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France’s campaign in Mali exposes Europe’s unpreparedness for 21st-century war. WITH WELL-ARMED radical Islamist insurgents closing in last winter on Mali’s capital, Bamako, French President François Hollande suddenly decided to defend Western civilization. Plunging in the polls as the most unpopular French president since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, he just might have had ulterior motives; diverting hostile public opinion at home with a military escapade abroad is a tried and true tactic for floundering chiefs of state. Be that as it may, French troops, mainly Foreign Legion, began deploying to Mali in Operation Serval on January 11....

Editor's note: Below is Thomas Joscelyn's testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, on al Qaeda, the nature of the group's central command and its relationship with its affiliates, and the future challenges the West faces in battling the terror organization. Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Sherman and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the threat posed by al Qaeda. We have been asked to "examine the nature of global al Qaeda today." In particular, you asked us to answer the following questions: "What is [al...

When rebel forces, led by Arab-speaking Muslims, seized control of the Central African Republic this March, it deepened fears that a co-ordinated Islamist insurgency could now be spreading through swathes of the continent. Four months on, the landlocked country is living through a reign of terror, largely directed against its Christian minority.“Churches have been routinely robbed and pillaged here, while Muslim mosques have been left untouched,” Mgr Cyriaque Gbate Doumalo, secretary-general of the Central African Republic’s Catholic bishops’ conference, told me in an interview. “Our public institutions aren’t functioning and our hospitals have been ransacked, leaving the sick and destitute...

The Obama administration continues to ramp up its military-response capabilities in Africa, where it is now looking for contractor support to transport U.S. Africa Command troops, weaponry and explosives. The U.S. Transportation Command on behalf of AFRICOM is soliciting help from private aircraft providers who can move U.S. troops and supplies in the Central African nations of Uganda, Central Africa Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. The development comes at a time when the Department of Defense simultaneously is strengthening its ability – also with contractor assistance – to retrieve soldiers trapped and injured in hot spots...

TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) -- The photocopies of the manual lay in heaps on the floor, in stacks that scaled one wall, like Xeroxed, stapled handouts for a class. Except that the students in this case were al-Qaida fighters in Mali. And the manual was a detailed guide, with diagrams and photographs, on how to use a weapon that particularly concerns the United States: A surface-to-air missile capable of taking down a commercial airplane. The 26-page document in Arabic, recovered by The Associated Press in a building that had been occupied by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Timbuktu, strongly suggests...

When Islamist rebels set fire to two libraries in Timbuktu earlier this year, many feared the city's treasure trove of ancient manuscripts had been destroyed. But many of the texts had already been removed from the buildings and were at that very moment being smuggled out of the city, under the rebels' noses. "These manuscripts are really precious to us. They are family heirlooms. Our history, our heritage," says Dr Abdel Kader Haidara, owner of one of Timbuktu's biggest private libraries, containing manuscripts dating back to the 16th Century. "In our family there have been generations and generations of great...

Gunmen killed two guards and wounded around 10 other people in an attack on a prison in Niger’s capital Niamey on Saturday, a week after al Qaeda-linked groups raided a uranium mine and an army barracks. Local residents said the assault began at around 3 p.m. (1500 GMT) when a group of attackers opened fire on guards at the entrance to the prison. They said they also heard a loud explosion. Ila Yaye, who lives near the prison, told Reuters she saw several of the guards fall and not get back up. It was not immediately clear who had carried...

Timbuktu, Mali — Her light-skinned master no longer beats her with a camel whip. He no longer makes her work from dawn to night without pay. He fled with his family four months ago, along with the Islamists who briefly ruled this historic city. “I am free,” said Aminaya Traore, a 50-year-old woman who was born a slave. “I can do whatever I want.” Across this sand-swept city, hundreds of modern-day slaves are experiencing a sense of liberation, many for the first time. Nearly all the lighter-skinned Tuaregs and Arab Moors who for generations exploited them have fled the city,...

Days after a deadly suicide attack at a French-run uranium mine in Niger, a FRANCE 24 team that was given access to the high security site found evidence that the assailants had meticulously studied their target and likely received inside help. The explosives-packed car that rammed a grinding unit at a uranium mine in Arlit, a remote town in northern Niger, last week is in tatters. The shell of the car’s transmission system stands upright in the rubble, while the twisted frame was flung about ten meters away. Days after suicide bombers attacked a uranium mine in this West African...

