November 20, 2003

Newspapers reported that the head of the largest rebel organization (Rachid Abou of the Armed Islamic Group or GIA) had been captured. The government has not confirmed this, and similar reports in the past have turned out to be wrong. But if true, the world will now be a better place. When Rachid Abou took over leadership of the GIA in early 2002, he said he could kill all those who opposed GIAs goals (of an Islamic Republic) and that, "We will continue to destroy their harvests, take their goods, rape their women, decapitate them in the cities, the villages and the deserts."  He will not be missed by most Algerians.