AP Photo

“We are at war with al Qaeda,” French Prime Minister François Fillon said a week ago today. These comments, a July 26 statement by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and a trip last week to West Africa by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner lay the foundation for what may be a significant increase in French counterterrorism activities in West Africa.

A violent Islamist, al Qaeda-sponsored insurgency has raged in the region for almost two decades now –...