September25, 2008:  The government is locked in a dispute with the U.S. over anti-Christian activities in Algeria. Moslems consider it their right, and duty, to convert others, but deem it illegal for anyone to try and convert them. This has long been a source of friction between Moslems and non-Moslems.  The government has sided with Islamic clerics and pressure groups that oppose Christian missionaries and any activity that might induce Moslems to convert. Some Moslems are very touchy, often violent about conversions to other religions. The government goes along with this violence in order to maintain the support of moderate clerics, and avoid al Qaeda accusations of being a "puppet of the West." That means Islamic militants can get away with murder, and lesser crimes, when it comes to local Christians and any Moslems who have, or might be considering, converting. Increasingly, Moslems are considering converting, seeing Islam as the religion of failure.

September 23, 2008: Al Qaeda's North Africa leader (Abu Musab Abdul Wadud), released a 29 minute long video, where he  took responsibility for a recent attack in  Mauritania and all the bombings over the last few months in Algeria. Wadud called for the people to rise up and overthrow the governments of North Africa. Even though many North Africans would like to do this, they are not a majority and they are faced with police state situations which make rebellion very difficult. Moreover, al Qaeda is supported by an even smaller proportion of the population. While this provides al Qaeda with millions of Algerian supporters, it's the millions of anti-terrorist Algerians with cell phones that pose the biggest threat to al Qaeda. The cell phone has become a major obstacle for Islamic terrorists (who tend to antagonize many people with their seemingly indiscriminate bombings.)

September 18, 2008: Police arrested fourteen suspected terrorists, and broke up a plot to bomb the presidential palace. Throughout the country, the police have become more alert to terrorist operations, motivated by the bombings over the Summer. In the south, troops on the Mauritanian border have been warned by Mauritania that Islamic terrorists, who killed twelve soldiers three days earlier, may try to cross the border.