The deadly hijacking of an Air France jetliner was a terrorist incident waiting to happen, officials and experts say, and the United States and its Western allies may have no one but themselves to blame.
"The United States has failed to take a firm stand against the military coup, and now Algeria is in civil war," says Eric Hooglund, the editor of Critique, a journal on Middle East issues. "The situation looks bleak, very bleak."
Saturday's hijacking occurred two days before the anniversary of Algeria's 1991 elections in which the fundamentalist Salvation Islamic Front won overwhelmingly.
The group, which wants to transform Algeria into an Islamic state, promised the country's 25 million people, angered by corruption and high unemployment, that it would improve their lives.
When their campaign promises brought support from voters, the trouble started.
Algerian President Liamine Zeroual's military-backed government canceled the second round of parliamentary elections in January 1992, to stop the Muslims from winning.
Islamic fundamentalists, in a communique, said the hijacking was a response to France's military and financial aid to Algeria's military government.
The United States, France and other Western nations, fearing a repeat of Iran, backed the military.
"It was pure, unadulterated ignorance," Hooglund says. "We say we want democracy. Then we oppose the democratic process."
But others argue the West backed the government not out of opposition to democracy, but to radical fundamentalism.
"There was no great interest in having the Islamists come to power for fear they would be anti-Western, anti-Israel, anti-American," says Ohio State University Mideast expert Richard Herrmann. "There was a fear of the next (Iranian Ayatollah) Khomeini."
Since the elections were canceled, radical groups have resorted to violence, assassinating more than 11,000 people, including 70 foreigners and 22 French nationals, in an effort to bring down the government.
Among the victims: playwrights, politicians, journalists, and even high school girls who refuse to wear the Muslim hejab, or head scarf.
State Department officials are now calling for dialogue between Algeria's government and the Islamic parties.
"You'll see an increasing effort to bring this to the world's attention through terrorism," Herrmann says. "More attacks on French symbols, more risks to Westerners in Algeria."
Still, the U.S. terrorist threat from the Algerian fundamentalists remains low unless the United States gets involved.
"Setting off a bomb in a New York subway is not hard to do," Herrmann says. "But Europe is their likely target."
France was a colonial power in oil-rich Algeria until 1962. Air France is one of the few remaining Western businesses still in Algeria.
Of all the North African and Mideast countries, Algeria offers Islamic militants their best chance for power, say experts.
"Algeria is the furthest along," Herrmann says.
"Many feel (that) if fundamentalists take power, it will be worse than Iran."
Some diplomats also fear that a Muslim takover in Algeria could spread to neighboring countries such as Egypt, which is fighting its own war against Muslim radicals.
Nearly all fundamentalists have a goal of eradicating Israel and doing away with recent Arab-Israel peace agreements.
A Muslim takeover also could flood France and other Western allies with thousands of refugees, some of whom could transport their radical agendas.
More than 2,500 Algerian refugees are already in France. World leaders are starting to take notice:
-- German Chancellor Helmut Kohl says "the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in North Africa is the major threat" to Europe today.
-- French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur calls the fundamentalist revolution in Algeria the greatest threat.
"This isn't going away," Herrmann says. "There's a lot more to come."
Commandos free hostages aboard hijacked jet French anti-terrorist police stormed a jetliner in Marseille on Monday, killing four Algerian hijackers and ending a three-day hostage drama. What happened: (Local times)
Saturday 11 a.m.: Heavily armed guerillas, poising as cleaning staff, commandeer a Paris-bound Airbus A300 at Algiers airport. On board are 239 passengers and crew members. 3 p.m.: 19 hostages released. 9 p.m.: Two hostages killed.
Sunday 2 a.m.: 44 more women and children released. 8:15 a.m.: Hijackers issue ultimatum for release of two leaders of banned Islamic Salvation Front, but subsequently drop demand. 9:31 p.m.: Third passenger shot dead.
Monday 2:00 a.m.: Plane leaves Algiers with 172 hostages on board, lands at Marseille an hour and a half later. 3:30 p.m.: Two elderly passengers released. 4:50 p.m.: Hijackers break off radio contact, airport evacuated. 5:15 p.m.: Raid begins, lasts 15 minutes.
1. Commando tosses stun grenade at cockpit, where hijackers are barricaded. It misses, explodes on ground. Next grenade hits target. Three more flashes light up inside of cockpit. 2. Other commandos charge up staircases pointing weapons inside. 3. Man, believed to be co-pilot, climbs out cockpit window, falls to ground. He limps away, clutching one arm. 4. Minutes later, passengers start sliding down inflatable emergency slides. They are escorted away with their hands up for identity checks.
