Morocco's Misguided War on Terror

How the persecution of Islamists across North Africa, in the name of fighting terrorism, is sowing the seeds for future instability.

BY AIDA ALAMI | APRIL 9, 2010

On a rainy Tuesday morning in February, a group of about 20 veiled women -- most of them dressed in black niqabs, the full-body veils favored by the most conservative Muslims -- stand silently in the street in front of the Rabat administrative tribunal. These wives, mothers, and sisters of alleged terrorists detained by the Moroccan government have come from across the country to show their support for one of their own, Fatiha Mejjati. Inside the courtroom, Mejjati is bringing a suit against the Moroccan government for wrongfully detaining her and her then-11-year-old son for nine months in 2003.

Since the May 16, 2003, bombings in Casablanca, when 14 terrorists launched a series of suicide attacks on several sites in the city, including the Belgian Consulate and a Jewish community center, killing 45 people, Morocco has adopted its version of the USA Patriot Act. This law increased the punishment for terrorist-related activities and, most importantly, criminalized the "intent of committing an act of terrorism," a crime the government interpreted broadly, using it to convict hundreds of people.

The U.S. government has embraced Morocco as a "moderate" ally in the region, more than tripling economic aid to the country since 2003. "Morocco is a leader in the fight against terrorism," said the U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Samuel Kaplan, in a televised interview in early February. He insisted that the efforts taken by the Moroccan government were "clear, direct, and strong." Indeed, the Moroccan government has taken staunch measures in the name of security over the last few years.

Human Rights Watch, on the other hand, stated in its 2010 annual report that "human rights conditions deteriorated overall in 2009 in Morocco." The report cited the unfair detention of presumed terrorists among the reasons for this decline.

Following the 2003 terrorist attacks, more than 2,000 adherents to a conservative interpretation of Islam, known as Salafism, were arrested and sentenced to terms ranging from 30 years to life in prison. Today, Morocco's Salafist population still labors under government suspicion and has been the target of repressive measures, including trials over trivial matters, kidnappings, and arbitrary detentions. These counterterrorism policies have particularly affected the families of the presumed terrorists. Many children remember very well their fathers' arrests and have themselves been exposed to scrutiny. Their parents warn that they themselves can be bombs waiting to explode.

Inside the courtroom, Mejjati, dressed all in black and holding a Samsonite briefcase containing pictures of her son, is making her case against the Moroccan government. She is the widow of Karim Mejjati, the deceased al Qaeda operative who was allegedly involved in the planning of the Casablanca attack, as well as the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which claimed 191 lives. He was killed in a shootout with Saudi forces in 2005.

In 2001 and 2002, Karim Mejjati took his family to live in Afghanistan and then Pakistan, with the stated goal of meeting Osama bin Laden, before settling in Saudi Arabia as a midlevel field operative for the organization. Fatiha Mejjati claims that one morning in March 2003, while she and her son Elias were on their way to the doctor, they were arrested and sent on a private CIA jet to the Moroccan prison of Temara, where they were detained for nine months. Fatiha Mejjati said she was interrogated about her husband's terrorist activities solely in relation to the United States. She said they underwent all sorts of tortures, such as sleep deprivation. Morocco denies Elias and his mother were ever detained.

Today Elias has serious mental and physical problems, including depression, paranoia, hormonal dysfunctions, and obesity. He is prone to violent outbursts. He does not attend school and only leaves the house to go to the doctor. "They ruined Elias's childhood; they must pay for it," said Fatiha Mejjati.

While Mejjati is inside the courtroom waiting for the judges to decide her case, her support group is waiting outside. Demonstrations such as these, a frequent occurrence in Morocco, are organized by An-Nassir, an organization that assists families of detained Salafists. All these women have a son, a brother, or a husband in a Moroccan prison. They all have a story to tell: the horrible detention conditions of their family members, daily repression from local authorities, denial of their rights as citizens, discrimination in the workplace, and marginalization of their children at school.

