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The American WWII cemetery for North Africa is located near Tunis and may be vulnerable to destruction and vandalism at the hands of Salafist radicals. I believe steps should be taken now by the US to safely and respectfully relocate our war dead to Europe or the USA before the same thing happens here as did happen in Libyan with the British and Australian WWII cemeteries.


TUNIS - Tunisian Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri threatened Monday to punish Salafist Muslims who push their views on others too hard, after radical Islamists forced a series of bars to close.

"I'm telling those people -- the Salafists -- that if they think the state is afraid of them, the game is up and those who cross red lines are going to be punished," Bhiri told private radio station Express FM.

The warning comes after dozens of radical Salafists told the owners of bars and liquor stores in the central city of Sidi Bouzid to shut down or face violent consequences, a local security source said.

The Salafists threatened to use force to "impose their law," the source said -- part of a campaign waged since last Friday to eliminate the sale of alcohol in the city.

On Saturday, Salafists set fire to a local alcohol warehouse, angering some residents who in turn set alight a pile of tyres and fired shots with a hunting rifle in front of a downtown mosque, interior ministry spokesman Khaled Tarouch said.

"An investigation has been opened to identify those responsible," he said.

Moderate Tunisians fear that Ennahda has been too soft on the Salafis who have become more assertive since the revolution, attacking or threatening theatres, cinemas and journalists, and most recently Tunisia’s tiny Jewish community.

Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the co-founder of the Islamist Ennahda party said he didn’t think the Salafis would resort to violence, saying terror tactics would be disastrous for their movement.

The Salafist movement comprises several branches. Some adherents focus strictly on religion, some are politicians and some are jihadists who see violence as a legitimate means to impose their faith.

Researchers put the Salafists' numbers at around 10,000.

One of the Salafist leaders Seif Allah Ben Hassine is considered one of the top leaders of the most radical Salafists.

Released during a post-revolution amnesty, Abu Yadh is the co-founder in 2000 of the Tunisian Fighting Group, which was listed in 2002 by the UN Security Council as linked to Al-Qaeda.

Abu Yadh fought in Afghanistan and was arrested in 2003 in Turkey, before being extradited and sentenced to 43 years jail by the regime of Ben Ali.