Muslims soldiers in Spanish army and their loyalty

[Menydh]

A five month old news article that I've found about the

Spain’s Muslim soldiers “with double loyalties” spark debate

New Europe
February 3, 2007

Muslim soldiers serving in the Spanish army in the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are sparking controversy among security experts. Some doubt their loyalty to Spain and fear they could side with neighbouring Morocco in case of a conflict between the two countries.

Located on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, Ceuta and Melilla have belonged to Spain for centuries, but Rabat continues to claim sovereignty over them. About a third of the enclaves’ population of some 70,000 each is estimated to be Muslim, a proportion corresponding to their number among the total 8,000 soldiers stationed in the two strategically important military outposts.

Officially, Ceuta and Melilla are presented as models of a harmonious coexistence between Catholics, Muslims and the smaller Jewish and Hindu communities, but the reality is less rosy.

If a conflict erupted with Morocco over sovereignty or some other issue, “I’m not certain the Muslim soldiers would obey me,” one commander said.

Recently, the Ceuta command refused to renew the contracts of about 15 Muslim soldiers on the basis of confidential information, angering Muslims and creating tension between them and the Christians in the enclave.

“This has given rise to suspicions and rumours,” complains lawyer Mohammed Ali, leader of the Muslim party Ceuta Democratic Union. Muslim soldiers are Spanish citizens, but they, their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents were usually born in Morocco, where they retain family ties.

They are schooled in the Muslim faith by Moroccan imams, who often pass to them a reverence for King Mohammed VI, regarded as the spiritual leader of Moroccan Muslims. Spain and Morocco barely avoided a military conflict over the islet of Perejil - also known as Leilah - in 2002.

If a conflict did break out, possibly over Ceuta or Melilla - security experts wonder, would the Muslim soldiers act like Spanish patriots, or would they turn their weapons against their Christian comrades-in-arms?

Because of their higher birth rate, Muslims are expected to become the majority in Ceuta and Melilla in a little over a decade. Their presence especially in the army could endanger Spain’s ownership of the autonomous cities, the secret service CNI and the army warned in reports leaked to the press in 2005.

Muslims have a higher failure rate in the Spanish-language educational system and a higher unemployment, for which reason many of them seek job opportunities in the army, which offers them pork- free menus and a less stringent schedule during Ramadan.

About 40 per cent of the Ceuta Muslims feel pro-Spanish, while 10 percent are “clearly” pro-Moroccan, according to the CNI.

The Ceuta command did not renew the contracts of some Muslim soldiers on the basis of confidential information, which is thought to have expressed doubts about their loyalty to Spain. The army denied any discrimination, saying an even larger number of Christian soldiers did not get new contracts.

But many Ceuta residents linked the army’s decision to the recent detention of a group of Islamists suspected of attempting to persuade Muslim soldiers to steal explosives from the army.

The 2004 Madrid train bombings, in which mainly Moroccan Islamists killed 191 people, and a wave of fundamentalism in Morocco have made many Christians suspicious of Muslims.

Moroccan diplomats have categorically denied suggestions that Rabat was “infiltrating” the Spanish army or trying to influence its Muslim elements.

Fears that Muslim soldiers have divided loyalties are “totally unjustified,” Ali told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) in a telephone interview.

“There are no symptoms of a pro-Moroccan attitude in Ceuta,” he added. “For the Muslims here, Morocco is little more than a place to go to the beach.” Many analysts in Ceuta and Melilla stress that local Muslims have no interest in the enclaves becoming Moroccan, because that would lower their living standards.

Ali admits that Moroccan imams influence the local Muslims, but blames that on the Spanish authorities, who do not supply home- grown imams and do not promote Islam as a part of Spanish culture.

“Spain fears that Arabic-language education would open the door to Morocco” to claim the outposts, whereas in fact the opposite would be the case, Ali argues.

“My ancestors came from the (Moroccan) Rif mountains, but I would not hesitate a minute to defend my country,” said Yamal, a Muslim soldier in Melilla.

I wouldn't know where to start. Islam as a part of Spanish culture? Someone should remind that Moor that Spanish culture has an important historical element that is a centuries long fight against Islam.

Anyway, it is clear that much as the CNI denies it following orders from the government, the non renewal of the contracts based on "confidential information" indicates that something is going on. But not only in the N. African places of Ceuta and Melilla. Islamic organizations have made it no secret that their view of a Muslim world includes Al Andalus. Which this time can stop at Despeñaperros, at the Pyrenees, or at Vladivostok.

As a correction of a half truth, it is not that Ceuta and Melilla have belonged to Spain for some centuries. They were part of the Roman Empire, of the Byzantine Empire, of the Visigothic Kingdom of Spania, and they were invaded and later reconquered, not "conquered". In fact, the Muslim conquest of Northern Africa by Musa did not include Ceuta and Melilla.


[source]

[Theobald]

Well, we have the same problem here... Except that the ratio of Muslims in French army is far, far higher. I remember reading several articles about this problem, there was even a TV reportage dealing with these Muslim soldiers, I'll try to find them and post them here.