U.S. aerial tankers have flown more than 200 missions this year to fuel French airpower supporting Paris’ intervention against al Qaeda linked extremists in Mali. The aid underscores NATO’s reliance on U.S. military capabilities to stage even their own unilateral operations. Air Force Times reported the U.S. Air Force’s 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, forward deployed to Morón Air Base, Spain, from RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, England, has offloaded more than eight million pounds of fuel in 204 separate missions in support of the French Air Force as of May 15. ... But French forces could not have gotten to...

A Congolese army battalion that received its formative training from the U.S. military went on to commit mass rapes and other atrocities last year, a U.N. investigation has found. Members of the 391st Commando Battalion, a unit created in 2010 with extensive support from the U.S. government, joined with other Congolese soldiers to rape 97 women and 33 girls as they fled a rebel advance in eastern Congo in November, according to the United Nations. U.S. Special Operations forces had spent eight months training the 750-member battalion in a bid to professionalize Congo’s ragtag military, which has a long history...

Proof Positive - In My Opinion True Source Found For "Innocence of Muslims." (Obama)This is a Youtube video produced by user Montagraph who speculated that "Innocence of Muslims" was a false flag op. So did I. He has done a lot of work tracing numerous websites connected to the original uploading of the now famous video. His narrative starts out very slow but give it a chance. He does explain it all in detail and has sourced it all with URLs below his vid. Montagraph declines to say that his evidence is definitive so you be the judge. The internet...

The United States has deployed a small number of troops to Mali, but insists they will only be used to provide support to the French-led operation there and will not engage in combat. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Firman, a Pentagon spokesman, said around ten US military personnel are in Mali to provide ‘liaison support’ to French and African troops, reports the Washington Post. “Today, there are about 10 US military personnel providing liaison support to French and AFISMA (the African-led International Support Mission to Mali) forces,” Africom spokesman Benjamin Benson said in a statement, adding that the number has fluctuated as...

When Niankoro Yeah Samake lands in Mali on Friday, following a successful California fundraising campaign, to register as a candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential elections, he will be carrying a lot of baggage. There will be the requisite suitcase stuffed with gifts from the United States for his family back home. He will have a sizable check from an American hair products magnate to help fund his campaign. And he will have his well-thumbed copy of the Book of Mormon, scripture that has been a constant source of strength since he converted more than a decade ago. He is...

Image that accompanied Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's audiotape announcing the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The flag was originally al Qaeda in Iraq's banner, but has been adopted by other al Qaeda affiliated and associated groups. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group. The emir of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (also known as Abu Dua), has announced a new brand for his organization's efforts: the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant." The new name replaces all previous brands used by al Qaeda's affiliates in Iraq and Syria, including the...

The war against armed Islamic extremists in Mali will lose some 2,000 Chadian soldiers, the president of Chad said, leaving Malian cities more vulnerable to a resurgence of jihadist attacks. The news that Chad will pull its troops from Mali could force France to push back its own timeframe for withdrawing its troops from its former West African colony and creates greater urgency for a U.N. military mission to Mali. The United Nations is set to consider sending a mission, but diplomats have yet to determine its composition and mission. ... Chad also has suffered heavy troop casualties. Chadian President...

Signs that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack by hostage-taking Islamist militants on a remote gas plant in Algeria are of great concern to American authorities, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday. While Algerian authorities apparently have not yet provided Western governments with cast-iron proof, a senior U.S. intelligence official said: “We’re taking very seriously the reports of the two Canadians’ involvement.” ... Confirmation that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack on the In Amenas facility in the Algerian desert would raise concerns about a worrying nexus between North America and North African militants. At least 38 plant...

Malian authorities are set to give French President François Hollande a new camel after the first one he was given as thanks for France’s military intervention in Mali was killed and eaten by the family who was meant to look after it in Timbuktu. Things have not been going well for French President François Hollande as of late. His approval ratings already abysmally low, Hollande’s leadership was called into question last week after his government became embroiled in a tax scandal. To add insult to injury, it has also recently been revealed that a camel he was given as thanks...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Weapons are spreading from Libya at an "alarming rate," fueling conflicts in Mali, Syria and elsewhere and boosting the arsenals of extremists and criminals in the region, according to a U.N. report published on Tuesday. The report by the U.N. Security Council's Group of Experts - who monitor an arms embargo imposed on Libya at the start of an uprising in 2011 which ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi - said the North African state had become a key source of weapons in the region as its nascent government struggles to exert authority. Libyan government security forces remain...

