Losing Tunisia to the Salafis.

• Author: DeAtkine, Norvell
• Position: Brief article

By Roshanna Lawrence, senior analyst Max Security Solutions

http://nationalinterest.org/print/commentary/losing-tunisia-salafis-8350

As the once seemingly bright future of the "Arab Spring" evolved into something closer to a nightmare for those hoping for a more secular and democratic society, Tunisia seemed to be the one bright spot. Not so says the author who, writing in the National Interest, leads readers through the usual morass of Islamist organizations, all lumped together under the newspaper reference as "salafist jihadis."

Tunisia, once a bastion of relative liberalism despite its succession of authoritarian leaders, is moving toward a more fundamentalist orientation with a "moderate" Islamist political party, the governing Ennahda, blaming all acts of violence on the jihadis while at the same time maintaining contacts with them and turning a blind eye to their Islamist-inspired acts of violence.

The author lists the three main Islamist organizations, the Ansar al-Sharia (AST), the Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution...