Are Somali immigrants, living in the U.S., being drawn into their native country’s brutal Islamic insurgency? Minnesota TV network WCCO says some are. Three teenage boys, ages 17, 18 and 19 disappeared from their homes on Nov. 4 and “traveled together to Mogadishu,” WCCO reports. “[F]amily members fear the teens were brainwashed to return to Somalia to fight.”
Each family received a single phone call from their loved one, and heard nothing more. Community organizer Abdirizak Bihi is an uncle of the 17-year-old. He says he knows of nearly a dozen families who say a loved one has disappeared from Minnesota.
If the story is true, it’s likely the kids have joined one of the large armed Islamic groups, either the hardline Al Shabab or the more moderate Islamic Courts Union. Al Shabab and the ICU are competing with each other for control over southern Somalia, while steadily pushing back the U.S.-supported “Transitional Federal Government.” Washington has labeled Al Shabab a “terrorist group,” but the group’s connections to Al Qaeda have been exaggerated.
The U.S. has several large ethnic Somali concentrations, especially in Minnesota, D.C., Ohio, Atlanta and Maine. In addition, there are thousands of Somali Bantu — a distinct, more rural, ethnic group — who have been resettled in cities across the country by the State Department, including in my hometown of Columbia, S.C.
A handful of wayward teenagers certainly isn’t representative of the entire Somali-American community — but still, this is disturbing news. In 2004, when State resettled a thousand Bantus in Columbia, some residents protested, saying they feared radical Islamic tendencies among the refugees. The Bantus, it turns out, practice a moderate form of Islam and have little interest in insurgency. But if WCCO’s story is on target, an extreme, militant form of the faith may have taken root elsewhere in the Somali diaspora.
(Thanks, Warlord. Photo: me)
Related posts:
Competitor KSTP-TV reported late last month that one of those involved in the recent bombings in Somaliland and Puntland may have come from Minneapolis.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/12/europe/belgium.php
FOUND OUT THIS WAS LINKED TO THE UN SUMMIT . LEAVE THAT POST ON MINNEAPOLIS LINK UP FOR THIS WEEKEND TILL I WRITE BACK. I WANT TO LOOK THAT ONE OVER TOO.
M
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/12/europe/belgium.php
Intelligence Breifing: Osama Bin Ladens Raft Training For India Mumbai Attack in Maldives Pt II of II
Somolia Suicide Bombers Recruited in Minneapolis,MN
& Planned Infiltration into US Financial Institutions By The Lions of Kharasan
For those of you not up to speed new to the group, I have covered a variety of articles on the Somolian jihadi activity in Minneapolis, MN and also the recent food poisonings at Tyson linked to Somolians mass poisoning Americans. David Axe and I, have been trading information recently on the foiled terror attack targeting the peacekeeping conference in Belgium, a link that I sent over 2 days ago on an older pending case I was working when we actively deciphered a U-tube video from the Black Widow of Al Queda theatening Al Queda will bomb a random taret in France & I took a frame of that video and pointed out the key point of a city in Southern Spain from that poster the “black widow” held up in her terror plot. We thwarted in time, it was to be a train bombing in 2007 in Southern Basques regions of Spain.
He in return sent me over the article on the recent suicide bomber dead in Somolia back & I have to say this fits profile of another pending case I was working back then on Somolian recruiting in the US. I also was working on a cell leader in Minneapolis on another name AKA Toofkie or”Swamp Rat” who ran a widow washer business in Minneapolis and was forcing local members of the window washers union out by force. I was aware , that the somolians in Minneapolis were seeking several financial companies for larger than average loans at the time. When they were being obtained back then at the time, back then, I put a defer with caution in my digital research, as I thought it might be terror related. I also had mentioned back then the window washing may have been a method of coorporate spying. It looks like the loans were part of a conspiratorial plan by Osama Bin Laden to crash our financial networks by possible unrecoverable debt to crash capatilsm as we know it aimed at destabalizing Americans jobs and democracy as we know it.
