Homeland Security Leader

By Olivier Guitta

WASHINGTON — Until recently Morocco was more likely to be associated with tourism, rather than terrorism. That trend however is slowly changing.

That change began on May 16, 2003 when Morocco suffered its first experience at the hands of Islamist terrorism. That day, Casablanca was hit with four simultaneous terror attacks that left 45 people dead and hundreds injured. Al-Qaida style attacks were perpetrated by Moroccan citizens belonging to the GICM (Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, known by its French acronym), a group affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s organization.

Needless to say that the kingdom was stunned that its sons had turned violently against it. Since then numerous – over 30 – local Islamist cells have been dismantled by Moroccan security forces that have tackled the problem head-on. Most of the cells have been linked to terrorist networks specializing in recruitment of volunteers for al-Qaida in Iraq, some of whom cooperate with individuals based in France and Belgium. Also the Mezwak mosque in Tetouan, where over a dozen young men were recruited to commit suicide attacks against coalition forces in Iraq, has become quite infamous.

The Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat called it ” the highway for suicide bombers to Iraq.” Unsurprisingly, among foreigners, Moroccans are second in the number of jihadists in Iraq right after the Saudi contingent.

But that is not all: Moroccans living abroad are more and more showing up in Islamist terror groups. In fact Moroccans have been involved in terror operations from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, from Iraq to Spain, from Holland to Belgium.

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By Michelle Says So

Yesterday I reported to jury duty for the first time. When that summons comes in the mail, most people are annoyed at the “inconvenience”, but for me, I was elated. Since my background is in law and true crime writing, I was praying to be selected for a juicy criminal case.

I shuffled into the court room for the “voir dire” process (an old French word for “truth“), in which both the prosecutor and the defendant’s counsel asks each potential juror questions to decide whether or not they want them on the jury.

In this first phase of voir dire, each side is entitled to what is called a peremptory challenge, a complete strategic move, in which either side can excuse a juror without giving a reason. When I found out the case was a felony trial my interest peaked! When I was told that it was a murder and rape case dating back to 1985, I put on the poker face because my insides were screaming for joy! I thought, this would be my moment to make a difference!

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