Yesterday, the NYT published a report about the Secretary of Defense visit to Algeria. The paper said "Pentagon officials said they believed that Mr. Rumsfeld was the first secretary of defense to Visit Algeria." The report later indicates that"Mr. Rumsfeld is the second senior American official to visit Algeria recently. The director of the FBI held talks with Algerian law enforcement officials this month."

The report ends there, and the rest is my comment. I can't think of why the two high US official show interest in Algeria & North African now? Is it possible that this has to do with the secret CIA prisons reported to have been in Eastern Europe. Earlier reports about these sites indicate that they have been moved to North Africa.