Center for a New American Security

My post mourning the death of Marcel Bigeard attracted some lively commentary, so I am going to up the Algeria ante by linking to this fascinating 1970 debate between Roger Trinquier and Yacef Saadi, old adversaries in the Algerian War. My friend Judah Grunstein passed this along, noting the way Trinquier and Saadi dispassionately discuss, among other things, the use of torture. U.S. readers will recognize Saadi as having played one of the lead characters in The Battle of Algiers, a film in part based on Saadi's wartime experiences. [via Ultima Ratio]

P.S. Yes, this is in French. Sorry.

Not a joke. Issandr reports.

Does this mean the blog should start selling lizard caps?

If two Arab countries can produce this much anger towards each other..

"Riot police in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, quelled a violent demonstration near the Algerian embassy in the early hours of Friday. Egyptian protesters reportedly hurled firebombs at police protecting the embassy and overturned a police van. Egypt's Interior Ministry said 35 people were injured"

..over a game of football

"The clashes stem from Egypt's defeat by Algeria in a World Cup qualifying match on Wednesday, securing Algeria the last African place for next year's finals."

..What would happen if Israel was playing?

OK, ok, so Londonstani knows there's bad blood between Egypt and Algeria... but hey, they've never fought a war - let alone three.

"The statement by Egypt's Football Federation added: "Egyptian fans, officials and players put their lives at risk before and after the game, under threat from weapons, knives, swords and flares".

"We should treat Algeria like any country that has declared war on us," university student Amr Higazi told Agence France Presse."

I mean seriously, this sounds like its turning to a mid sized diplomatic incident between Algeria, Egypt and then Sudan, when all they did was host!?

There is an article in the New York Times this morning suggesting poverty had something to do with the decision of Larbi Charef and others to blow themselves up in a suicide attack a few days ago in Algiers. This bothered Abu Muqawama, as the economist Alan B. Kreuger makes a pretty persuasive case that poverty has little to do with terror in his excellent book of lectures, What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism.

You should all read that book, which is on the Counterinsurgency Reading List. And if you're looking for something smart to read on the Algeria attacks, you should also read this article -- forwarded along by Charlie -- on the way in which the attacks represent a maturing terrorist organization. Emily Hunt's long piece is also good, though now dated, and it goes without saying that the French-language press is going to get into the weeds on Algerian politics better than its English-language peers. Happy hunting.

The NYT is reporting that at least 45 people have been killed in car bombings in Algiers today:

Two car bombs exploded in close succession in the Algerian capital today, killing at least 45 people and wounding several others, according to Algerian officials. One official said it was the worst day of violence in the capital this decade. Thirty people died in a blast near the Constitutional Court building in Algiers, while another 15 were killed in a second explosion near a number of United Nations offices, a diplomat said, citing information released by the Algerian Civil Protection Agency. Ten United Nations employees were among those killed, the Associated Press reported.

Local official suspect the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), also known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Jean-Louis Bruguière, who was France’s chief anti-terrorism judge until May, has long warned that the GSPC was turning into one of the most serious terrorist threats for Europe. Referring to the bombings today, he said in a telephone interview: “They carry the mark of the GSPC.”

He added: “Al Qaeda has succeeded in creating an advanced unit in a strategic region: North Africa is the door to Europe. The methods they are using are imported from Iraq.”

That, friends, is a fascinating assessment. As noted in the article, the GSPC became al Qaeda's appointed representative in North Africa in 2006. (Not surprisingly this catapulted them to the top of US terror watch lists; the Pan-Sahel Initiative is part of a US-led regional effort to limit GSPC influence south of the Sahara). But who recruited whom, here? Did GSPC seek AQ training and resources? Or is this an instance of AQ co-opting/recruiting a existing, locally focused terror group in support of a future European campaign? (Zawahiri declared France, not just Algeria, an enemy). Has that contact changed the group's goals? Area of operations? Recruiting base?

And what about the Iraq tactics? Charlie isn't enough of a car bomb connoisseur to know if these attack have Iraqi fingerprints or not. But if so, she's sure AM will want to know the process by which these tactics were transmitted to the GSPC (via enterprising group members? or by AQ elements?). She hopes he'll weigh in after recovering from his jet-lag. But knowledgeable readers can sound-off now in the comments.