West uses same old rubbish to justify its Mali attack

This time it's French aircraft with British and US backing, fighting guess who?

Ah you've got it, it's al-Qaida of course. It's always them isn't it, what other excuse have we got?

Like the mysterious Spectre in the Bond film Dr No, al-Qaida is a chimera, the West's nemesis, that pops up everywhere wreaking death and destruction and is apparently responsible for the September 11 2001 attacks and the 2005 London bombings.

The West hates it, of course, and that's why we been in Afghanistan fighting them for 12 years.

But two years ago the West bombed Libya and knowingly allowed an al-Qaida group called the Libyan Islamic Fighting Organisation to seize power there.

It didn't take long for it to turn against the West, murdering the US ambassador in Benghazi in September 2012.

But exactly what is al-Qaida?

Does it really exist or is it as some allege a creation of US intelligence agencies' dirty tricks departments?

And which multinationals are rubbing their hands, dreaming of the vast resources Mali holds?

Mark Holt

Waterloo