A bloody finale in Algeria

Concern that Islamist extremists are gaining a foothold in North Africa grew this week, after a hostage standoff at a gas facility deep in the Sahara ended with Algerian special-operations forces storming the complex, leaving 48 workers—including three Americans—and 29 Islamist militants dead. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said the military had no choice but to launch the assault, as the al Qaida–aligned kidnappers had begun executing hostages and were plotting to “blow up the gas plant.” The suspected mastermind of the hostage-taking, veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar, said in a Web video that the operation was retaliation for France’s military intervention against jihadist rebels in neighboring Mali, where his militant outfit is thought to be based.

This is what happens when the U.S. leads from behind, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Obama has spent weeks “dithering over how much to help the French in their intervention to stop al Qaida allies from overrunning Mali.” In the meantime, those insurgents have only grown in power and confidence, as demonstrated by this brazen cross-border attack.

Actually, Obama’s past military interventions are to blame for this mess, said Glenn Greenwald in Guardian.co.uk. In the chaos that followed the overthrow of Libyan strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi, Islamic extremists loaded up on weapons left behind by soldiers fleeing NATO bombing raids, which then allowed them to seize control of northern Mali.

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So far, Obama is taking the right approach to the chaos unfolding in North Africa, said Fred Kaplan in Slate.com. Unlike France, the region’s former colonial ruler, “we don’t know the territory, we don’t know the players, we don’t know who’s worth backing.” If France’s Malian offensive starts to slow, the U.S. could help out with drone strikes or airlifts of supplies. But we should keep one lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq in mind: “In these sorts of cases, where we’re so in the dark, we should keep a low profile, if we get involved at all.”