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| Title: | The Banana Theory of Terrorism: Alternative Truths and the Collapse of the 'Second' (Saharan) Front in the War on Terror |
| Author: | Keenan, Jeremy |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Contemporary African Studies |
| Volume: | 25 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Period: | January |
| Pages: | 31-58 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Sahara Algeria United States |
| Subjects: | terrorism international politics Politics and Government international relations Military, Defense and Arms |
| External links: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02589000601157055 http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4B72ABBB0E61C54515B1 |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to shift the disinformation so warmly espoused by the Bush administration in its war on terror from the real truth about what is happening in the Sahara-Sahel region of Africa. In 2002-2003 the US, working with its new regional ally Algeria, launched what has become known as the 'New' or 'Second Front' in the global war on terror across the Sahara and the Sahel. The bulk of this essay is devoted to trying to analyse the motives of the two main protagonists and then trying to predict the local, regional, and global implications. The author is convinced that the Saharan Front is collapsing at the moment, in so far as the official truth has now become a demonstrable lie. This is not something that the militarists in the Algerian or Bush administrations are going to allow to happen. They have engineered a situation in which much of the Sahel has been transformed into a state of extreme political instability and insecurity. Some Tuareg leaders describe this as approaching a 'state of near permanent rebellion'. They believe that both the US and Algeria would be happy for this situation to continue, each for its own agenda. The author sees it as providing a firm basis for the US Secretary of State for Defence's next step in militarizing the continent through the creation of a single, unified US African Command. Bibliogr., notes. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
