Algeria: Intelligence Agency's Dubious Role In Fighting Terrorism
- HASSAN MASIKY
- 01/25/13
Washington / Morocco News Board--- Now that the United States , in the words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “ faces very serious, ongoing and “strategic threat in North Africa from al-Qaeda affiliates and other jihadists” , the role of Algeria’s feared and secretive military security agency (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité or DRS) is coming under scrutiny in the American and European press.
A recent article by Eli Lake and Jamie Dettmer in the Daily Beast explores the long held suspicion that Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the mastermind of the In Amanas terror attack that killed scores of foreign workers in a natural gas facility in the Algerian desert, worked for the DRS. Citing current and former U.S. intelligence officers, Lake and Dettmer allege “Belmokhtar may have once worked as an Algerian informant”.
With the death of three Americans in In Amenas and the possible connections between events in Algeria and the Attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, the United States government must put economic interests aside and ask Algerian officials the hard question: Is the DRS playing a double game in the Sahel and theSahara? Quoted in The Daily Beast , John Schindler, a former National Security Agency counterintelligence officer stated that “Algerian defectors have named several emirs as [Algerian security] agents in the past including Belmokhtar.”
“It was widely believed in U.S. counterintelligence circles that he was an … agent." In addition, the Daily Beast cite a “European intelligence officer, who declined to be named, as saying the politics of the region has at times been highly complex with “temporary marriages of convenience” and shifting divisions and alliances forming around trafficking deals that cross over ideological lines. “There’s a lot of money to be made from smuggling and elements in the intelligence services in the region have also had their fingers in the pie.””
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Comments (46)
You really had to dig hard to find an article that actually criticize Algeria, THe daily beast, come on Mr Masikey,you.can do better than that.
Let see.what the.actual pressand experts had to say about the matter not a website founded in....1998.
Algeria is a socialist country. When Algeria finally won independence from France in 1962 after an eight year war, the founders of the new state did not revive an indigenous form of government that had been displaced by more than a century of French colonial occupation. Instead they created a socialist republic modeled on France, but without the French. Echoing the Fifth Republic's liberté, égalité, fraternité, Algerians were free, they were equal, and they were brotherly. Despite the state's shortcomings over the last 50 years which are readily apparent to Algerians of all walks, this sense of equality is deeply engrained. No one Algerian was above another. As visitors to Algiers and other Algerian cities are quick to note, there are no shoeshine boys in Algeria -- no Algerian is expected to kneel at the feet of another. By extension, certainly no foreigner was above any Algerian."
huffingtonpost.com/.../...
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before Congress today that there is "no doubt" that the terrorists who attacked a BP facility in eastern Algeria last week were armed with weapons that slipped out of Libya,"
abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=18293171&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dalgeria%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dchrome-mobile%26tbo%3Dd%26tbm%3Dnws%26ei%3DawIDUayvL5TY9ATtvYDoDg%26start%3D20%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D360%26bih%3D567
mr Masikey,remembe r when Algeria was.warning the whole world about th..future repercussions about Sarkozy war on Libya? I guess.we know who.was right.
"Only a few countries, including Britain, the United States and Algeria, have publicly stated their refusal to pay ransoms to terrorists. Other European nations have a much more ambiguous attitude, evidently paying to free their citizens without admitting to it. In France, “the authorities have never officially or publicly proscribed the paying of ransoms,” stated a French parliamentary report from last March.
The report cited an Algerian estimate that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb had received up to $150 million in ransoms over the last decade, a number it said was probably too high. A separate analysis by Stratfor, a private firm, put the amount at nearly $90 million."
topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda_in_the_islamic_maghreb/index.html
I can go on and on.about western sources praising Algeria's no compromise policy toward terrorists but unfortunately, I am having to use my cellphone to post.this entry.
So dear Mr Masikey playing a.terrorist apologetic is not going to make "evil" Algeria look any worst.
Algeria fought terrorists back when their leaders were welcomed with open arms in the west.
Morocco will be a great candidate to host the base for the drones, we are friends for more than 200 years and if the Americans ask for help, we will oblige and we will not be shy about it, Not like the Algerians who allowed the French to use their air space and tried to hide it until Laurent Fabius the french foreign minister put Bouteflika on the spot. Their news media went as far as denying it and said that the French never used the Algerian air space, they used the Moroccan space instead.
Under his Majesty King M6, Morocco is doing an excellent job in the foreign arena.
Have you noticed that the Polisario and Algeria are now quiet and not attacking Morocco in their news media day and night?
Today A meeting of interior ministers from Morocco, France, Spain and Portugal was held in Rabat to strengthen cooperation between the departments of the four countries in many areas including security.
Morocco under his majesty is very serious about going after the terrorists, and we do not make secret deals with Ansar eddine, we kill them. We will quash them like bugs.
