The US has agreed to sell arms to Algeria to help it put down the Islamic rebellion which has cost more than 100 000 lives in the past 10 years. In its wish to win the support of Muslim states for its war on terrorism, Washington appears to have replaced its previous reluctance to arm Algiers, because of its bad human rights record, with admiration. Announcing the agreement as he ended a visit to Algiers yesterday, William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, said: "Washington has much to learn from Algeria on ways to fight terrorism." he said: "We are putting the finishing touches to an agreement to sell Algeria military equipment to fight terrorism." He did not identify the type of weapons it was willing to sell, but added that the White House was drafting a proposal to Congress to increase military aid to Algeria. These steps aim at intensifying the security cooperation between the two countries."
That's pretty interesting. The Algerian regime is pretty bad — but the Algerian Islamists are the most bloodthirsty in the world, so unless they start importing Ba'athists from Iraq the regime will remain the lesser of two evils. The Algerian troops are pretty tough; they have to be, to hold their own with the Islamists. They're also woefully underequipped. There are three sets of night vision goggles in the whole country, for instance, and the troops move to engagement via Shoe-leather Express. GAI and the Salafist Group are also spreading the infection to neighboring countries that would be better off without it. |