Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Osama bin Laden sought to use five French hostages captured by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Niger to discredit President Sarkozy. Bin Laden issued written, personal guidance to AQIM on how the hostages were to be handled.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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