As a matter of fact Algeria should ask for our help as suggested by the previous US ambassador, instead of trying to do it alone or ask Niger and Burkina fasso for help
Here read :
csmonitor.com/.../...
Lastly, I really hope that Algeria beats Togo tomorrow, I want North Africa to be represented in the African cup until the end.
I am always rooting for Algeria except when they play against us.
One two three viva l'equip e d'algerie,
The US is now readying their drones to to take over the Algerians skies, Algeria has done everything possible to keep foreign forces from fighting in Mali including befriending terrorists, and to get back at Morocco, and then they allowed the french to fly over Mali, big mistake, they opened Pandora's box. Drones, French troops, and terrorists are now roaming free at Algeria's gates, and what is Morocco doing?
Preparing the next influx of tourists to come enjoy the food, the sun, and the beach.
The Algerians dealt promptly, decisively and swiftly with the recent terrorists acts -- If that was just an act or a front for something else, then they should be worthy of an Oscar nomination!
Not sure if you are a self hating Moroccan, but as far i am concern, you are d#$% right, Algeria is "the beautiful" Is it perfect, No . Is the gov. perfect, far from it.
So keep leaving in lala land .
A Psychiatrist needs to attend Medical school, complete that and then specialise in mental health and welfare.
Dr Phil never went to Medical school. As for Oprah being a psychiatrist... .No Comments.
@Isam
You said "As a matter of fact Algeria should ask for our help as suggested by the previous US ambassador, instead of trying to do it alone or ask Niger and Burkina fasso for help
Here read" from the link you posted, please note the final part of that article "Edward M. Gabriel is the former US ambassador to Morocco, 1997 to 2001, and advises the government of Morocco." In other words, a paid lobbyist.
You can hate on Algeria all you want but at the end of the day, We might not be perfect but we did stick o our guns and despite all the Western pressures, we did not negotiate with terrorists because the only good terrorist is a dead one. Dont take my word for it
"But the limits of Algeria’s cooperation with the United States were visible on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed the gas facility where Islamic extremists were holding dozens of American and other foreign hostages — an operation that a Pentagon official said was undertaken without consultation with the United States.
“The Algerians are jealous of their sovereignty, and that explains why they haven’t consulted with the Americans,” said Anouar Boukhars, an expert on North Africa at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Their position is no negotiation with violent extremists.”
Obama administration officials have been reluctant to discuss the rescue mission, which Algerian officials acknowledged led to the death of some hostages. With an eye on Mali, however, America n officials made clear that they planned to continue nurturing the relationship with Algeria."
nytimes.com/.../...
With all due respect, compare that to another country that claimed to a territory to be its "Southern territories" only to agree to give half of it to Mauritania and finally agree to a cease fire with Polisario, that stipulated that Independence is an option.
Isam there are more than half dozen in Goulmim (morocco)Fore more than a year
Did the DRS nurture some of the terror groups? maybe.In the words of the great Hillary Clinton : "You can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect it to only bite neighbours."
Moroccans can get bad but will never do such a thing. How low can you people go? It's a soccer game for Allah sake.
Now you are packing, who has the last laugh?
Algerians with NIF are the first National team to be thrown out of CAN 2013.
So long Algeria go back to your polisario fans, go back to your Ansar Eddine fans, Bashar al assad fans, Soviet fans and tell them how big of a nif you have.
Well, i am still going to wish you good luck against S. AFRICA tomorrow:) because at the end of the day its just a game.
I dont have to resort to such techniques to get back at you, i can easily mop the floor with all your arguments (whenever you have one) without having to resort to insults or stereotypes as calling Algeria Tzair....etc.
As for inviting us to your meeting:)......:)
And yes, we do support Polisario, there is not a d@#$ thing you guys can do about it, just keep asking for the reopening of the borders:)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Algeria's foreign minister acknowledged that security forces made mistakes in a hostage crisis at a Saharan gas plant in which dozens of foreign workers were killed during Algerian military strikes.
Mourad Medelci also conceded that Algeria will need international help to fight terrorism. Algeria's decision to refuse foreign offers of aid in handling the crisis, and to send the military to fire on vehicles full of hostages, drew widespread international criticism.
"We are in the process of assessing our mistakes," Medelci told The Associated Press in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.
Hassan Massiky did never say that the DRS was involved in the hostage situation in In Amenas,.. he didn't say that directly, nor did he imply it in any way...
Now regarding the relations between the DRS and some of the terrorist groups, especially among the hardliners, that relation was related in many testimonies, most of which by Algerians... and that includes Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and many others who were even higher in those networks' hierarchy...
And you don't have to "dig deep", here is the video on the role of DRS in the killing of the monks of Tibhirine, by Canal +, but, what do they know...
www.youtube.com/.../
These people are drugged by the lies they are subjected to by their leaders and when they lose a soccer game, you see them waking up from their oblivion.