The women have a hard time containing their outrage. "Why are they in jail? Where are the proofs? Where are the bodies? Where are the bombs? To justify putting my brother in jail for 30 years?" demanded Khamissa Rtimi, the sister of Abderazak Karaoui. Her brother is innocent, she claims, and was arrested solely because he lived next door to one of the terrorists who conducted the Casablanca attacks.

Aida Alami

 

Aida Alami is a journalist based in Morocco.

SIR_MIXXALOT

6:00 PM ET

April 9, 2010

Thank you. The same thing

Thank you.

The same thing happens across the region, many times with US blessing and active, if clandestine, backing.

That is why what is known is "Islamist" terror is really anti-American and anti-arab-tyrant terror.

There is not much of a religious aspect to this.

 

JALAL NALI

9:49 PM ET

April 10, 2010

imported ideology

Morocco has always been a land of tolerance and brotherhood with other religions, you can read many books about how Morocco protected his Jew and non Jew population through history, the radical islam is not ours, in morocco we practice Malikit Islam (is a pacific and tolerant islam) and you have the freedom of practicing or not.
The problem is that this people are threatening our life style (nicab e.j : has never been one of Moroccan traditions) and the terrorists when you catch them, I m quiet sure that they will never say that they are about to prepare terror attacks.
Moroccan population agreed with the government to keep save our life style> and saving our principals, we don't want a new Afghanistan or another Algeria in morocco.
we rather to keep our strong step to modernity.

 

A.BIDAOUI

4:09 AM ET

April 12, 2010

to mr.jalal nali

.<"the problem is these people are threatening our life style..." and niqab...?????!!!!!What?excuse me,please excuse my ignorance and tell me how a piece of cloth becomes a weapon of mass destruction?or a real threat to your life styles.?what is Islam? and what is pacific islam?and maliki islam...what is this ambiguity?
Is the moroccan police now stoping nikab wearing women in the streets and getting them wearing bikini?Please i am eager to know?
Before Imam malik there was Islam.Just to let you know.Just to let you know mr Jalal,nicab is a part of the Islamic identity .Let me tell you a secret,yesterday, in casablanca ain diab in a bar somebody was drinking Beer and all of a sudden a nikab(piece of cloth)came walking and took off Her clothes and guess their was nothing there just emptiness,void because nobody was wearing it.Stop judging people and generalizing,plz plz plz .

 

A.BIDAOUI

4:15 AM ET

April 12, 2010

to mr jallal

I forgot to tell you that my grandmother and my mother and a lot of women of my relatives and family and neihbours they use to wear nikab for years as did their ancestors used to.When you say nikab is or has never been one of Moroccan traditions,then let me tell you that you are missing a very important information here...SALAM=peace

 

SAMY

4:25 PM ET

April 18, 2010

@ Badaoui, nonsense!

The problem here, as has been well said by Mr. Jalal, is that your nikab is now used, by your wife and your sister, as a way to just cover their faces in order to practise some old habits such as begging near the mosques and / or to join secret their lovers!!

 

BURNINGCHROME

6:37 AM ET

April 12, 2010

Wow! A puff piece on Salafism.

So in Ms. Alami's make believe world, not only does the West not understand Islam, Islamism ... apparently neither do other Arabs and Muslims.

What next rehabilitation of Stalinists or Nazis? They were just peaceful conservative movements only a small percent were violent....

 

SIR_MIXXALOT

2:01 PM ET

April 12, 2010

What is the source of anti-West terrorism? ---> From the CIA

From the CIA:

"While it is hard for Americans to hear, we are at war with a steadily growing number of young men and women in the Muslim world because of what the U.S. government has done in that arena since 1945. The current slate of U.S. foreign policies toward the Islamic world generates the basic and most compelling and uniting motivation for our Islamist enemies."

http://thehill.com/special-reports-archive/699-homeland-security-january-2010/75531-when-troops-and-cia-officers-die-for-a-fantasy

When troops and CIA officers die for a fantasy
By Michael Scheuer - 01/12/10 06:25 PM ET

The men and women of the U.S. military and intelligence services are the most important part of America’s defense capital. When they enter the service of their choice they are well aware of the implicit contract between the nation and themselves. In return for their career, America has the right to call on them to go into harm’s way, very often at the risk of their lives. I have never known a Marine, a soldier or a CIA officer who did not accept this reality, and I have never known one who balked when called on to deploy. That said, each I have known — and I suppose all — hope that if defending America costs his or her life, the cause for which it is spent is clear and worthwhile. It is precisely on this point that the U.S. government’s executive and legislative branches are lethally failing these men and women.

