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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Angler who wrote (15427)	6/19/2002 3:55:03 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 23908

*Re: the Belgian-Tunisian Connection* (Hey, Yaacov... don't panic!)** Below is an IHT article that shows us why Tunisia proves to be such a convenient pool of amenable, expandable hatchetmen to carry out terrorist/criminal activities... with an Arab/Islamic cover. Beneath Tunisia's veneer, some find a police state Michael Slackman Los Angeles Times Wednesday, June 19, 2002 TUNIS The men pounced, their beefy hands grabbing, pushing, shoving. There were a dozen of them, at least, and they hurled themselves at anyone in their way. Others banged bottles on a car, menacing a group of women as they tried to flee. The assailants did not identify themselves, but here, as in much of the Arab world, there was no need. It was not so much the clothes, which were casual, as much as it was the attitude: These men could do whatever they wanted, whenever they felt like it. They were the police. In this case, they had been dispatched by the government to stop a group of human rights activists from demonstrating for the release of political prisoners. "Tunisia presents itself as this good student to the international community," said Omar Mestiri, the founder of a banned human rights monitoring group, who sported a deep purple bruise under his eye after the recent fracas. "It's very progressive in economic matters, and it says it is working on human rights. That's the face of it. But on the inside, it is a police state." Tunisia's president, Zine Abidine ben Ali, promised democracy when he came to power in 1987 in a bloodless coup. He instituted the usual trappings, allowed for opposition press, freed some political prisoners, even abolished the post of president-for-life. But all it takes is a quick stroll down most any street here in the capital to experience what it is like to be followed by agents who make little attempt to stay hidden. It is designed to intimidate and to keep the ruling group in power. Just last month, the president pushed through a constitutional change that will, effectively, allow him to serve as president for life. Like many regimes in the Arab world, Ben Ali's government is sitting on a volcano of popular discontent stoked by religious fervor and international events such as the Palestinian intifada. Tunisians, like many other Arabs in the Middle East, are also immensely frustrated with their own entrenched leadership, limits on democracy and the widespread use of force and intimidation to silence political opposition. Tunisia is a stable country in North Africa, sandwiched between two even more oppressive neighbors, Algeria and Libya. Tunis is a cosmopolitan city, with a European flair and majestic palm trees lining the main boulevard. Tunisia does more than 70 percent of its trade with Western Europe and spends more than 50 percent of its budget on social and developmental programs. The government rejects the notion that it is a police state, but from Tunis to the coastal resort towns of the south, many Tunisians speak of a regime that relies on fear and intimidation to keep everyone, not just Islamists, in line. Speak out against the regime, and your mother may be harassed. Join a banned organization, and your children might be thrown out of school. Your phone line might be cut. Your car stolen. Offices ransacked. Passports confiscated. Jobs taken away. [...] iht.com