Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Moroccans arrested in al-Andalus
Spanish police arrested 16 Islamic terror suspects in raids in several cities, including 11 suspected members of a group thought to have ties to Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq, officials said Wednesday.
The 11 were part of a support group for a Syrian-based network that recruited people for suicide attacks against U.S. and allied forces in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Most of the 11 with ties to Zarqawi's group were Moroccan, as were a number of those arrested for the "3/11" bombings in Madrid last year. This fact, it seems to me, poses at least some challenge to the argument that the roots of jihadi rage grow in the soil of oppression. Morocco is a "moderate" Arab country that is very open to the West. Relying as it does on trade and tourism rather than mineral extraction (Morocco is an oil importer), it tries to be an attractive place for Westerners to visit. Although Morocco is still a kingdom, it does not have significant human rights issues -- at least by the standards of the Arab world. If the mainstream media wanted to make a contribution to this story, it would try to explain why Moroccans, of all Arabs, should form the center of a huge jihadi network funneling recruits to die in the Sunni triangle.
3 Comments:
By 
Myrtus, at
Wed Jun 15, 12:01:00 PM:
"If the mainstream media wanted to make a contribution to this story, it would try to explain why Moroccans, of all Arabs, should form the center of a huge jihadi network funneling recruits to die in the Sunni triangle."
I agree.
My guess is it's because of Morocco's strategic geographical location as a gateway to Europe and the rest of the wetern world via Europe.
It doesn't help any that Mauritania (just south of Morocco)is one of the major trainining grounds for Alqaeda.
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Jun 15, 12:44:00 PM:
I agree on Mauritania -- indeed, I put up a long post on al Qaeda in Mauritania a few weeks ago. That's an astute observation and one that I should have thought of myself, Myrtus!
By Myrtus, at
Thu Jun 16, 01:19:00 AM:
Another one I thought of after I posted my comment earlier is the fact that most Moroccans are multi-lingual, makes it easier to blend in in Arab countries as well as in Europe.
I'm sure we could come up with a lot of other reasons too if we look at the cultural aspects of Morocco.
