June 20,2008: The cause of both the Islamic terrorism, and the large number of people dying trying to flee across the water to Europe, is the same; government corruption, and the resulting economic stagnation. In Algeria, the government pays more attention to prosecuting Christians, than in going after corrupt and inept government officials.

June 17, 2008: Police killed an al Qaeda leader some 50 kilometers east of the capital, and dismantled the terrorist cell he led.

June 14, 2008: Al Qaeda officially took credit for three bombings in the last two weeks. As deadly as the terrorism is, it is not as lethal as another illegal activity; attempts to smuggle people across the Mediterranean to Europe (and a better economic future). Last week it was discovered, when a few survivors were rescued, that a people smuggler boat went down off Libya, killing at least 150 (including fifty Egyptians, and victims from all over North Africa.) That's ten times the number of those killed during recent Islamic terrorist attacks.

June 10, 2008: In Spain, police arrested eight Algerians who belonged to an al Qaeda cell that recruited terrorists and raised money for terrorist attacks among the Algerian exile community. Violence was threatened if expatriate Algerians did not contribute, and that made the Islamic militants unpopular with fellow Algerians.