Libya: Al-Qaida's rebirth

As weeks have passed since the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed 4 Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, answers regarding the exact details of the plot seem to be nonexistent.  I believe that within the hours following the attack, just by assessing the predominate groups operating in the region that would select a U.S. target, AQIM (Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) would be placed as a prime suspect in the attack.  While Ambassador Susan Rice explained that she believed the attack was a spontaneous assault by elements loyal to Qaddafi, the basis for the target selection just doesn't add up.  Such groups are largely disorganized and lack the firepower to select a target such as a U.S. Consulate, that would undeniably get a response utilizing American firepower, the likes of which they could not withstand.  It would, to say the least, have been a suicide mission.


If this had been a pro-Qaddafi outfit responsible, it would have been more than likely that you would have seen something similar to the likes of Al-Shabaab in the targeting of Somalian and Ethiopian forces as well as the attempted assassination of the new Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud.  That attack came the day following the Libyan and Egyptian incidents.  Shabaab's template is one that seeks to largely destabilize the region and complicate interactions between Ethiopia and Somalia, which have mutually agreed to hunt down the group's fighters and have offered ceasefires.


What is particularly alarming is that with AQIM's involvement in this attack, the group has signaled they are willing to target Americans similar to Al-Qaida's 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.  The group had remained silent since the failed 1993 World Trade Center attack, utilizing the time to organize and equip its fighters for missions.  Now, after 11 years since the attack that killed 3,031, Al-Qaida is continuing a familiar pattern.  Without a doubt the group lacks the ability to perpetrate a large-scale attack like 9/11/01, but it can enhance its ability by perpetrating small-scale attacks on targets that are outside of U.S. borders and largely vulnerable like embassies or consulates.  Make no mistake, the point of surveillance is to find weaknesses and our embassies no matter how fortified we attempt to make them will always have a soft spot without the cooperation of foreign governments to protect the outer perimeters.  If such protection existed in places like Egypt, our embassy there would not have encountered such a threatening scenario as it did had Egyptian police responded and immediately attempted to disperse the crowds.


For instance, the 2008 attempted attack on the U.S. Consulate is an example of how the system should work.  When the attackers approached the compound, Turkish police immediately returned fire killing all three.  Three police officers were killed and one injured during the attempted attack but those officers did their jobs to do what is Turkey's responsibility - insuring that the threat did not make it inside the Consulate's walls.


This situation should ask the real question, and this is not the issue that most seem to make out about the attack in Benghazi.  That rocket was fired from outside the compound on Libyan soil.  The real question we should be asking is how did protesters encounter almost no resistance in storming our embassy in Egypt?  What does this signal as to how safe our facility is if police are either ordered to not intervene or allow such a threat to continue?  Had the groups outside been armed, it would have been exactly like August 7, 1998 when two U.S. installations in Africa were attacked.  However, those attacks were truck bombs blending into traffic and not part of a targeted assault from a mob.  It is incomprehensible to me how Egyptian police could have let people scale our walls, climb our building and yet they seemed to have done nothing to disperse the crowd outside.


It is my belief that the protests were an attempt by either Al-Qaida itself or pro-Qaida groups to utilize unarmed people and provoke a U.S. response once the embassy's territory was breached that would result in what would undoubtedly be labeled a massacre of unarmed martyrs - an undeniable win for Qaida recruiting.  However, I believe that the Libyan attack was the work of AQIM in what either was a concerted effort with regional partners and minimal AQ Central involvement.  This means I do not believe that the leaders of AQ were involved in the details of any of these incidents.  I believe what you are seeing is Al-Qaida's involvement in taking its fights rather from a global jihad, or "glocal terrorism" which mixes local and global, traditional and imported practices, as well as high and low technologies.  The pioneer for this template is Hizbullah, considered the A-team in terrorism by experts.


Despite the opening in 2008 of Africom, the Central command for U.S. operations in Africa, the continent houses what has always been a vulnerable host for terrorism.  Recruiting, financing, laundering, whatever criminal operations that need to take place to promote jihadism all comes from this continent.  Iran and Hizbullah have massive networks in the country, as well as Al-Qaida's previous involvement in the Blood Diamond trade that was journaled in Doug Farah's book "Blood from Stones".  The political instability and lawlessness that comes with it, as well as the Muslim population, make Africa a prime host for the jihad envisioned by Al-Qaida.  Undoubtedly, breaking this mold is something that requires international cooperation and partnerships that will require years to even attempt to tap into and reverse the networks which have been rooted for decades now.  It is my hope that both presidential candidates will take the threats emerging in Africa seriously, as well as AQAP (Al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula) in Yemen and recognize the development of the glocal trend.  

If we close our eyes, we can say nothing happened (Pt. II)

This is the second of three parts detailing Iran's growing influence in various regions. From Latin America to Africa to Europe, Iran has undeniably risen from the shadows largely due to its mouthy president who emerged in 2005 and its proxies' expansion. In such a short period of time, the growth of the Khomenist state has extended to nearly every hemisphere, facing little resistance by the West and its allies. As the standoff with Iran continues, it is important to understand the reality of the religious state that many say is now the key to Middle East policy.


