Interesting interview by Philip Adams on Late Night Live today with Jeremy Keenan, Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Keenan has just published the Dark Sahara: America's War on Terror in Africa which reveals the secret U.S. agenda behind the 'war on terror' in Africa and the methods used to perpetuate the myth that the region is a hot-bed of Islamic terrorism. Keenan suggests that, from 2003, the Bush administration and Algerian government were responsible for hostage takings that were then blamed on Islamic militants. This created a permissive public attitude, allowing the U.S. to establish military bases in the region and pursue multiple imperial objectives in the name of security.

There is a longer interview with Kennan on the US site Democracy Now in which he expands on his argument that the west and the USA supported hostage taking by the Algerian government which was then blamed on Islamic terrorists supposedly affiliated with al-Qaeda. Keenan argues that this was used to justify an African front in the war in terror. Following the supposed hostage taking Keenan argues that a whole range of US backed military initiatives followed all of which coincided with growing interest by the US government in alternative energy sources in Africa.

I will be reading that book.