As for Morocco, If they get sent packing tomorrow, read my other comments, we simply do not have a great team and we do not pretend to have the number two African team.
We are work in progress and in 2015 CAN will take place in Morocco and then we will be ready to win the whole thing and if we don't, that's ok too we have other things to worry about.
As for your fans holding Polisario flags, next time, don't do it, as you can see you got cursed hahawahawahaha
So, here I am, a Fassi from Casablanca , living in NY, hanging out with Imazighens !!!! What impressed me the most was that, at this event, there were Berber Entertainers from BOTH Morocco and Algeria!!!
Apparently, Berbers -- the original indigenous of North Africa, do not give a hoot about whether one is from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, or anywhere else in that region. My understating is that they have been oppressed for so long that "regional difference" didn't seem that important anymore!!!! They want to unite!!!!
I applaud them for their effort -- and sure do hope that their wisdom would trickle down to ALL of those who live in that region.
Medelci said:
aljazeera.net/.../...
you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Tunisia is next?
These people are brainwashed with this NIF thing. What la honte is, is being brainwashed.
It's a st*#&$d soccer game, sometimes you lose sometimes you win. As a matter of fact the Algerians should not be ashamed, I watched both games and they were the better team. Instead they are Psyched and focused into thinking less of themselves and hence feeling ashamed.
That's what Morocco has to deal with on the diplomatic side.
For instance, they think of themselves as heros when killing hostages and terrorists and at the same time they are telling the world in Davos after being pressured to give real answers that they made mistakes and they need help.
It's no coincidence that Algeria and Morocco are at odds for more than 40 years, we are dealing with the Algerian flawed psychology and that is extremely hard to overcome.
Look at the ones who constantly come to Morocco board, they refuse to criticize their leaders, they see it as a shameful act and they would only do so in the "security" of their own blogs.
I want to say something bad about Morocco when dealing with the Algerians but frankly I do not see what to criticize.
The King of Morocco had extended the olive branch to Bouteflika on many occasions to start a new beginning but he refused. Bouteflika knows that making peace with Morocco will kill every leverage he has on his people. Morocco is an internal affair for the Algerians, they use it to keep feeding their Army generals the billions that are spent on themselves instead on on the people of Algeria.
For those of you who think that we might one day have peace with Algeria, I say, that would only happen if the Algerians take a matter into their own hands and to start with, prevent bouteflika from running the country like a domino for another 6 years in 2014.
Morocco should continue doing what it does best, looking forward the future, We might not be there yet but we will get there.
A country's official news media APS has to say something about Morocco and the sahara EVERY SINGLE DAY is a enough proof that we are dealing with an psycho-obsessed entity.
They don't understand that what they are doing is not helping them much, and will only strengthen the will of ALL Moroccans.
Moroccans might disagree on should or should not be their leader but one thing they agree on, they will no relinquish an millimeter of the Sahara.
The Algerian problem is the Alaouite monarchy since Boumediane, instead they are going after the wrong target: The Moroccan people.
It simply would not work.
Two poor peasants, Ivan and Boris, had so much in comment -- except that Boris had a goat and Ivan didn’t. (Algeria has Oil and Morocco doesn't). One day, Ivan came upon a strange-looking lamp and, when he rubbed it, a genie appeared and told him that she could grant him ANYTHING in the world -- but it could ONLY be ONE wish!!!
Ivan's immediate AND foolish response was: “I want Boris’s goat to die.”
I -- and MANY other Moroccans do not want "Boris's goat" to die!
Bragging about your little trip to Boston and how harmonious Moroccan and Algerian Amazighs to each other is like saying how nice the Germans to the Jews in Today's Germany.
Wash hadak wajhak oula gfak?
Every time someone comes up with a good idea there is always a Fassi 7azzaqi out there who likes to quash it. They want to be the center of attention always.
Fassa are the root of all evil in Morocco, they took over everything, If I were you, I would just zip it and don't try to be the one who coexist with all. Everyone in Morocco knows that Fassa know only fassa.
www.skyscrapercity.com/.../
And I'd love to see your little F-16's take on our Su-30's anyday of the week, lets see what you got ya magharbi. As for Haraga, here is another link
demainonline.com/.../...
now go back to bowing to your king and stay quiet
More important, those who claim to be Moroccan, Ya hassrah, and perceive that the problem between Morocco and Algeria, can be summarized as one nation envious of another nation's wealth of resources, just show how disconnected they are from their own people...
The problem Morocco has to face, is that our neighbors are putting all their efforts to bother us, Moroccans, and destabilize our nation's unity... it's that simple..