Now to get to recent video Part II of II I see here there is a raft training video linked to the groups website from the Maldives in 2007 when it was manufactured and distributed( pertaining to t he pending Mumbai investigation).Since I was updated on the naval L-e-T training center cities I thought I might add one more I found JF staff. Thanks! After that raft training video(looks to possibly be a cut of NWFP near Hangu) Osama Bin Laden unveils his terror plot to have
“The Lions of Kharasan ” infiltrate into Us Financial institutions .
I’m not going to sugar coat this. There was another case I was working and two names came up linked to this newer investigation I recognize from a thwaring in Houston. I have reviewed cell phone records of family memebrs and a large cache of numbers were bought in California as well to be distributed by what it looks like a family contribution of sims cards untraceable in Houston, new yrk florida, minneaplis and illinois. This is a very real theat of american homegrowns and foreign militants in the us intermingling daily right under our noses. It is not something I have kept quiet about, but at a certain point it will need more press to expose mroe names in this terror link up stateside in recruiment efforts from the online site i have been monitoring for the last 2 years I allready sent over.
http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2008/12/somalis-leaving-us-for-jihad-incredibly.html
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/somalis-leaving-us-for-jihad/
Somalis Leaving U.S. for Jihad
Incredibly, jihadist recruiting events in America have long been ignored by government and media.
December 12, 2008 – by Patrick Poole
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The funeral for Shirwa Ahmed last week in Burnsville, Minnesota, punctuated a growing national security threat metastasizing inside the U.S. — one Homeland Security and law enforcement authorities have quickly taken note of. Ahmed, who killed himself in a suicide bombing attack in Somalia in October, is just one of up to 40 men from the Twin Cities area who have disappeared and are feared to have returned to their homeland for training with the al-Shabaab terrorist group to wage jihad.
The FBI is investigating similar disappearances in other major Somali communities in Columbus, OH, Atlanta, Boston, San Diego, and Seattle. There are even reports coming from Europe, recently from Denmark, of Somali men returning home to fight with al-Shabaab and other terrorist organizations.
ABC News also reports that a Somali from Boston, Tarek Mehenna, a U.S. citizen, was arrested last month on his way to Somalia to wage jihad after being in contact with Daniel Maldonado, a Muslim convert currently in federal prison after pleading guilty to training at a Somali terror training camp after being captured in Kenya with a Somali terrorist cell.
Predictably, Somali leaders in many of these cities are claiming surprise and shock that anyone from their communities and mosques would be leaving the U.S. for jihad. But as Daveed Gartenstein-Ross explained in a Fox News report, there exists an active recruiting and transportation network in the U.S., including Minneapolis, for Somali-run terrorist training camps, many of which have recently reopened. In many instances, these same Somali leaders purporting ignorance and innocence for the local media are not only aware of these recruiting operations, but have actively participated in them.
Somalis Leaving U.S. for Jihad. Incredibly, jihadist recruiting events in America have long been ignored by government and media.
By Patrick Poole
The funeral for Shirwa Ahmed last week in Burnsville, Minnesota, punctuated a growing national security threat metastasizing inside the U.S. — one Homeland Security and law enforcement authorities have quickly taken note of. Ahmed, who killed himself in a suicide bombing attack in Somalia in October, is just one of up to 40 men from the Twin Cities area who have disappeared and are feared to have returned to their homeland for training with the al-Shabaab terrorist group to wage jihad.
The FBI is investigating similar disappearances in other major Somali communities in Columbus, OH, Atlanta, Boston, San Diego, and Seattle. There are even reports coming from Europe, recently from Denmark, of Somali men returning home to fight with al-Shabaab and other terrorist organizations. Read more …
Source: Pajamas Media
Tarek Mehenna nad daniel maldando are the persons of interest i am speaking of.
