Mali Quotes
Part of French Sudan—now Mali. This was a Province of the Fulani Islamic Empire, Bambara, of the Greater Sudan. Despite fierce resistance, the French prevailed and colonized the territory. Muntaga, the brother of the Tukulor Islamic ruler Amhadu , provided a great example of the fiery rhetorical style which survives to this day in much of the Islamic world.
Islamic terrorists took over one of the major cities of Mali, a former French colony, and controlled the immediate area imposing Sharia (Islamic Law). The Mali government and military tried to prevent the takeover, but the military was too weak. The French President, with the support of the Mali government, immediately dispatched French special troops to Mali. They quickly defeated and ousted the terrorists before they could attract more Islamic jihadist fighters and before they could incite Muslims in other areas to try and take over to install Sharia.
For the last 300 years, Muslim terrorists—corsairs at sea and petty tribal leaders on land—have made a lucrative business of kidnapping people and holding them for ransom. When Thomas Jefferson went to war off the Barberry coast, the Americans were the only Western nation who did not want to appease the terrorists and pay the ransoms or pay an annual “tribute” to guarantee safe passage (protection money). The European powers at the time and since could crush the terrorists militarily but there would be an economic cost for the expedition and lives would be lost. The typical calculus was that it was cheaper to pay the ransom than to pay the cost of a military solution. Even the United States then paid the yearly tribute for a while. However, this has reinforced the hostage taking behavior over the years and it is still in force. While the United States has a policy against paying ransoms, our government maintains a blind eye to private citizens, families or private companies paying to free the hostages. The Europeans, in contrast, generally allow even the government to pay ransoms. Weddady and other Muslim leaders have and continue to urge a policy of no ransom and use of force wherever possible. Muslim nations like Algeria and Turkey have learned that this is the best way to handle kidnapping terrorists and every few years, new terrorists try again and they attack quickly. In contrast European hostages are taken by the hundreds throughout the year. Meanwhile, piracy and hostage taking for ransom has spread to some Asian cultures so the world problem is not uniquely with Muslim terrorists any longer.
