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Abstract
This book reveals the secret US agenda behind the 'war on terror' in Africa and the shocking methods used to perpetuate the myth that the region is a hotbed of Islamic terrorism.
Africa expert Jeremy Keenan points to overwhelming evidence suggesting that, from 2003, the Bush administration and Algerian government were responsible for hostage takings blamed on Islamic militants. This created a permissive public attitude, allowing the US to establish military bases in the region and pursue multiple imperial objectives in the name of security.
The shocking revelations in this book undermine the mainstream view of Africa as a legitimate 'second front' in the 'war on terror'.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Acknowledgements | x | ||
| Abbreviations | xiii | ||
| Glossary | xv | ||
| Maps | xviii | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| The Dossier | 10 | ||
| Missing | 13 | ||
| 1. The Sahara's Bermuda Triangle | 15 | ||
| Kidnapped: by Smugglers or Islamists? | 17 | ||
| Mokhtar ben Mokhtar, Hassan Hattab and the GSPC | 21 | ||
| The First Release of Hostages | 26 | ||
| Transferring the Hostages to Mali | 28 | ||
| The Final Hostage Release | 31 | ||
| 2. Reconstructing Tora Bora | 33 | ||
| A New Front in the Global War on Terror | 33 | ||
| Expanding the GWOT Across the Sahel | 36 | ||
| 3. ‘Whodunit' | 42 | ||
| The Suspicions of the Tuareg | 42 | ||
| Local Knowledge and Research Methodology | 45 | ||
| A Diabolical Intelligence Deception | 50 | ||
| 4. Grounds for Suspicion in the Algerian Sahara | 54 | ||
| Kidnapped on the ‘Graveyard Piste’ | 54 | ||
| The Hostage Liberation | 59 | ||
| ‘No Assault, No Islamists, No Victims, No Ransom!’ | 62 | ||
| Who Ordered the Kidnapping? | 64 | ||
| The Journey from Tamelrik to Mali | 66 | ||
| The Hostage Release in Mali | 71 | ||
| 5. Grounds for Suspicion in the Sahel | 74 | ||
| Alleged ‘Terrorism’ in Southern Algeria: August 2003 to Early 2004 | 75 | ||
| Military Engagements Flush the GSPC out of Mali | 76 | ||
| The ‘Hold-up’ of Tourists in Aïr | 82 | ||
| El Para’s Journey to Chad | 86 | ||
| 6. Who was El Para? | 94 | ||
| The ‘Truths’ of El Para | 94 | ||
| El Para’s Biographies | 97 | ||
| El Para as a DRS Agent | 98 | ||
| El Para as a US Green Beret? | 101 | ||
| Phantasmal Terrorists | 103 | ||
| El Para’s Communications | 105 | ||
| El Para’s Extradition to Algeria and Trial | 111 | ||
| The Last Word on El Para? | 114 | ||
| 7. Oil and Empire | 116 | ||
| America’s Energy Crisis | 116 | ||
| The Cheney Report | 118 | ||
| The Importance of African Oil to the US | 122 | ||
| 8. Algeria's 'Black Decade' | 132 | ||
| The Economic Crisis of the Mid 1980s | 133 | ||
| From Economic to Political Crisis: 1988–1992 | 136 | ||
| A Military Coup by Any Other Name | 138 | ||
| 9. Islamists and Eradicators: Algeria's 'Dirty War' | 142 | ||
| Who is Killing Who? | 142 | ||
| The Beginning of Armed Conflict | 147 | ||
| International Support for the Algerian Regime | 150 | ||
| The Non-ideological, ‘Financial’ Dimension of ‘Total War’ | 151 | ||
| State Terrorism and ‘Dirty Tricks’ | 153 | ||
| 10. The 'Banana Theory' of Terrorism | 158 | ||
| The Reagan Administration’s ‘War on International Terrorism’ | 158 | ||
| New, Post-2000, US–Algerian Relations | 161 | ||
| The Opportunity of 9/11 | 164 | ||
| US Tardy on Algerian Arms Sales | 165 | ||
| Origins of the ‘Banana Theory’ | 167 | ||
| A New Era in US–Algerian Intelligence Relations | 170 | ||
| Arak, October 2002: the First Attempt at Hostage-taking | 172 | ||
| Planning for the Pan-Sahel Initiative (PSI) | 174 | ||
| 11. Preparing the Disinformation | 176 | ||
| Contextual Analysis of Algeria’s ‘Disinformation’ | 178 | ||
| What Did the Americans Know? | 188 | ||
| The Alliance Base: Paris | 191 | ||
| Justification for the GWOT and the Link with Iraq | 192 | ||
| 12. The Nature of US Intelligence | 196 | ||
| An Absence of Terrorism in the Sahel | 196 | ||
| ‘Back-of-the-envelope’ Intelligence | 197 | ||
| Confusing Pakistanis: the Tablighi Jamaat Movement | 198 | ||
| Inadequate HUMINT | 199 | ||
| Parallels with Iraq | 201 | ||
| Complicit in Conspiracy | 202 | ||
| 13. ‘Blowback' and Resistance | 204 | ||
| The Tuareg Take Up Arms | 207 | ||
| The Dying Sahara | 208 | ||
| Proof by Reiteration | 210 | ||
| Notes | 212 | ||
| List of Jeremy Keenan's Works | 254 | ||
| Index | 260 |