Under a new president in 2005, Iran began a push for developing itself as the voice of the Islamic world. One of Ahmadinejad's key principles as the Islamic Republic's president is to take actions that would promote the coming of the Mahdi (the Islamic redeemer who will come and rule the world). Even in his UN General Assembly speech this week, Ahmadinejad threw in references to Islamic rule and the Mahdi.

But Ahmadinejad capitalized on the goodwill of his Islamic beliefs and his "religious obligations," using Islam as a veil to promote Iranian influence among various regions. The most notable of which has been in Africa.

In 2006, President Ahmad Abdallah Sambi was elected president of the Comoros Islands, off Africa's eastern coast. It was then that Iranian influence in the country surged coincidentally. According to a local politician in the country, Iranian elements were given control of President Sambi's security, both inside the island and on his trips abroad. However, Iran also established a presence in other aspects of the Comoros. Since 2006, Iran has created a medical center linked to the Iranian Red Cross, a cultural center, and a center for human aid called the Al-Khomeini Committee for Help in the Comoros Islands.

Iran seems to have capitalized on its investments in the Comoros. It found its link with President Sambi, who studied at religious schools in Iran throughout his youth. The country, which is largely Sunni Arab, has undergone what some see as a Shi'a revolution thanks to Tehran's involvement. Some have accused President Sambi as having become a practicing Shiite, even earning the title of "Ayatollah" (a Shiite religious authority respected for matters of religious law and interpretation).

To illustrate the enhanced partnership between the two countries, just yesterday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the headline in Tehran was "Iran, Comoros keen to boost ties". Both presidents agreed at UNGA for the increased cooperation on "energy and development fields."

Now, back to the growth of the Iranian proxies in the same region. In May, pictures emerged of purported Hizbullah rallies and supporters in Nigeria. Not a surprise to many officials who have seen the activities of the group expand over the past few years. Dr. J Peter Pham, an expert on Africa, commented that when analysts have been looking at Africa over the years the trend has been to identify an area as "traditionally one thing or another without accounting for the possibility of dynamic change." This has been precisely where terror groups thrive, by supplying what the governments have failed to provide in the third world countries throughout the region. Their aid fills in gaps, breeding a change in favor of the terror group.

Take for instance the establishment of the Islamic University College of Ghana in 1988 by the Ahlul Bait Foundation, an Iranian organization. It is reported that all the administrators and the president of the College are all Iranian. In fact, the school's most recent president, Dr. Gholamreza Rahmani Miandehi, has five listings of work experience in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The school's website discusses how it is intended to provide an education to families, charging a "low fee" and "being open to all qualified persons, regardless of religion, race, ethnic, or geographical background."

It is the lack of transparency of these Iranian establishments abroad that should be of concern to many. The willingness to conduct illegal activities veiled under the guise of Islamic charities is one that has been seen before, whether it be Saudi charities using their status to export weapons to Bosnia and Afghanistan or the many Palestinian charities used for suicide bomber's families.

It has long been reported that Hizbullah had shady ties to the West African illegal diamond trade, laundering potentially tens of millions of dollars annually from the region for the group's support. In 2003, Union Transport Africaines Flight 141 crashed after take-off from Benin, West Africa. Destined for Beirut, a "foreign relations official of the African branch of the Lebanese Hizballah party and two of his aides" were among those killed. Traveling with the Hizbullah officials was nearly $2 million that the group was moving to Hizbullah headquarters. The accident shed a light as to just how profitable West Africa was to the terror group.

Hizbullah has long held a presence in Sierra Leone, dating back to the 1980s. The group, similar to its presence in Latin America, has used the large Lebanese immigrant communities in the country to conceal its operatives and actions. Furthermore, the potential for corruption and bribery amongst the country's law enforcement permits the group to avoid confrontation.

In 2004, two individuals were arrested for suspected ties to terrorist groups and moving weapons and diamonds illegally. Paddy McKay and Khalil Lakish used fraudulent papers to register four aircraft in the country. McKay, a British national with suspected Al-Qaida links, and Lakish, a Lebanese descendant residing in Sierra Leone with reported Hizbullah ties, reportedly used the planes to transport illicit diamonds and weapons to the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. By 2005, the story from the Ministry for Transportation and Communication had changed to “McKay enjoys a normal and professional business relationship with the department of Civil Aviation and the Government of Sierra Leone… all airline operators are properly registered and do not have any terrorist connections.” African corruption at its finest.

In 2004, the UN special envoy estimated that out of the official number of $130 million worth of diamonds exported from Sierra Leone, the real figure laid around $300-500 million. A slight discrepancy in an issue that has provided funds for groups like Al-Qaida and Hizbullah. With the aid of smugglers like McKay and Lakish, groups will always have an ability to move their funds.

Ahmadinejad saw that Iran filled the void where Saudi Arabia had once dominated. Where Saudi charities and Sunni Islamic values had once ruled, Iran was beginning to replace them with Shiite "goodwill missions." Through offering health care, education, and jobs in countries where governments had failed, Iran was able to become a powerful force throughout the struggling African countries. Iranian proxies continued with their well-established presence in certain areas, but sought to expand to vulnerable areas as well. By capitalizing on the weaknesses of a continent, Iran was yet again able to spread its message of anti-Imperialism and its opposition to the Western powers with no resistance. Once again, the U.S. and its allies sat idle as Iran continued its development as a global power.