Al-Qaeda Terrorism in Northern Africa Set to Spread to Europe

January 23, 2013 • 10:40AM

In briefing the international press on Jan. 21 about the recently-ended hostage-taking episode at the In Amenas gas complex in Algeria, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal reported that "a Canadian was among the militants. He was coordinating the attack." Sellal added that the man was judged to have been Canadian "by his English accent," and that some of the survivors described a tall man with blond hair and blue eyes who spoke with a "North American accent."

This should come as no surprise. Lyndon LaRouche has explained for decades that Al-Qaeda and related terrorist groups from the outset have been creations of intelligence agencies of major world powers, in particular the British Empire, working with the Saudi monarchy and Qatar. Such groups are deployed instruments of global irregular warfare, and not some local religious fanatics who somehow decided to go terrorist.

British press outlets in particular, such as the Guardian and the Independent, took notice of the role of the Canadian and numerous other foreigners in the Algerian operation, and reported that the al-Qaeda-linked terrorism now sweeping northern Africa, could also imminently spread into Europe — which is true enough, although not for the reasons they adduce. The Guardian, for example, cited Spain-based terrorism expert Fernando Reinares saying that there are international jihadist volunteers traveling to the northern Mali region from across Europe, because it is under the control of al-Qaeda-linked terrorists. Some 20 radical Islamists disappeared from Spain in recent months, he said, and it's thought they went to Mali. "Some of them have stayed in the region. Others have come back to Europe," Reinares said. The Guardian adds that there is "now a growing danger that some would return and carry out attacks in Europe."