Great Satan US to use hostage crisis to advantage

Senior officials in the US administration are pushing to put the mastermind of last month’s attack on an Algerian natural gas plant on zionist US President Barack Obama’s “kill list,” enabling a hunt, which would expand US military presence, a report says.

According to a report published by The Wall Street Journal on Friday, adding the Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar to a US targeted-killing list would enable Washington to expand its military presence in the northwestern Africa.

Last month, gunmen stormed the In Amenas gas plant near Algeria’s border with Libya, killing 37 foreign hostages, including three Americans. On January 20, Belmokhtar claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement published by Mauritania’s state-run news agency ANI.

The joint work by US military and intelligence officials, the paper said, would allow the US to extend its drone strikes and other operations to the region.

The paper also pointed out that some US officials are pressing for a more direct involvement in the hunt for Belmokhtar, whether with drones, other aircraft or American forces.

The US regularly carries out assassination drone attacks in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia, claiming that they target the terrorists. The attacks, however, have mostly led to massive civilian casualties.

The United Nations has censured the US drone attacks as targeted killings, stressing that the raids flout international law.

Last month, unnamed US officials said that Washington planned to set up a base for its drones in Northwest Africa to increase its spying operations in the region, which would likely be located in either Niger or Burkina Faso.

The Pentagon recently announced plans to put specialized army troops in 35 African countries.

Human-rights groups have condemned the US targeted-killing program, which expanded under the Obama administration.

Obama has been reportedly approving the names put on the “kill lists” used in the targeted killing operations carried out by US assassination drones.

Every week or so, more than 100 members of the US national security team gather via secure video teleconference run by the Pentagon and go over the biographies of suspects in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, and “nominate” those who should be targeted in the attacks.

Obama is then provided with the identities of those put on the “kill list” and signs off on every strike in Yemen and Somalia as well as the risky strikes in Pakistan.