And by the way, regarding the article, Mr Hassan Massiky never made assumptions, the relations between the DRS and Islamist militants have been the subject of numerous articles and investigations, and I am hoping one day I'll meet "physically" an Algerian who will deny it, only the guys on morocco board refute the mere thought of it, generally Algerians, but sometimes some lost Moroccan goats as well...
My initial reaction was to ignore you you completely... But I thought better of it and I thought about engaging you in a thing or two -- for your own good!!!!!
-A- My post about Boston had NOTHING to do with bragging -- I will BRAG NOW and tell you that I have been to more places that you can't even spell.
-B- My point, which you've miserably missed, was simply that I had admired how Imazighen -- I'm not going to save you time and explain to you what that means -- do have a HIGHER VISION. You and the rest of them punks out there could keep on bickering.
-C- Algeria and the Algerians are NOT the enemy (sorry Morelli -- I know you believe otherwise). They are just like us on so many levels! Your thoughts are clearly obscured by your irrational and unfounded hatred for them.
-D- As for Fassa being the root Evil of all Morocco -- all I can say, and I'm giving a good advice here, it is nothing more than a defeatist belief. LOSERS, always find somebody else to blame.
-E- In regards to you attacking me personally, the best you could come with is Hazak? Really? You couldn't think of any rebuttal but resorting to infantile name calling? I pity you!
You are so Algerian lover, isn't your grand father Allal lfassi who wants to take over Algeria? Mauritania,? and go as far as Senegal?
That's called the hidden invisible greed and you my friend remind me the Jews in Palestine, they came to the holy land and start buying properties and land from the poor Palestinians and when they got enough men - even imported jews from Ethiopia- and power they kicked the Palestinians out.
I am not asking the Algerians to surrender Algeria as you grand father did, all .am asking is from the Algerians is: If they are who they say they are, then let the UN take care of the conflict "between Morocco an the Polisario". Don't get involved and don't expect us to be quiet when we hare being massacred every day in their new media.
Guess what? Algerians would actually agree with me and would worry about your someone like you wanting to take over a quarter of Africa.
Next time you want to make a name for yourself by "engaging" me, or try to be funny on someone else back, I would think again, I know you people, and I don't even have to capitalize the text as you did.
Here is something for you, you think the Algerians are right holding Morocco hostage for 40 years, forcing us to spend our money on weapons instead of on schools, hospitals, or even parks for children, talk to the other dude here,why me?
You have more in common with him. I am not going to change my mind until the old ancient Algerian leadership is gone.
Now take care yourself and get ready for your next sales pitch somewhere where I cannot even spell the name. I however love the serenity of my couch watching my 2 Frenchy dogs taking a nap.
www.skyscrapercity.com/.../
www.skyscrapercity.com/.../
We have 2 nuclear reactors strictly for military use and we have a true democracy, we vote for a head of state, and government, we have anti-corruption units, and we have freedom of speech, just our proxy-militias alone have split your nation into two. Our Armed Forces is larger and more trained, we spend 10x more than you on not Just Russian but German, Japanese, English, and U.S technology and we are developing an industry, something 3amo Moh sis can't do with a literacy rate lower than 60%
When it comes to.hand kissing, we all know who.has that problem.
that goes.from.the.a nnual بيعه to a bunch of "men" kissing a 7 years old.
With all due respect, kissing hands.is the exception in Algeria and the rule in Morocco
.
You shame also the "higher education" you claim to have or pursue, with let's say "less than smart" comments..
I am not even going to bother discussing economics with someone who drops on us something like, I don't know, the "GDP of Algeria Excluding Oil and Gas reach $186.9 Billion"... really, how did you come up with that figure? and in case you missed the point, that was not a question...
I am not going to debate someone who insists on ignoring the truth about the DRS, here is the link, it's a nice investigative work by canal plus:
www.youtube.com/.../
I am not going to debate someone who keeps bringing in those 11 years kid discussions about their army's flying toys, maybe the money you wasted on that weaponry could have been more productive if it was spent on your own people... making it difficult for the terrorist groups to hire you like "des petits pains"... maybe you should look for your enemies inside your borders, just like in the 50s, when it was FLN against harkis...
We are used to having Algerians debate us on this forum, but this time around, the level has sunk so low... thanks to you two...
Finally, and going back to the basics, Mr Hassan Massiky did not say that the DRS organized the In Amenas, he only says that many countries are starting to review your "terrorism politics"... you can call him a conspiracy theorist if you want, but you also have the testimony of a former president, Chadli Benjdid, and the corpse of another President, Boudiaf, that indicate otherwise...
Are you guys losing your cool?
Instead of resorting to insults and name calling:) You should try to use facts and stats to prove us wrong,because the the use of insults and personal attacks are not going to make your argument more believable, it just shows your level of sophistication:)
In other words, we do not have to resort to insults to make you look bad, because we can mop the floor with your arguments, just by using some good old .......facts:)

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