... A local official had given the camel to Mr Hollande in gratitude for France spearheading a drive to flush out Islamic extremists from Mali. But the well-intentioned gift soon proved a liability. The camel ruined its handover ceremony by drowning out a Malian official's speech with its screeching. Mr Hollande's voice could just be heard over the din when he promised: "I will use it as a means of transport as often as possible." ... The camel had already embarrassed Mr Hollande when Said Toureg, a man from the Timbuktu region, claimed that it had been stolen from him...

Hollande says solution to conflict in Western Sahara is more important than ever as result of Islamist revolt raging in northern Mali. RABAT - A solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, where a UN peacekeeping force has been deployed for two decades, is more important than ever as a result of the Islamist revolt raging in northern Mali, the French president said on Thursday. "The economic potential is enormous. But I am also aware of the obstacles, and the question of the Western Sahara, which has been waiting to be resolved for more than 30 years," President Francois Hollande...

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - France has proposed keeping a permanent force of 1,000 French troops in Mali to fight armed Islamist militants, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday. Fabius, on a visit to Bamako, said France was pushing ahead with plans to reduce its 4,000-strong military presence from the end of this month but planned to keep a combat force in Mali to support a future U.N. peacekeeping mission. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called last week for the deployment of a U.N. mission of 11,200 troops and 1,440 police in Mali once major combat ends. This would include thousands of...

A fifth French soldier was killed in the nine-week-old military campaign against Islamist rebels in Mali, the French government said on Sunday. The corporal from the 1st Marine infantry regiment of Angouleme was killed in action, President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement, without giving details. Dozens of Islamist fighters linked to al-Qaida have been killed as French and African forces have fought to drive them out of the northern region of Mali they have controlled since last April. France launched a ground and air operation in January to break the Islamist rebels' hold on the region, saying militants...

Chad’s military said Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the world's most wanted men, died on Saturday in an assault on an Islamist rebel base in northern Mali. Belmokhtar was at the centre of an international manhunt after at least 37 foreign hostages, including six Britons, were killed after militants seized the gas complex in eastern Algeria.

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - One of al Qaeda's most feared commanders in Africa has been killed by French air strikes in north Mali, sources close to Islamist militants and tribal elders said on Friday, but France said it could not confirm this. The local sources said Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, blamed for kidnapping at least 20 Western hostages in the Sahara desert in recent years, was among 40 militants killed four days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains. About 1,200 French troops and 800 Chadian soldiers are hunting down pockets of al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the border...

'A prominent Al-Qaeda leader has been killed by French and Chadian troops in northern Mali, the President of Chad confirmed yesterday. Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, senior commander in Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was killed among 40 other Islamist fighters three days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains. A U.S. official said the reports of Abou Zeid's death appear credible and that Washington would view his death as a serious blow to Al-Qaeda's north Africa wing.'

Chad's military on Saturday said that its soldiers in Mali killed the al Qaeda commander who was behind the mass hostage crisis which occurred just a few months ago at an Algerian gas plant and which left dozens dead. "On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base (...) The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar," Chadian armed forces spokesman General Zacharia Gobongue said...

Sent scrambling into hurried retreat by last month's French military intervention, Islamist rebels in Mali left behind an Al Qaeda strategy sheet on how to avoid drones which has fallen into the hands of the AP. Some are outdated or kind of silly, yet most are not. The document also shows a professional level of international coordination and betrays the fact they think they can just ride this out. One of the tips (#10, to 'hide amongst thick trees') is said to come from OBL hisself, but as a whole it was reportedly assembled by a Yemeni AQ strategist. The...

Islamist insurgents launched a surprise raid in the heart of the Malian town of Gao on Sunday, battling French and local troops in a blow to efforts to secure Mali's recaptured north. ... French helicopters clattered overhead and fired on al Qaeda-allied rebels armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades who had infiltrated the central market area and holed up in a police station, Malian and French officers said. The fighting inside Gao was certain to raise fears that pockets of determined Islamists who have escaped the lightning four-week-old French intervention in Mali will strike back with guerrilla attacks and suicide...

A former U.S. ambassador to Mali has alleged that France paid a $17 million ransom to free hostages seized from a French mining site – cash she said ultimately funded the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants its troops are now fighting. French officials, whose soldiers are pushing north into the territory where the missing captives are believed to be held, denied paying any ransoms. Huddleston, who served as ambassador to Mali and held positions in the State Department and Defense Department in the U.S. before retiring, told France’s iTele network that the French money allowed al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch to flourish in...

