This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:

• Debka: Benghazi murder of Chris Stevens was revenge for plot against al-Qaeda
• France's Hollande calls for immediate military action in Mali
• Aftermath of Libyan military action sees big increase in al-Qaeda activity in Africa

Debka: Benghazi murder of Chris Stevens was revenge for plot against al-Qaeda

Debka, which sometimes gets things wrong, is quoting its military intelligence sources as saying that the reason why the Obama administration is covering up the al-Qaeda links to the murder of American ambassador Chris Stevens on September 11 in Benghazi, Libya, was because the murder was an act of revenge for US-led plans to assassinate the terrorist Abdelmalek Droukdel, "Emir of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb", or Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). According to the details of the story, which Debka says are not fully confirmed, the Americans collaborated with the Libyan, Algerian and Tunisian secret services to kill Droukdel and the entire AQIM leadership, an accomplishment that would have rivaled the killing of Osama bin Laden for the Obama administration. However, Droukdel got wind of the assassination plans, and turned the tables, killing Stevens. The "spontaneous attack" theory put forward by numerous officials in the administration was a full-throated lie. 

Armed Islamist groups, including AQIM, Libya's Ansar al-Sharia, Nigeria's Boko Haram, Mali's Ansar al-Dine and the West African Monotheism and Jihad are now preparing to discuss expanding their joint operations, including the smuggling of arms, money and jihadists, using the impetus provided by their Benghazi "success." Debka

France's Hollande calls for immediate military action in Mali

France's President François Hollande called Wednesday for the Security Council to approve African military intervention in Mali "as quickly as possible." France and the African union would provide logistical support to an effort led by ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). Mali is a former French colony, and al-Qaeda linked Ansar al-Dine has now taken control of 2/3rds of the country, an area as large as France itself. A side meeting of the U.N. Security Council was held on Mali, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed that the Mali situation was serious: 

We all know too well what is happening in Mali, and the incredible danger posed by violent extremists imposing their brutal ideology, committing human rights abuses, destroying irreplaceable cultural heritage. We have to train the security forces in Mali, help them dislodge the extremists, protect human rights, and defend borders.

However, Clinton and other U.N. Security Council members urged caution, and there will be no support for military action in Mali. AP and Reuters

Aftermath of Libyan military action sees big increase in al-Qaeda activity in Africa

The death of Osama bin Laden raised the hope that al-Qaeda was in decline, but the killing of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens was only the latest of the successes of a newly invigorated group of al-Qaeda linked militant organizations in Africa. Much of their success follows from the aftermath of the military action in Libya last year. As I've been reporting for over a year, the fall of Muammar Gaddafi left behind huge warehouses of modern weapons that have now fallen into the hands of these major African Islamic militant groups -- Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Libya's Ansar al-Sharia, Nigeria's Boko Haram, Mali's Ansar al-Dine and the West African Monotheism and Jihad. (See: "8-Sep-11 World View -- Thousands of surface-to-air missiles missing from Libya warehouses") These weapons were used in the Benghazi attack that killed Chris Stevens, they were used in the takeover of Mali, they've been used in terrorist attacks in Algeria, they've been used in battles between Christians ans Muslims in Nigeria, they've been used against Egyptian forces in the Sinai, and there is certainly much worse to come. 

Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail