Algeria, reluctant to get involved in Mali or to even accept French intervention in Mali, did allow the French to fly over Algerian territory to bomb al Qaeda positions in northern Mali.
Al Qaeda retaliated by striking Algeria:
A group calling itself the "Battalion of Blood" says it seized 41 foreigners, including Americans, Japanese and Europeans, after storming the pumping station and employee barracks before dawn on Wednesday.
The attackers have demanded an end to the French military campaign in Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against rebels a week after Paris began firing on militants from the air.
Yeah, that was smart. Not content to face France and ECOWAS forces, al Qaeda expands their potential enemies. Now Algeria will be under pressure to actively fight the jihadis. And anyone with their citizens as hostages will face pressure to contribute to the fight. It may even prompt more direct help than we were prepared to offer (I've long thought armed drones, intel/recon, and special forces would be appropriate).
Normally, you want to minimize your enemies and avoid two-front wars. I guess al Qaeda gets around that by simply assuming anybody not affiliated with the Buckets of Blood battalion is the enemy.
Voila! One front, only. A really big one. But with Allah on their side, that's not a problem.
Well, not al Qaeda's problem. Trying to rally the Tuaregs to yoke them to the global jihad hasn't turned out well for the Tuaregs--any more than it turns out well for anyone who casts their lot in with these blood bucket bozos.
It may well be that the French-led effort to save the Mali goverment will compel the Mali government to ensure Tuareg help to defeat the jihadis in the north by allowing some autonomy within Mali.
But until that day comes, a lot of Tuaregs will pay for their fling with the jihadis:
In this context, the AQIM-led offensive into southern Mali makes sense as a battlefield attempt to avoid a political defeat. France, however, decided to counterattack, to blunt AQIM's desperate move and buy time for diplomacy. The stage is set for another bitter, chaotic al-Qaida defeat. The sad thing is, many indigenous Muslim tribespeople exploited by al-Qaida will die in the chaos.
May the French create lots of good jihadis.