In the Infantry Regiment where I did my so-called "military service" (in fact, about two weeks) ethnic make-up was something like half-Black (from West Indies) one quarter native European and one quarter Arab. Truly frightening. I miss these times when the Republic stated that "Any French is a soldier and owes himself to the defense of the nation"...

That doesn't concern all Muslims though, I would not doubt of the loyalty of harkis. Not because they really love France, but because they and other Arabs just hate each other.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Theobald

That doesn't concern all Muslims though, I would not doubt of the loyalty of harkis. Not because they really love France, but because they and other Arabs just hate each other.

General Franco used to believe the same, until his Kabyle protégé General Ben Mizziam left all his posts in Spain and went to serve the newly independent Kingdom of Morocco where, as Minister of Defense, he organized the army in 1957. That same year started the War of Sidi-Ifni (incidentally the Moors drove GMC trucks misteriously missed from the American bases in Morocco) . General Franco opened his eyes and dissolved his Guardia Mora (The Moorish Guard, the personal guard of Franco).

[Savage]

One could also ask if jewish military personell also easy may come to confront the possibilities for a loyalty conflict. Especially concerning USA that may potential be the case. Also the Norwegian F-16 force are dependent on parts produced in Israel to keep them in the air. How have Israel come to such an key position? Not quite healthy to be so dependent on foreighn powers at war.

The loyalty is normally first to God, Jehova and Allah for the one that is strong in the faith?


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[Theobald]

Well, I don't know much about the Moroccans who fought on the Spanish side back then, but I think you are underestimating the extent of the hatred that other Algerians have towards the harkis, even today.

In 1962 out of 263,000 harkis 120,000 were mass-killed with women and children, often in a particularly crual and barbaric way typical to Arabs. As described by a British historian of modern France :

Originally Posted by Alistair Horne

Hundreds died when put to work clearing the minefields along the Morice Line, or were shot out of hand. Others were tortured atrociously; army veterans were made to dig their own tombs, then swallow their decorations before being killed; they were burned alive, or castrated, or dragged behind trucks, or cut to pieces and their flesh fed to dogs. Many were put to death with their entire families, including young children.

In Algeria the government still prevents any descendant of harki (not only sons and great-sons) to be buried there or to study in universities; their descendants can't have an Algerian passport and half of them can't even set a foot on the Algerian soil (is it necessary to mention that harkis themselves are persona non grata in Algeria ?)
The extent of the indepentist repression against harkis has almost created a second "nation", in the sense that harkis and other Algerians don't identify themselves as belonging to the same people, and harkis consider themselves now as a distinct ethnocultural group. They form two clearly separated (and hostile to each other) communauties here in France.

Just an anecdote. Several days before the France-Algeria football match in 2001 Le Pen described Zidane as "acceptable because his father is a harki" (which was wrong by the way). Then posters that said "Zidane Harki" appeared everywhere around the Stade de France, and Zidane was whistled and hooted by Arab supporters during the whole match. Finally he was forced to make a public comment : "I say this once for all time, my father is not a Harki" and everything stopped. This is particularly interesting since Zidane is a popular myth, a hero among Arab youth. But during the five or six days when he was believed to be a son of harki, he was nothing but a traitor and a subhuman for them.

That's perhaps a bit off-topic but I really don't know what we should do with them in a nationalist state. On the one hand they are not ethnic French and do not belong here; on the other hand we cannot possibly give up them to Algeria and let them be massacred twice.

[Menydh]

Yes, well.. I suppose that a parallel could be made with the Saharawis. They are the Bedouin indigenous to Western Sahara and though they are Sunni Muslims, you could trust them with your life against the Moroccans.

Their practice of Islam is much influenced by pre-islamic Berber beliefs, and they don't use mosques (this probably due to the fact that they are a nomadic people).

For more information on Sahara and Saharawis, I posted this personal experience that I had slightly over a year ago, with one "Spanish Saharan" (not Saharawi, but ethnic Spanish) who I met in the Puerto de la Luz of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:

A Man of the Desert

Also of interest, an article by the long standing Nationalist activist and a researcher in Geopolitics and Strategy, Ernesto Milà, about the alliance of Morocco and America:

U.S. and Morocco: the grand alliance

From about the same date, a news item about the aggresion of Morocco agains the Saharawi people. Included an argument with the Moroccan there (he is/was a poster at dodona, PANF and other such boards):

Saharans call Moroccan king visit a "challenge"

A recent article that I posted in the Spanish section (in Catalan) denouncing the abandonment of the Saharawi people by the Spanish Socialist government, to avoid annoying Morocco which blackmails the Socialists with the fishing treaties and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. A real shame. The Socialist scum used countless times the cause of the Sahrawi Frente Polisario for political propaganda in the past:

http://forum.stirpes.net/ibero-roman...el-sahara.html

Also of interest:

Morocco Expects to Join EU after Turkey

The web page of the Frente Polisario (in Spanish):
SaharaLibre.es/FrentePolisario.com