Crossfire War – TEHRAN – RABAT WATCH – Mediterranean Theatre: Tehran – Rabat – Algiers – Tunis – Alexandria/Gibraltar – Madrid – Paris – Palermo – Rome; Iran – Morocco Increase Security – Military Cooperation – King Mohammad VI Fully Supports “Interaction” – Iran FM Scheduled to Visit Rabat Feb. 5
Night Watch: RABAT – It was in July 2002 that Rabat said to Madrid the boundary between them was in the wrong place as if one could move the Strait of Gibraltar. The issue really had nothing to do with the narrow strip of Spanish territories along Morocco’s northern coast. It was Rabat and the Palace’s way of saying that they support the Jihad. King Mohammad VI, as if most moderate Islamic rulers want the Jihad to be at least moderately successful in removing the West’s influence from affairs in the region to end the dictation from the West as to what policies Islamic governments should follow. That is not a new intention of the Arab world, which has long had disputes with governments across the Mediterranean. [IRNA]
The difference now is Tehran having entered and affected “the dialogue” in a massive way since the Khomeini revolution of 1979. A dialogue of events. It was no secret that during the Iran/Iraq War 1980-88 Khomeini’s radical, fundamentalists beliefs, that corrupt Islamic governments should be overthrown and replaced by administrations which would prepare for war with the world around them, principally the West-Russia-India, was receiving a serious hearing all over North Africa. It was not only poor, destitute people who were listening but also a lot of the Muslim establishment, including those who are secular but nationalistic and want to end the West’s influence in their decision making.
After the Khomeini revolution, most Muslim countries began to experience the same cooperation between Islamic Radicals and nationalists as Iran did under Khomeini, with the one exception being Egypt under President Hosni Mubarak, since he has always hated Islamic radicalism, especially when they assassinated his predecessor Anwar al-Sadat in 1981. With Rabat having been the locale for a number of pan-Islamic conferences, since their independence from France in 1956, it is not surprising the monarchy is extremely supportive of any successful military action against the West. Crossfirewar.com reported two months ago, Nov. 22 that in the city of Tetouan, on the Strait of Gibraltar, there is a base used to train suicide bombers.
Based on the statements of Tehran’s new Ambassador to Rabat, Vahid Ahmadi, both governments are expanding their cooperation to beyond just terrorist training. “Today it is incumbent on Islamic countries to understand properly the current global situation and contribute to efforts to achieve cooperation in various fields.” Greater economic cooperation is being discussed and they are aware if the West has serious military reverses anywhere, Iraq and the ongoing debacle of the occupation, NATO in the Balkans – UNIFIL in Lebanon, then the economic presence of the Islamic economy will increase.
Since the Moroccan Foreign Minister was away on a trip His Excellency presented his credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fahri, who responded by complementing Iran for playing such an important strategic role in world affairs for centuries. They know it is impossible for Tehran’s leadership role to increase peacefully. With that in mind Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is due to arrive in Rabat on February 5 for a two-day official visit. He is scheduled to hold serious meetings with King Mohammad VI, Prime Minister Driss Jettou, the President of the Chamber of Representative and Chamber of Advisers and the Foreign Minister. Since the ten-day dispute five years ago, Rabat-Madrid have watched each other constantly and NATO has had to increase its patrols in the strait.
Paris is watching Algiers and Rome is monitoring Tripoli. In 1996 the then British Ambassador to Washington spoke at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (now Global Relations) and he mentioned they are concerned about a “North – South Conflict” along the Mediterranean. No one was shocked at his observation. Just four years previously the government in Algiers had to cancel national elections because they knew fundamentalists political parties were going to win due to the enormous corruption within and around Algeria’s government, a decision that started Algeria’s civil war, killing 200,000 people.
But since then that same corruption has been incorporated by Tehran and Algiers had formed serious economic cooperation with Tehran and Iran has made formal contacts with one of the Islamic units that had been attacking the government but now Iran is directing them against foreign oil workers and perhaps against France also. Algeria was one of the four countries Iran’s then President Mohammad Khatami visited in 2004, a trip in which he circumvented Egypt-President Mubarak.
There is going to be significant action in the Mediterranean, as a result the West will continue its regrouping around Rome, which began with the Rome Conference last summer. It will be a very defensive regrouping.
www.crossfirewar.com
