Just a minor Tunisian “CA” footnote. The French launched a military strike into Tunis in July 1961 to punish the government for cutting access to a Naval Air Station that had been left in place near Bizerte per the independence agreement, which the Tunisian government was then trying to shut down. Anyway, besides the usual cast of characters (2nd and 3rd Marine Parachute Infantry Regiments, 3rd Foreign Legion Infantry, and 8th Hussars), this was the last combat action by the “Far East Commando” (Commando #35 “Dam San”), which was composed of Montagnard and Vietnamese paratroops in French service. A fine example of a useless operation, in that the French turned around and abandoned the base within a few years of their victory.

Rommel: Kairoan is the 4th holiest. Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Kairouan. Wikipedia is wrong =)

btw, it is probable that Wikipedia refers to the holy cities which receive the most pilgrims. Given Jerusalem’s political situation, Kairouan would naturally be 3rd most visited.

Rommel: In terms of visitors I’m sure, but in terms of holy ranking, Kairouan is 4. It has the 1st mosque in Africa is apparently where Islam began its spread through the continent. (Which I find surprising given that E. Africa on the Red Sea seems so much more likely)