Despite the attempted rescue by the Algerian government and the subsequent deaths of we don't know how many victims, non-Muslim hostages are still being held.
US confirms Americans still held hostage in Algeria Washington Post
The agency painted a chaotic picture Friday of what seemed set to be the largest and most deadly hostage crisis of recent memory, with militants reportedly taking more than 650 hostages. The news service said nearly all of the 573 Algerian [Muslim] hostages appeared to be freed, though only 100 of the 132 foreigners [Western, non-Muslims] from eight different nations, including the United States, had been accounted for.
Despite the American loss of life and the subsequent hostage crisis, the President has not commented or taken any leadership action on this act of war. He can not exploit this as he did the murder of children in order to pass unconstitutional legislation by executive fiat. Obama has consistently supported jihadists in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Burma et al..... and just as Obama's support for jihadists led to the murder of Americans in Libya, so it has in Algeria. The Daily Mail reports the Algerian jihadis have weapons from Libya -- so we supplied them.
The not so vanquished (despite Obama's hallucinogenic visions) al Qaeda is demanding a "trade" for the lives of non-Muslims. They want the Blind Sheik, mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing in '93, and Lady Al Qaeda. This is an objective of the global jihad. Muslim agitation and violence for the Blind Sheik is widespread, from Cairo to Libya to Algeria and in protests across the West. On September 11, 2012, the Muslims who stormed our embassy in Cairo and raised the flag of jihad over our embassy were agitating for the very same reason (Obama's response then was to apologize for hurting the feelings of Muslims).
Al Qaeda is also demanding that the US release Lady Al Qaeda, Aafia Siddiqui, a US-educated Pakistani chemical weapon scientist who was sentenced to 86 years in prison for firing at American soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan. "Lady Al Qaeda" was convicted of attempting to murder Americans in Afghanistan after she was found with plans for a "mass casualty attack" in the United States, along with a list of New York landmarks. Muslim Brotherhood groups like Hamas-CAIR and other "moderate" American Muslim Brotherhood groups have been agitating for her release here in America.
Leading American Muslim clerics have raised money for Aafia Siddiqui. It is an Islamic pattern that "moderate" Muslim groups like CAIR share the same objectives of murdering jihadists.
Aafia Siddiqui named Farha Ahmed as her legal counsel in a handwritten letter in October of 2010. Farha Ahmed was running for Republican office in Texas. Further proof of the infiltration of the GOP by jihadist elements. Despite the fact that she was able to compel craven quisling government officials like the local DA to write glowing letters to their constituents endorsing her stealth jihadist candidacy, and the fact that her terror-tied alliances were scrubbed from the web, she was defeated, thanks to pro-freedom activists in Texas.
Farha Ahmed was leading the pathetic and barely attended anti-Geller protests outside my Sugar Land, Texas Tea party event (below) -- that's her with her head turned in the photo, holding the sign "Republicans against Bigotry." The joke's on us, eh? Pro-freedom activist tried hard to get a photo of her face, but she refused to be photographed -- that speaks volumes.
So the lines are drawn, are they not?
More Atlas reportage here.
"Foreigners still caught in Sahara hostage crisis" Reuters, January 18, 2013More than 20 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing inside a gas plant on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the desert complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist militants, who threatened to attack other energy installations.
Thirty hostages, including at least seven Westerners, were killed during Thursday's assault, along with at least 18 of their captors, said an Algerian security source.
The attack, which plunged capitals around the world into crisis mode, is a serious escalation of unrest in northwestern Africa, where French forces have been in Mali since last week fighting an Islamist takeover of Timbuktu and other towns.
"We are still dealing with a fluid and dangerous situation where a part of the terrorist threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, but there still remains a threat in another part," British Prime Minister David Cameron told his parliament.
A local Algerian source said 100 of 132 foreign hostages had been freed from the facility. The fate of the other 32 was unclear as the situation was changing rapidly.
Earlier he said 60 were still missing with some believed still held hostage, but it was unclear how many, and how many might be in hiding elsewhere in the sprawling compound.
Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among the seven foreigners confirmed dead in the army's storming, the Algerian security source told Reuters. One British citizen was killed when the gunmen seized the hostages on Wednesday.
Those still unaccounted for on Friday included 10 from Japan and eight Norwegians, according to their employers, and a number of Britons which Cameron put at "significantly" less than 30.
France said it had no information on two Frenchmen who may have been at the site and Washington has said a number of Americans were among the hostages, without giving details. The local source said a U.S. aircraft landed nearby on Friday.
Some countries have been reluctant to give details of the numbers of their missing nationals to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to their captors.
As Western leaders clamored for news, several expressed anger they had not been consulted by the Algerian government about its decision to storm the facility.
The sprawling facility housed hundreds of workers. Algeria's state news agency said the army had rescued 650 hostages in total, 573 of whom were Algerians.
"(The army) is still trying to achieve a ‘peaceful outcome' before neutralizing the terrorist group that is holed up in the (facility) and freeing a group of hostages that is still being held," it said, quoting a security source.
MULTINATIONAL INSURGENCY
Algerian commanders said they moved in on Thursday about 30 hours after the siege began because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take their captives abroad.
An Irish engineer who survived said he saw four jeeps full of hostages blown up by Algerian troops.
A French hostage employed by a French catering company said Algerian military forces had found some British hostages hiding and were combing the sprawling In Amenas site for others when he was escorted away by the military.
"I hid in my room for nearly 40 hours, under the bed. I put boards up pretty much all round," Alexandre Berceaux told Europe 1 raid. "I didn't know how long I was going to stay there ... I was afraid. I could see myself already ending up in a pine box."
"When Algerian solders ... came for me, I didn't even know it was over. They were with some of my colleagues, otherwise I'd never have opened the door."
Western governments are trying to determine the degree to which the hostage taking was part of an international conspiracy and was linked, as the captors claimed, to the week-old French military intervention in neighboring Mali.
The Algerian security source said only two of 11 militants whose bodies were found on Thursday were Algerian, including the squad's leader. The others comprised three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman, he said.
Algeria state news agency APS said the group had planned to take the hostages to Mali.
The plant was heavily fortified, with security, controlled access and an army camp with hundreds of armed personnel between the accommodation and processing plant, Andy Coward Honeywell, who worked there in 2009, told the BBC.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said those responsible would be hunted down: "Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere," he said in London. "Those who would wantonly attack our country and our people will have no place to hide."
