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EDITORIAL


into the distance that


S


Counter Terror Gazette is published by ASI Publications Limited


Calle Mar Mediterraneo 64, Tres Cantos, Madrid 28760 Spain


Telephone: + 34 91 804 2577 Facsimile: + 44 20 8090 6211 web: www.asi-mag.com


Owner/Publisher Adrian Broadbent


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Editor-in-Chief Anna Costin


e-mail: acostin@avsec.com


Sales Manager Sam Stokes Telephone: +44 20 8123 7909 e-mail: sstokes@asi-mag.com


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we fail


to see what is


happening


under our nose. We focus on


what is outside of ourselves, as the things which need rectifying, failing to recognise that the problem may come from within.


There are many


examples of this when it comes to terrorism, such as the summer 2011 attacks by Anders Breivik in Norway. And that is what appears to have happened in France recently where, although Mohamed Merah had, according to the French government, been under surveillance for some time by France’s domestic intelligence service for links to extremist Islam, he had been deemed not to be a significant threat. But tragically that is exactly what he was. Over a 10 day period, he killed three French soldiers of, like him, North African origin, and three children and an adult at a Jewish school, ostensibly to avenge the deaths of Palestinian children and France’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan. Ostensibly being the key word. from what


has CONTENTS


Regular Features Lead Editorial .......................................3 Terror Watch .......................................16


Under Surveillance


US Military Security in Indonesia ..........4 Regional Focus: West Africa .................8 Protecting the 2012 Olympics ............13 Group Profile: AQIM .............................18


Because, been


published about Merah in the media, it is difficult to understand what he believed in, what really motivated him to do anything in his short life. He was a violent petty criminal; he attempted suicide in prison; he liked to go to nightclubs and on skiing holidays with friends; he was calm and


gentle according


to those who knew him; he was out of control according to his mother;


SPRING 2012 EDITION


ometimes we look so intensely


he tried to join the army – the one he would later go on to attack - and the French Foreign Legion; he travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and wanted to be an al-Qaeda jihadi… He was an enigma. But some of the greatest threats to society are enigmas – unknown lone wolves who remain a mystery even after their capture or death.


Merah claimed


he was an al-Qaeda operative, but there is no evidence that he was actually part of the network, or one of its affiliates or cells and the group hasn’t made a statement claiming his attacks as their own.


More likely


it seems that he was an al-Qaeda wannabe, or indeed a wannabe for anything that would give him the sense of belonging and importance that he was missing, be it the army, Foreign Legion or a terrorist group, all of which appear to have rejected him. Maybe he really was a rebel without a cause. Even if he was just a psychologically troubled angry young man, and not a hard core extremist who was a known threat to security, he has still managed to perpetrate one of France’s worst acts of terrorism in recent years. His greatest achievement appears to be France’s current purge of Islamist extremists in the country, as the government deports tens of resident foreign extremists to their countries of origin. But when a state sees what is under its nose, but consigns that problem to distant lands, the threat does not stop. It’s a vicious circle, and one that can only be broken by looking at the whole picture, at home and abroad and making sure that those classed as not posing a threat, really don’t.


Anna Costin Editor


3 CounterTerrorGazette


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