[meteorite-list] Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Safety or Terrorism Concerns

From: J Sinclair <john_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 20:38:33 -0400
Message-ID: <CAAeS-uuV4jbGumqX6_FghNJ_xkVhj5xGwt8wdF8FuTCn-mnitw_at_mail.gmail.com>

Mike,

Morocco is where the concentration of the meteorite trading with our
Country, the US, is taking place. There are many Moroccans that visit
this country to sell at the two biggest gem, mineral and fossil shows
here, Tucson and Denver. They have been coming for years, long before
the large increase in the number of meteorites that are being found in
the Sahara. With a passport and visa, there is free travel between our
country and theirs. There are a lot of Americans that travel there.
The country's abundance of minerals, fossils and meteorites make it a
popular place for people that have an interest in natural history to
travel to.

A quick look at the list from the State Department doesn't list
Morocco as a country with travel warnings.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html

In fact, the Meteoritical Society held its annual meeting in
Casablanca just six months ago. It was attended by scientists and
meteorite enthusiasts from around the world.

Desert borders can be blurry though. Americans haven't been safe along
some of those borders for decades.

Is Morocco a place you would be afraid to go to?

Morocco shouldn't be grouped with the countries that have travel
warnings just because Morocco is on the same continent with them and
because of theories about social tolerance and the opinion of it being
a good place to strike Western interests. There are many places that
fit that criteria.

The US State Department does warn us about travel to Mexico, the
Ukraine, Iraq, Haiti, Honduras, Columbia and many other places
including some that you mention. Morocco isn't one of them.

Terrorist events over the last few decades have shown us that we may
not be safe in places like Boston, New York, Oklahoma City, Paris and
many others.

Traveling anywhere including just down the street isn't as safe as it
used to be. Morocco is one place I would feel comfortable traveling
to. Paris and Boston too.

Best regards, John

On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 6:19 PM, Galactic Stone & Ironworks via
Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
> Hi List,
>
> Let me preface this - I do not want this to get political and I want
> to stick to how this situation impacts the meteorite world. I do not
> want to engage or ignite a discussion about religion or politics.
>
> I have been reading stories on the news wires about the operation of
> terrorist cells and training camps in the remotest regions of the
> Saharan Desert. It is no surprise that parts of Egypt, Libya,
> Algeria, and Mali are used as havens or hideouts for terrorists -
> these countries have had widely publicized problems with terrorist
> activity, especially in the remote areas that are far from the central
> government's control.
>
> However, up until recently (the last several months), we have not
> heard much about terrorist activity in Morocco and Mauritania. While
> Morocco is still considered mostly safe for Westerners, neighboring
> Mauritania keeps popping up in the media stories about Al-Qaeda and/or
> ISIS activity. A few known higher-level terrorists being tracked by
> Western intelligence services are known to have spent considerable
> time in Mauritania (ostensibly at training camps in the remote desert)
> before going abroad to carry out attacks.
>
> Morocco has a long-standing history of cooperation and honorable
> relations with the USA and that cooperation extends into the realm of
> military black ops and intelligence. Indeed, Morocco hosted a CIA
> "black site" for the "rendition" of terrorist suspects during the
> years after the 9/11 attacks. Theoretically, this close relationship
> with the West and social tolerance of Moroccan culture in general may
> make Morocco a very tempting target for terrorist cells looking to
> strike at Western interests, Western tourists, or secular/moderate
> Islamic regimes that the terrorist hardliners consider to be
> heretical.
>
> While Mauritania has been mostly safe in recent years, there are
> isolated incidents of violence against Westerners by Al-Qaeda-linked
> cells. Given the recent high-profile museum attack in Tunisia, does
> this situation make any Western meteorite hunters nervous? Are the
> more-remote regions of Morocco and/or Mauritania still safe for
> Westerners?
>
> Are there any US or European hunters who have canceled plans to hunt
> for meteorites in Morocco, Mauritania, or Tunisia because of the
> recent security concerns? And lastly, have there ever (or recently)
> been any terrorist-type attacks or kidnappings against Western
> meteorite hunters in the remote areas of Morocco or Mauritania?
>
> Best regards and Happy Safe Huntings,
>
> MikeG
>
> --
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Received on Mon 23 Mar 2015 08:38:33 PM PDT