I tried to tell you. “Al-Qaida in North Africa seeks Arab Spring jihad,” by Elaine Ganley for the Associated Press, August 15 (thanks to Wainu):
PARIS (AP) “” Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb wants to put its footprint on the Arab Spring now that violence is fueling the uprisings, and in a two-part video is trying to lure new followers for revolt by jihad.
The push comes as the group has sought to expand its operations beyond its Algerian base and desert outposts to countries around Africa, from Nigeria to Libya, after the death of Osama bin Laden and after being sidelined when the Arab revolts erupted earlier this year.
During the mostly peaceful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the al-Qaida offshoot kept up sporadic attacks on Algerian security forces in its bid to overthrow the government and install an Islamist state. But the world was looking elsewhere.
Now, with Arab uprisings meeting increasingly violent resistance from autocratic regimes in countries such as Libya and Syria, AQIM wants to be seen as an alternative force. […]
Today, AQIM, like other al-Qaida arms, claims it set the spark for the uprisings around the Arab world.
Yes, but of course, we all know that it was a desire for Western-style democracy and pluralism. That’s why things are going so well in all the Arab Spring states.