...Lets start by stating the obvious: AQIM is not a product of the Arab Spring. AQIM exists because of the military coup that ended the 'Algerian Spring' two decades ago. And it has not been strengthened by the Libyan revolution, but rather by the failure of state-building in northern Mali, the absence of post-conflict reconciliation and reintegration in Algeria, and a lack of accountability for a shadowy Algerian security establishment whose brutal methods have proven woefully inadequate to the challenge. AQIM's real origins AQIMs history can be traced directly to the coup staged by a handful of Algerian generals against...

Mali has been a hotbed of Islamic extremism of late, as al Qaeda operatives have taken the West African nation by storm. As the country deals with an influx of violence, a presidential election is slated for this year — and there’s a fascinating candidate running for office. Yeah Samake, 42, a Mormon who was born and raised in Mali, is hoping to win the presidency and to save his homeland from the grips of extremism. Samake is currently one of the top candidates in the race — a democratic election that was pushed off last year after extremist activity...

A former US ambassador to Mali has told the BBC that France that paid ransom money to free hostages and the funds ended up bolstering Islamist groups it is now fighting. Vicki Huddleston said France paid $17m (£10.75m) to free hostages seized from a uranium mine in Niger in 2010. She said other European countries, including Germany, had also paid ransoms amounting to nearly $90m. France has always denied that it pays ransoms for the release of hostages. ... Ms Huddleston said the hostages kidnapped at the Niger mine in 2010 were only released because money had changed hands. "All...

'"Several hundred" Islamist militants have been killed since France launched an offensive in Mali last month, the French defence minister has said. Jean-Yves Le Drian said they had been killed in airstrikes and direct combat with French troops. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said that France may begin pulling out of Mali as early as March. In a newspaper interview, he said that "if everything goes as planned, the number of troops should diminish". France has an estimated 4,000 troops in Mali and officials from multilateral institutions and dozens of countries have been meeting in Brussels to discuss how...

(CNN) -- France expects to begin pulling its troops out of Mali in March, the French foreign minister told the Metro newspaper. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said troops will continue operations in northern Mali, where he said "some terrorist havens remain." ... France has 2,150 soldiers in Mali and 1,000 more troops supporting the operation from elsewhere.

PARIS — French warplanes bombed Islamist militant bases and depots deep into northern Mali to disrupt their supply routes, French officials said on Monday, as secular Tuareg rebels in northern Mali said they had captured two Islamist commanders near the Algerian border. The Tuaregs favor independence and had joined forces with better-armed Islamist fighters last year to take over much of Mali’s north. But the Tuaregs were soon edged out by their Islamist counterparts, who controlled the region’s major towns and imposed a harsh version of Islamic law, cutting off hands, stoning a couple to death and beating people in...

(Reuters) - French warplanes pounded Islamist rebel camps in the far north of Mali on Sunday, military sources said, a day after French President Francois Hollande was hailed as a savior during a visit to the West African country. Thierry Burkhard, spokesman for the French army in Paris, said the overnight raids targeted logistics bases and training camps used by the al Qaeda-linked rebels near the town of Tessalit, close to the Algerian border. ... France says the rebels are also holding hostage in these mountains seven of its citizens, seized in recent years in the Sahara region. Malian military...

At least 12 men had hands or feet cut off after MUJAO (Movement for Jihad and Unity), and its allies in AQIM (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb), took control of Gao last April. The exact number is not known because some were amputated in the military base... The mayor's office, a few yards from the punishment ground, was turned into a sharia court... Suspects were confined to a small room where they were tied up and beaten, before being brought before Islamic judges, known as marabous, who sat every Monday and Thursday. Ali Altini and Mohammed Aklini were due to...

France’s president, François Hollande paid a triumphant visit to this ancient city on Saturday, receiving a rapturous welcome from thousands of people who gathered next to a 14th-century mosque to dance, play drums and chant “Vive la France!” The muezzin, whose singing calls residents to pray five times a day, wore a scarf in the colors of the French flag as he shouted, “Vive Hollande!

The following video shows a French Foreign Legion (2e régiment étranger de parachutistes – 2eREP) paradrop into Timbuktu, Mali, from a C-160 Transal airlifter of the French Air Force. It was taken on Jan. 28, from the Infra-Red camera of a Harfang drone, supporting Operation Serval from Niger. The Harfang drones are the only French UAVs reportedly operating in West Africa. These ISR (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) platforms are about to be supported by a RAF Sentinel R1 deployed in Senegal.

Here is the crux of the argument and why an irrational Obama and the rabid left's ensuing power grab on gun control is utter madness. The Newtown school massacre was a known madman on a psychotic mission. Adam Lanza was a deeply sick and disturbed individual that had to medicated and home schooled and kept away from the general population. The problem was his violent lunacy. If he hadn't kill them with guns he might have killed them with bombs. The Toulouse school massacre was jihad as enshrined and commanded in the Quran. Holy war against the non-Muslims is a...

