The Dudeism Forum

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This past spring, Islamic extremists allied with al-Qaida took control of northern Mali after a coup destabilized the country. Adam Nossiter, the West Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, has been reporting on the Islamist takeover in the north ? but has had to do so by telephone. The kidnapping threat for reporters covering the conflict is virtually 100 percent, he says.

"If a Westerner like myself were to show up in northern Mali right now," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "we would be certain to be kidnapped, held hostage for ransom and probably, possibly, executed."

The Islamists have become wealthy thanks to the ransoms they've collected from kidnappings. They have earned an average of $2 million to $3 million per hostage from governments that pay, which has added up to an estimated $90 million over the past decade, according to Nossiter.

In these phone conversations, Nossiter has heard the Islamists in northern Mali justify, without remorse, the forced amputations they have carried out.

"They're amputating the hands and feet of people they accuse of theft," he says, "and they're doing this on a regular basis, and they're doing it in public to impress the local populations. ... Those who are doing this feel perfectly justified in doing this and, in fact ... they freely admit to it, and they say the Quran justifies everything that they do."