The events of the past three weeks throw into sharp relief that we are sending our young men and women overseas to fight an enemy that does not exist. Among the first thoughts expressed by President Obama after the near-miss al Qaeda attack on Christmas — and then echoed by his lieutenants, various members of both parties in Congress, and numerous pundits — was that the young Nigerian bomber hated our way of life. And since seven CIA officers in Afghanistan were killed by al Qaeda on Dec. 30, the same thought has been expressed by the same people.

This central thought has been accompanied by additional assertions, among which are the attackers were nihilistic Muslim fanatics and the attackers’ motivation has nothing to do with Islam. The sum and substance of the U.S. bipartisan political elite’s response to recent events has been — as it has been since 1996 when Osama bin Laden declared war on America — that the Islamist terrorists hate us for who we are and how we live, not for what we do.

This contention is a fantasy. It is fair to say that all the U.S. Marines, soldiers and CIA officers who have died in Afghanistan since 9/11 and in Iraq since Saddam’s removal have died fighting an enemy that does not exist. In numbers now approaching 6,000, these men and women have bravely fought and died in combat against an enemy whose main motivation U.S. political leaders have consistently denied. No U.S. soldier, Marine, or CIA officer has been killed by an Islamist fighter who took the field because America has women in the workplace, beer is available in ample supply, and there are early presidential primaries in Iowa every fourth year. Indeed, Islamists motivated by such issues would not rise to the level of a lethal nuisance; they certainly could not stymie the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The young Nigerian in Detroit and the Jordanian bomber in Khost and his wife have told America’s Marines, soldiers, and CIA officers what they already surely sense, but what their political leaders deny. Both attackers cited motivations that pivot on U.S. support for Israel against the Palestinians; U.S. occupation of Muslim lands; and U.S. attacks on their fellow Muslims. The three individuals’ words echo the components of U.S. foreign policy named by bin Laden in 1996 as the causes of war — which also include U.S. support for Arab tyrants and exploitation of Muslim energy resources — and which polls show 80 percent of the world’s Muslims identify as attacks on their faith.

While it is hard for Americans to hear, we are at war with a steadily growing number of young men and women in the Muslim world because of what the U.S. government has done in that arena since 1945. The current slate of U.S. foreign policies toward the Islamic world generates the basic and most compelling and uniting motivation for our Islamist enemies.

Should some of these policies be changed? I surely think so, but that is a discussion for another time and broad public debate, perhaps during the 2010 midterm elections. For now, the discussion must focus on our enemies’ motivation and the knowing failure of U.S. leaders in both parties to be honest with our fighting forces. If we fail to understand that motivation, America cannot shape a war-fighting strategy to either defend those policies or defeat the tenacious, talented, religiously motivated, and growing foe our soldiers, Marines, and CIA officers are now losing to in the field. Those men and women — and their parents, spouses and children — deserve to know they are risking their lives to defeat a skilled and enduring enemy, one who is motivated by the impact of U.S. policies, and one that genuinely threatens America. They are not fighting the cartoon-like foe described by their political leaders for the past 15 years.

Scheuer is a former senior CIA officer and adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University.

 

SAMY

4:28 PM ET

April 18, 2010

Mere bullshit!

Nonsense!

 

NOUVELLE09

5:32 AM ET

April 13, 2010

Great post, Mixxalot. Very

Great post, Mixxalot. Very good info. Thanks for sharing us.
Girokonto