More evidence is emerging of alleged summary executions by Malian forces in the north of the country where French forces are completing their operations. An eyewitness told BBC Newsnight he saw three Islamic students shot dead in a public place because they failed to show identity papers. The Malian government has promised to investigate the allegations. It says there should be no revenge attacks against people suspected of collaborating with the rebels. But there are fears that militia due to be deployed to the north are seeking vengeance against Islamists and Tuareg separatists. The main allegations against the Malian military...

A jihadist website posted a new threat by al Qaeda this week that promises to conduct “shocking” attacks on the United States and the West. The posting appeared on the Ansar al Mujahidin network Sunday and carried the headline, “Map of al Qaeda and its future strikes.” The message, in Arabic, asks: “Where will the next strike by al Qaeda be?” A translation was obtained by Inside the Ring. “The answer for it, in short: The coming strikes by al Qaeda, with God’s Might, will be in the heart of the land of nonbelief, America, and in France, Denmark, other...

... The Star’s report Tuesday came from anonymous sources in the Defence Department. The CBC had to find out from French television that Canadian special forces are also operating in Niger, which borders on Mali. But then everything about Canada’s role in Mali is treated by Ottawa as a state secret. Canadians learned of the initial C-17 deployment only after Mali’s president tweeted the information on the internet. When that initial, one-week deployment was extended, we were first told not by our own government but by Mali’s ambassador to Canada. ... Meanwhile, who exactly are we fighting in Mali? The...

Hundreds of British troops will be deployed to Mali and West Africa, Number 10 has now confirmed. According to reports, approximately 350 personnel will be deployed. 200 British soldiers are expected to train soldiers in African countries outside of Mali, whilst 40 advisers are to be sent into the country to train troops. The UK would be "contributing to both Malian training and training forces that are involved in providing a regionally-led approach", a Number 10 spokesman was quoted as saying by the BBC. 70 Royal Air Force personnel are also to be used for the operation of Sentinel surveillance...

(Reuters) - France has ordered special forces to protect uranium sites run by state-owned Areva in Niger as the threat of attacks on its interests rises after its intervention against rebels in Mali, a military source said on Thursday. ... Seven workers, including five French nationals, were kidnapped in Arlit by al Qaeda's north African arm AQIM in September 2010. It later released three of the hostages but four French citizens are still being held. ... According to a parliamentary committee enquiring into France's supplies of uranium, about 18 percent of the raw material used to power France's 58 nuclear...

A banner showing al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri and former emir Osama bin Laden is placed outside the French Embassy in Cairo, Egypt during a protest organized by Mohammed al Zawahiri. Image from Euronews. Within the past few days, Mohammed al Zawahiri, the younger brother of al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri, has threatened France and the West while condemning the intervention in Mali. The younger Zawahiri promised that if France and its allies continue to fight in Mali, then Westerners will be the "first to burn." During an interview broadcast by Euronews on Jan. 22, Mohammed al...

Military Pact With Niger Brings American Forces Closer to Conflict in Mali. The U.S. signed an agreement Monday with the West African country of Niger that clears the way for a stepped-up American military presence on the edges of the conflict in neighboring Mali. The U.S. and France are moving to create an intelligence hub in Niger that could include a base, near Mali's border, for American drones that could monitor al Qaeda-linked militants in Mali's vast desert north, U.S. officials said. The moves show the extent to which the U.S. and France are girding for what could be an...

David Cameron says UK will support French mission to drive Islamists out but insists forces will not engage in combat Britain is prepared to take the risk of sending a "sizeable amount" of troops to Mali and neighbouring West African countries as David Cameron offers strong support to France in its operation to drive Islamist militants from its former colony. As news emerged that insurgents retreating from Timbuktu had set fire to a library containing thousands of priceless historic manuscripts, Downing Street said the prime minister told François Hollande on Sunday night Britain was "keen" to provide further military assistance...

DIABALY, Mali (Reuters) - Residents of Diabaly feared for their lives when French air strikes pounded their small town in central Mali, shaking their homes and turning the pick-up trucks of Islamist fighters into burning, twisted metal. Despite that, they are grateful to France. Children in bare feet and tattered T-shirts now play among the trucks' charred wreckage -- a visible reminder that the town was the focus of the French-led war against al Qaeda-linked rebels bent on carving an Islamist state out of the Sahara. "I've told the children not to play with the trucks but I can't stop...