Article

2007-02-07 Africa North

Chirac says West Sahara plan 'constructive'

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Posted by Seafarious 2007-02-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11129 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I will always remember Chirac's words to CNN, shortly before the liberation of Iraq, desperately trying to prevent it: "I am sure Saddam Hussein loves the Iraqi people."

Don't trust one word this man pronounces. Don't trust his breath. Don't trust his power-lusting, vain shell.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-02-07 02:19|| 2007-02-07 02:19|| Front Page Top

#2 From my six-month stay in Morocco in 1976 -

Morocco always considered the northern half of Spanish Sahara to be Morrocan and when the Spanish pulled out, Morocco and Mauritania agreed to divide the former Spanish colony/protectorate. Some locals (Polisario) thought they should have the run of the country and Algeria supported them, because they didn't want the Moroccans to have it. There were several smaller Spanish enclaves in Morocco which were integrated into Morocco (Sidi Ifni, which I visited, comes to mind).

I was there to design a railroad from Marrakesh to El Layoon (the phosphate shipping port on the Atlantic)in the contested area. The King hoped the railroad would unify the portions like the transcontinental railroad united the eastern and western US. It was too expensive, of course, since the French set the design standards too high, and there wasn't much between Marrakesh and El Layoon - except a lovely and expensive mountain range, the popular beach resort of Agadir, and a whole lotta sand dunes.

Doezat make me an "expert"?

Posted by Bobby 2007-02-07 06:44|| 2007-02-07 06:44|| Front Page Top

#3 The the railway get finished?

Posted by Shipman 2007-02-07 08:38|| 2007-02-07 08:38|| Front Page Top

#4 Ship - Nah, too expensive. I tried to get the French engineers to lower their criteria to something more like the original transcontinental railroad - say a 35 mph speed thru the mountains. They hadda have 60 mph. To do that, there were a couple of places where there was a 360-degree tunnel!

Posted by Bobby 2007-02-07 11:04|| 2007-02-07 11:04|| Front Page Top

#5 That's more Sahara xperience than I've had, so , yah, Bobby's our expert.

Thanks for the travelogue! Sorry about the railroad, I was looking forward to my trip on the Phosphate Mine Express.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-02-07 11:12|| 2007-02-07 11:12|| Front Page Top

#6 I read somewhere that the Polisario are pro-democracy anarcho-capitalists... or close enough for government work. Which would definately make them the good guys, right?

Posted by Secret Master 2007-02-07 12:50|| 2007-02-07 12:50|| Front Page Top

#7 If being yet another permanent "refugee" camp UN dependency with free education, free housing, water shipped in, etc. on the US tax-payer's dime makes you pro-democracy anarcho-capitalists then I guess that would be right. Of course, these folks get none of the press of the you-know-whos because they are no Jews involved. Neither does the 1700 mile wall Morocco built to keep the anarcho-capitalists out in the desert. Again, no Jews on either side so the "left", the Nazis and the muslims could care less.

http://www.wsahara.net/morberm.html

Posted by Excalibur 2007-02-07 15:28|| 2007-02-07 15:28|| Front Page Top

#8 To do that, there were a couple of places where there was a 360-degree tunnel!

!
I would have made that a vacation destination, well, except that's more that 500 miles from my Opthamologist.

Posted by Shipman 2007-02-07 18:11|| 2007-02-07 18:11|| Front Page Top

#9 IIRC, the Polisario is a far leftist organization more closely aligned with Libya and Syria than "anarcho-capitalists". The former Kingdom of Morocco was divided between the French and the Spanish, and teh Moroccans had little to say about it. Mauritania didn't exist until the French created it.

We've seen the disaster the French and British created in carving up the Ottoman Empire. It also exists in how the French, British, Portuguese, Spanish, and Belgians carved up most of Africa.

I wouldn't trust Shitrack to move my trashcan to the front of my house for pickup day.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-02-07 18:23|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-02-07 18:23|| Front Page Top

#10 Weeeellll - my bad, then!

Posted by Secret Master 2007-02-07 21:40|| 2007-02-07 21:40|| Front Page Top

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