November 23, 2005: Morocco busted a terrorist ring, by
arresting 17 suspects, earlier this month. Three of the suspects had been
released from the Guantanamo prison. During 2004, the United States released
five Moroccans who were being held at Guantanamo, Cuba. The men were turned
over to the Moroccan government, which imprisoned and questioned them.
Gradually, they were released, the last going free this past March. That,
however, may have been part of a plan to uncover yet another terrorist network
by keeping an eye on the released men. Morocco has been source of a lot of
Islamic terrorists, and the scene of several attacks. But the counter-terrorism
efforts in Morocco have been pretty effective, driving many Islamic radicals to
Europe, or Iraq. The recent triple terror bombing in Jordan caused a roundup of
many foreign terrorist suspects in that country. This may have provided the
last bits of information needed to trigger the recent arrests in Morocco. Then
again, it might just have been another case of "arrest the usual suspects."