Al-Qaida bases said to be in Sahara

United Press International ^ | 10-27-03

[Oldeconomybuyer]

MADRID, Oct 27, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Al-Qaida is building secret bases in the Sahara in north Africa with the help of Algerian extremists, Western and Arab intelligence sources said Monday.

The Spanish daily Periodico De Catalonia quoted the sources as saying the Sahara, stretching between Mauritania and southern Libya, has become a base for al-Qaida.

"The desert of Mali, especially in the north, and the area near the Algerian border has become a base and meeting point for al-Qaida members who have fled from the Middle East region," an Algerian source said.

"We know that many things were taking place in the Sahara which is under the loose control of the Algerian and Libyan armies and the armed forces of weak countries like Niger, Mauritania and Mali," a U.S. diplomat said.

Intelligence services of countries in the region have spotted an influx of Arab militants from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan and believe Algerian extremist groups were facilitating their relocation in the Sahara.

[max_rpf]

I say we incorporate US Glass. I would like to schedule the IPO ASAP.

[Coop]

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[Coop]

Let's hope they're kind enough to set up some training camps. They should be quite easy to locate.

[CatoRenasci]

I would suspect this is good news, in the sense that the desert is a less hospitable environment for the terrorists than Afghanistan, waterholes few, and detectiom with sophisticated sensors easier. Once found, there will be few places to hide.

[spetznaz]

That would normally be true in most deserts .....however the Sahara is not one of them. It is a veritable sea of sand, stretching from the top of some central African countries all the way to almost the tip of north Africa. And huge sections are composed of sand dunes, which are constantly shifting and moving. And they are huge. Building structures that are camoflaged would be immensely simple ....and furthermore that might not even be necessary considering the sheer expanse of the sahara.

Remember we are talking about the Sahara desert here. Look at a map and see how immense that desert is (after all it is the world's largest desert). Even with the use of satellites we would ahve to know where to look. Again look at a map.

[Coop]

Deserts get cold at night. Infrared sensors.

[CatoRenasci]

I understand the immense size of the Sahara, and the whole 'ocean of shifting shand' problem. Would not those who wish to hide in the desert be constrained by sources of water, and would not those sources be detectable from satellite or other stand-off sources? I'm sure they could hide if they were truly simply lying low, but shouldn't activity be detectable? The absense of other inhabitants would reduce the risk of shooting up innocent farmers, and we could be much more aggressive in our use of UAVs

[spetznaz]

1) Infra-red sensors can be easily duped. Tuareg arabs for centuries have been crafting temporary hideaways in the middle of giant sand-dunes for centuries. The heat signature would be hard to trace.

2) Even if you had super-duper infra-red scent-sniffing space-radar with photon-torpedo attachments you still have to consider the one thing everyone seems to be ignoring. ....the sheer size of the Sahara. Once again look at a map of Africa (especially one that marks out the boundaries of the sahara). It is not the world's largest desert for nothing. Finding scattered bands of men (Al Queda loonies) in that vast expanse would be tantamount to finding them in the whole of Mexico. The size of the Sahar itself is the biggest problem by far ........unless you have an IR system that can literally locate a small group of men, without false positives, in an area the size of several countries mashed together....

[spetznaz]

Read post no. 9.

As for the lack of 'innocent farmers' you should note the Sahara is actually quite alive with several tribes living in it ...from the fore-mentioned tuaregs to other tribes in and around north Africa.
As for the 'oasis watch' theory that would be ok if the sahara was the size of Death Valley, but due to its sheer size there are literally thousands of possible targets scattered all along its expanse, and there are ways of getting water in the desert without necessarily living adjacent to an oasis (the salt trade would have been impossible if that was the case).

[Coop]

Finding scattered bands of men (Al Queda loonies) in that vast expanse would be tantamount to finding them in the whole of Mexico.

Which is why I said hopefully they'll be kind enough to create training camps.

[1066AD]

There are also mountains to hide amongst in the southern Sahara.

[JohnnyZ]

Just like Patriot Games.

This whole deal is Tom Clancy come to life. Hopefully we'll avoid some of his worst scenarios . . .

[JohnnyZ]

The size of the Sahar itself is the biggest problem by far ........unless you have an IR system that can literally locate a small group of men, without false positives, in an area the size of several countries mashed together....

They should be able to narrow the search down to a smaller region, e.g. S. Algeria. And yes, I would think heat signatures would be pretty easy to spot, especially in the desert night. I admit to not being up on satellite tech, but it wouldn't seem to be too too hard these days. Of course satellite resources are finite . . .

[DianaN]

Isn't this one of the reasons our tax dollars purchase those pilotless 'look out'planes? Let's put some missiles on them and put some of them to work.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You could set a nuke off in that immense desert and no one would notice it!