militants linked to Al Qaeda’s north Africa branch, officials said.
--more--"
Time to throw all this into the TOILET where it belongs!
Kind of explains the "news" coverage, doesn't it?
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African branch of the global terror network and patron of local jihadi groups, had originally taken a hands-off approach to Tunisia.
That attitude is changing as the ruling moderate Islamist Ennahda Party has increasingly turned against Salafi groups and reached out more to secular opposition parties. The party’s decision not to enshrine Islamic law in the new constitution earned it a sharp Al Qaeda rebuke.
In March, Al Qaeda issued a statement urging Tunisians not to join the hundreds already fighting in Syria, but instead to stay home and oppose efforts to secularize the country.
The Tunisian militants call their organization the Oqba Ibn Nafaa brigade, after the seventh-century Arab warrior who conquered Tunisia.
Nice tough, CIA scriptwriter.
--more--"
Related: Turmoil in Tunisia
Well, we better intervene, right?
"Tunisia opposition leader killed, sparking crisis; 2d assassination since February" by Carlotta Gall and Rick Gladstone | New York Times, July 26, 2013
TUNIS — Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutionary movement, was plunged into a new political crisis Thursday when assassins shot an opposition party leader outside his home in a hail of gunfire.
It was the second political assassination in Tunisia since February and quickly incited protests blaming Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that leads the government. Crowds of protesters gathered outside the offices of the Interior Ministry in Tunis, the capital, calling on Ennahda to relinquish power. Security forces were deployed to contain them.
The Associated Press reported that protests erupted in other cities, including Sidi Bouzid, the impoverished town where the Tunisian revolution began, and in the nearby town of Meknassi, where angry demonstrators burned down the local Ennahda headquarters.
The Popular Front coalition of leftist parties that included Brahmi’s called for ‘‘civil disobedience in all locations of the country until the fall of the governing coalition.’’
I no longer trust "leftists."
The country’s largest trade unions called for a general strike Friday that will shutter the government, public transportation, and most shops, freeing people up for what are expected to be large antigovernment protests.
Ennahda issued a statement calling the assassination “cowardly and despicable.” The leader of Ennahda, Rachid al-Ghannouchi, said on Tunisian radio: “This is a crime against the democratic transition of Tunisia. The classic question is: Who is behind this? I don’t think that any political party would want this.”
I have an idea.
Mohammed Brahmi, 58, leader of the Arab nationalist People’s Party, was felled by several bullets outside his residence in Ariana, a suburb of Tunis. Other local Tunisian media said Brahmi was shot at least 11 times as he sat in his car by a pair of gunmen, who escaped on a moped.
They escaped on a MOPED?
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the assassination.
The HALLMARK of an INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OPERATION and FALSE FLAG!
At a local hospital where Brahmi’s body was taken, dozens of protesters gathered to denounce Ennahda.
The assassination, which coincided with celebrations for the 56th anniversary of Tunisian statehood after independence from France, came as Tunisia was still grappling with a democratic transition following the January 2011 revolution that toppled the country’s autocratic leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and forced him into exile. The Tunisian revolution was the catalyst that spawned similar uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria.
Gee, and WHO would want to RUIN Tunisians celebrations, 'eh?
--more--"
"Assassinations in Tunisia linked" Associated Press, July 27, 2013
TUNIS — The Al Qaeda-linked Islamist extremist cell behind an earlier political assassination also killed a leftist Tunisian politician using the same weapon, a top security official said Friday.
Mohammed Brahmi was shot 14 times in front of his home within sight of his family on Thursday, plunging the country into a political crisis and unleashing demonstrations around the country blaming the government for the assassination.
Interior Minister Loutfi Ben Jeddou told reporters that ballistics tests on the 9mm bullets used in the attack showed it came from the same weapon used to kill opposition leader Chokri Belaid in February.
He alleged that the gunman is Boubakr Hakim, a 30-year-old weapons smuggler born in France, who, he said, was known for jihadi sympathies.
Hakim had already been implicated as part of the 14-person cell behind Belaid’s assassination by four members of the al Qaeda-linked group detained during that investigation, the minister said.
The press conference came after demonstrations raged around the country the night before, holding the ruling Islamist Ennahda Party responsible for the assassination and attacking local party headquarters.
Police used tear gas in central Tunis and in the provinces to disperse the protests.
The slaying of Brahmi, of the leftist Popular Current party, raised fears of new chaos in the country.
--more--"
"Thousands protest at official’s funeral
TUNIS — Thousands of protesters chanting antigovernment slogans joined a funeral march to lay to rest an assassinated Tunisian opposition politician, a display of the anger threatening the survival of a government once seen as a model in the region for the transition to democracy. Also, a bomb exploded in the early morning underneath a car at the port in Tunis outside a police station (AP)."
Also see: Thousands protest government at Tunisia funeral
"Tunisia’s leader refuses to step down" Associated Press, July 30, 2013
TUNIS — Tunisia’s prime minister rejected opposition demands that his government step down and promised on Monday to complete the country’s democratic transition with a new constitution by August and elections in December.
The assassination of two opposition legislators over the last six months has plunged Tunisia — the birthplace of the Arab Spring — into a crisis with antigovernment protests, the resignation of a Cabinet minister, and a walkout by dozens of lawmakers.
The standoff was given extra urgency by a bloody ambush that took place Monday in a mountainous region near the Algerian border known as a hideout for Islamic militants that left at least nine soldiers dead, according to a local hospital.
Prime Minister Ali Larayedh’s fiery speech, in which he called those wanting to dissolve the government ‘‘anarchists’’ and ‘‘opportunists,’’ is unlikely to appease an angry opposition that says the Islamist-led government has failed to carry out the political transition promised after the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator in January 2011.
Egypt must have been an example.
Tunisia was considered the best hope for democracy in the region — until its current crisis. On Thursday, left-wing Tunisian politician Mohammed Brahmi was assassinated in Tunis, shot 14 times outside his home in front of his family. That followed the killing of another left-wing opposition legislator, Chokri Belaid, in February.
--more--"
"Terror suspect killed in Tunisian raid" Associated Press August 05, 2013
TUNIS — A suspected terrorist was killed and another wounded Sunday after an intense firefight in a dawn raid by special forces, officials said.
Tunisia’s interior ministry said six other suspects were arrested in the operation, which took place in Tunis’s El Ouardia neighborhood. The ministry statement said the targets of the raid were wanted in connection with ‘‘other security affairs.’’ It did not say what those affairs were.
The push against suspected extremists follows the July 25 assassination of an opposition leader, which authorities have blamed on an Al Qaeda-linked cell, some of whose members have been detained.
The killing has sparked protests in the country, which was the birthplace of the Arab spring, and is threatening its nascent government.
A liberal opposition leader was assassinated in Tunisia last month, and an ambush by militants killed eight soldiers. Opposition groups have rallied daily, demanding the resignation of the government. They accuse the government of giving too much latitude to extremists.
On Friday, Tunisia’s military launched airstrikes and deployed troops in a western mountain region. The operation followed overnight clashes with suspected militants linked to Al Qaeda’s north Africa branch, officials said.
--more--"
Time to throw all this into the TOILET where it belongs!
