Grand Opening - New Al-Qaeda Branch in Africa

Damn, and I was so sure we had those guys pinned down in Afghanistan! According to The Guardian apparently I was wrong - again.

Remember when they were all bottled up in Afghanistan back in 2001? Why, since then, the ambitious little buggers have spread out to Iraq and Chechnya, Indonesia, Pakistan, probably Europe and now- Africa.

Now the African deal wasn't so much a start-up operation as a takeover of Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, better known by its French initials GSPC. It's now hooked up with bin Laden and rebranded itself as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb which means al-Qaeda North Africa.

Western security forces are concerned that al-Qaeda may spread through "a swath of northern and sub-Saharan West Africa, from the Atlantic coast of Morocco and Mauritania to the harsh deserts of Chad." They cite a number of factors causing concern:

-Money from Persian Gulf and Middle East. U.S. officials say private Saudi donors have funneled money to Sunni Muslim schools and mosques in the region. But one intelligence official noted much of the money is intended to counter the influence of Iran, which also funds Shiite interests in the region.

- A sizable population of potentially impressionable young people. West Africa is roughly half Muslim, with higher concentrations in the Sahel. With its extensive links to the Middle East, the region is fertile ground for radical ideas.

-Areas of instability. Morocco and Algerian-backed Polisario Front rebels have disputed desert lands of the largely Muslim Western Sahara for decades, forcing 100,000 people into refugee camps in Algeria. In Nigeria, which has a large Muslim population in the north, elections last month have been largely discredited. The issue has been overlooked greatly, even though the country is Africa's largest oil producer and is on the brink of becoming a failed state, especially in its southern Delta region, the official added.

But don't worry. These Africans just haven't heard yet that we're totally kicking al-Qaeda's ass in Afghanistan.