Al qaeda claims to OWN their own country in Mali. Dares anybody to move them.

[powderman]

Read full story at link. POWDERMAN. 
 
  Gadhafi bought everything under the sun," said Atallah, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, who has traveled extensively to Mali on defense missions. "His weapons depots were packed with all kinds of stuff, so it's plausible that AQIM now has surface-to-air missiles."
Depending on the model, these missiles can range far enough to bring down planes used by ill-equipped African air forces, he said. However, they will be far less effective against the forces of the West, with their better equipment.
 
Another factor in the success of military intervention will be the reaction of the people, who, unlike in Afghanistan, have little history of extremism. Malians have long practiced a moderate form of Islam, where women do not wear burqas and few practice the strict form of the religion. The Islamists are imposing a far more severe form of Islam on the towns of the north, carrying out amputations in public squares, flogging women for not covering up and destroying world heritage sites.
 
The Islamists' recent advances draw on Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's near decade of experience in Mali's northern desert, where Fowler and his fellow U.N. colleague were held captive for four months in 2008, an experience he recounts in his recent book, "A Season in Hell."
Originally from Algeria, the fighters fled across the border into Mali in 2003, after kidnapping 32 European tourists. Over the next decade, they used the country's vast northern desert to hold French, Spanish, Swiss, German, British, Austrian, Italian and Canadian hostages, raising an estimated $89 million in ransom payments, according to Stratfor, a global intelligence company.
 
During this time, they also established relationships with local clans, nurturing the ties that now protect them. Several commanders have taken local wives, and Hamaha, whose family is from Kidal, confirmed that Belmoktar is married to his niece.
 
Fowler described being driven for days by jihadists who knew Mali's featureless terrain by heart, navigating valleys of identical dunes with nothing more than the direction of the sun as their map. He saw them drive up to a thorn tree in the middle of nowhere to find barrels of diesel fuel. Elsewhere, he saw them dig a pit in the sand and bury a bag of boots, marking the spot on a GPS for future use.
 
In his four-month-long captivity, Fowler never saw his captors refill at a gas station, or shop in a market. Yet they never ran out of gas. And although their diet was meager, they never ran out of food, a testament to the extensive supply network which they set up and are now refining and expanding.
Among the many challenges an invading army will face is the inhospitable terrain, Fowler said, which is so hot that at times "it was difficult to draw breath." A cable published by WikiLeaks from the U.S. Embassy in Bamako described how even the Malian troops deployed in the north before the coup could only work from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., and spent the sunlight hours in the shade of their vehicles.
Yet Fowler said he saw Al Qaeda fighters chant Koranic verses under the Sahara sun for hours, just one sign of their deep, ideological commitment.
"I have never seen a more focused group of young men," said Fowler, who now lives in Ottawa, Canada. "No one is sneaking off for R&R. They have left their wives and children behind. They believe they are on their way to paradise."   
  
US reportedly helping France fight terrorists in Mali
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/14/al-qaida-carves-out-own-country-in-mali-prepares-to-defend-it/#ixzz2I0Ez7X1Y

[powderman]

  France Has Opened Gates of Hell in Mali, Islamist Tells Europe1 By Gregory Viscusi - Jan 14, 2013 6:31 AM ET   

•   Q

  France’s government has opened the “gates of hell” with its intervention in Mali, an Islamist militant leader told a French radio station.
France “has fallen into a trap much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia,” Oumar Hamaha, known as “Red Beard” for his hennaed facial hair, told Europe1 today. “And it’s only started.”
French air and ground forces have been carrying out attacks since Jan. 11 to beat back militants in the north of Mali who went on the offensive last week. Hamaha is the militants’ spokesman.
 
“The Mirages that bombed Gao were 13,000 meters up,” he said. “Come down to earth if you are men. We’ll receive them with open arms.”
France’s interior minister said yesterday that security forces are increasing patrols at airports and train stations.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net

[blind ear]

I hope they have a family reunion there and ALL of them attend! ear

[powderman]

 Islamist rebels jumping ship in Gao, residents cautiously celebrate       Photo taken in August 2012 of a crowd gathering in front of the Islamic police headquarters in Gao, Mali
 The Islamist rebels who have occupied Gao since April 2012 are being driven out of the city following France’s decision last week to intervene militarily in its former colony. Gao is still not completely liberated, but residents have already begun celebrating in the streets and allowing themselves the small indulgences outlawed by the Islamist extremists’ strict interpretation of Sharia Law.   After having blocked the Islamists’ advance south on Sunday, French forces destroyed various Islamist positions from the air, including arms depots belonging to Ansar Dine and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the northern Kidal region. Further south in Gao, at least 60 rebels were killed in air bombardments targeting the city’s periphery. Gao had been in the firm grip of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).   But the Islamist rebels are not giving up without a fight. They have now taken control of Diabaly, a town in central Mali, 400km from the capital Bamako, with a population of 35,000.     Contributors  Amédine  Cheick Yahaya    "The armed groups still patrol the streets, but we feel like something has changed" Amédine is a teacher who lives in Gao.      On Sunday, at about half past midday, we heard lots of aeroplanes flying above our houses and heading north. There were dozens explosions and shots, which lasted half an hour. After that, we didn’t hear anything. I stayed at home until 4 o’clock to be safe, then I went out into the street.   Lots of people in Gao were curious about what had happened. Some of them went up into the north of the city to find out what had been hit. I saw numerous armed Islamist groups patrolling the roads in vehicles. It cannot be said that Gao has been totally liberated, but it seems like half of the jihadists have left the city.   We feel like something has changed since Sunday, people feel freer. The Islamists went through the streets but they weren’t stopping people. They seemed preoccupied and nervous.   Prisoners were set free, and some of them cried ‘Thank you France’, and even, ‘Long live François Hollande!    Amédine    "On redécouvre notre liberté perdue" Cheick Yayaha (not his real name) is a member of a citizens’ resistance group in Gao called ‘Nous, pas bouger’ (‘We’re not moving’).     When the air strikes ended on Sunday, people spontaneously went out into the streets to celebrate. Lots of them were on the edges of the roads, discussing, laughing and mocking the Islamists who were packing up to leave.   It’s as if the panic has changed camps. We started smoking to celebrate. It was the first time in months! [Editor’s note: smoking in public places was forbidden by the Islamist rebels].   We’re hardly seeing any of the Islamists’ 4x4s, whereas before, we saw them all the time. We didn’t see heavy weapons on the vehicles leaving Gao.   “We’re happy and worried at the same time”   The Islamists are still here, but most of them are hiding. It appears there have been a lot of deserters from the Islamist camp, particularly residents who had joined up with them in an opportunistic way.   Some of the Islamists are trying to tell people in the street that the situation is under control and that they are advancing on Bamako [Editor’s note: On Tuesday 15 January, a member of Ansar Dine stated the Islamists’ decision to abandon parts of the north and head south was a strategic decision].   There’s quite a strange feeling amongst Gao’s residents. We’re happy and worried at the same time. Happy to have some freedom back, to live through the ‘liberation of Gao’ – it’s an historic moment. But there’s concern that supplies for residents could become scarce and bandits from the desert could enter the city to loot [Editor’s note: under the Islamists’ strict interpretation of Sharia Law, criminals and bandits were heavily punished].