Note: The following post is an exact quote:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1412776/posts
West Africa: The next Afghanistan?
MSNBC ^ | April 29, 2005 | Chris Hansen
Posted on 05/29/2005 10:17:16 AM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - At a time when the United States has thousands of forces hunting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, international investigators say the United States is ignoring another terrorist outlaw — former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who's hiding in plain sight in West Africa.
This is a place most Americans and their government haven't paid much attention to. It is war-torn, remote and desperately poor. But that might be about to change. War crimes investigators have uncovered evidence that al-Qaida terrorists — before and after 9/11 — were using West Africa as a hideout and as a place to launder money.
And they say Charles Taylor has been helping them. Taylor, who is allegedly responsible for the murder, rape and mutilation of 1.2 million people, was indicted more than two years ago for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges forced him from power in Liberia.
"Today, I leave you with these parting words, God willing, I will be back," Taylor told Liberian supporters in 2003.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1412935/posts
"Get ready for the Hamas state"
Jerusalem Post ^ | 5-29-05 | URI DAN
Posted on 05/29/2005 5:30:30 PM PDT by SJackson
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "But such things don't exist in a democratic regime. Do political parties in Israel, the US or France possess private armies? Of course not. Hizbullah and Hamas have tremendous arsenals of weapons with which they can enforce a reign of terror. President George W. Bush obviously knows this while waging his historic campaign to democratize corrupt Arab regimes, including those in Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
The intelligence agencies of the US and Israel are aware of the fact stated by Dichter and the outgoing IDF chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon, that large quantities of weapons are being constantly smuggled to the Gaza Strip. In 2004 alone about 10,000 automatic rifles and a 1,000 RPG anti-tank weapons were smuggled in.
The dimensions of the smuggling have now reached a new peak since the IDF is hesitant to carry out military operations in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are digging additional tunnels both for smuggling weapons and for perpetrating terrorist attacks against IDF bases and the settlements that are about to be uprooted.
PRIME MINISTER Mahmoud Abbas's 20,000 armed policemen are not even trying to oppose Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Did Bush's special envoy, General Ward, demand that Abu Mazen give him a map of the tunnels used to smuggle arms from the Sinai Desert to the Gaza Strip?"