Western Sahara Terror Concerns Confirmed: Al Qaeda Tied to the Polisario

Chris Field | September 23, 2009 11:49 AM

If you've heard about it at all, you likely read about it in the September issue of Townhall Magazine, in which S.E. Cupp has an in-depth exclusive report on the terror rumblings in Western Sahara. Morocco and the Polisario have been fighting for control of Western Sahara for years -- a fight largely ignored by the West.

In the piece, Cupp uncovers the links between the Polisario and al Qaeda -- but the naysayers have described the rumors as "fear mongering," dismissing the links to the Polisario and the idea that Western Sahara could be the newest stronghold for al Qaeda. (We worked with S.E. to make the PDF of her magazine piece available for free here.)

Now we have this item from the Middle East Newsline today:

CAIRO [MENL] -- Algeria's intelligence community has determined that Al Qaida was cooperating with the Polisario separatist movement in Western Sahara.

Algerian security sources said Polisario, long backed by Algiers, has been providing safe haven as well as logistics to the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. The sources said Al Qaida has been financing Polisario convoys that have brought everything from food to weapons and explosives to AQIM.

As Cupp asks at the end of her piece: "Is anyone listening?"