The thing we have to realize here is this is an obvious case of collaboration between the two Tarek Mehenna and Daniel Maldando.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/11/12/fbi_accuses_man_of_lying_in_terror_case/
FBI accuses man of lying in terror case
Sudbury resident arrested on way to job overseas
By Shelley Murphy and Milton J. Valencia
Globe Staff / November 12, 2008
Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas.
Mehanna, 26, who was living in a sprawling house in Sudbury with his parents, is charged with lying to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government.
An FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Boston Monday alleges that Mehanna told agents on Dec. 16, 2006, that he had known Maldonado for three or four years and that when he last spoke to him two weeks earlier, Maldonado was living in a suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, and working for a website.
But Maldonado had actually placed several calls from Somalia to Mehanna’s Sudbury home four days before the FBI interview, urging him to “join him in training for jihad,” the affidavit says.
After Maldonado’s capture a month later, a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, who fretted about lying to the FBI, according to the affidavit.
“When the FBI asked me where Dan was . . . I told them he was still in Egypt . . . and he had called me the day before that from Somalia,” Mehanna told the witness, according to the affidavit. “That’s very bad. I don’t know how the heck I’m gonna explain that one.”
The affidavit says Mehanna was recorded saying, “I don’t ever remember if he said the word Somalia on the phone, but that’s a problem because, like, lying to them in and of itself is a crime.”
The complaint filed against Mehanna in Boston charges him with knowingly making false statements concerning an FBI investigation involving international terrorism. He is not facing any charges of terrorism.
During a brief appearance in US District Court on Monday, Mehanna was ordered held without bail pending a hearing on whether he should be jailed without bail until the case is resolved, Christina DiIorio Sterling, a spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office, said yesterday.
J.W. Carney Jr., a Boston lawyer who represents Mehanna, said, “If this is the FBI’s idea of a terrorist, they are using a net that is designed to catch minnows instead of sharks.”
Mehanna’s father did not want to comment on the case, referring questions to Carney. But he said his son had a good reputation and earned a doctorate in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in May.
He questioned the FBI’s decision to arrest his son two years after they interviewed him and just as he was about to board a flight to Saudi Arabia, where he had a new job awaiting him.
“Tarek is an American citizen with no prior criminal record whatsoever,” Carney said. “He recently graduated from a Massachusetts college and was on his way abroad to begin a job working in a renowned medical facility.”
Neither Sterling, nor Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the FBI, would comment on the case.
Maldonado – who grew up in Pelham, N.H., before living in Methuen – was arrested in January 2007 as he fled Somalia. He became the first US citizen charged with participating in terrorist activities in Somalia.
Last year, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to receiving training at a terrorist camp in Somalia alongside Al Qaeda members.
He admitted training to use firearms and explosives as part of an effort to help a group called the Islamic Courts Union overthrow the Somali government and install an Islamic state.
Maldonado is serving a 10-year prison term.
The affidavit filed in Mehanna’s case in Boston says that Maldonado admitted to authorities that while in the southern part of Somalia, he called Mehanna and, using code words, urged him to join in fighting for an Islamic state in Somalia.
The affidavit says Mehanna told the cooperating witness that when Maldonado called him from Somalia he did not say anything that provided direct evidence that he was doing anything illegal.
But, Mehanna told the witness that Maldonado used code words, including “culinary school” and the phrase, “making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” which meant, “I’m here fighting,” according to the affidavit.
CNN had a similar story about a week ago. In addition, Minnesota Public Radio recently produced a related feature.
Specifically concerning the press conference referred to in the original post’s WCCO/AP story, see also reports from the Minneapolis “Star Tribune” and the St. Paul “Pioneer Press”. (A longer version of that AP story appears on competitor KARE’s site.)
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/09/somali_links
I particularly liked this article about what Omar Jamaal was saying about 11-4-8 when 6 somolias travelled out of Somolia. This is a key point of the investigation showing where American jihadi efforts are participating in Somolia. The no fly list is an excellent way to force clemency to combattants who want to go overseas… You say why the word clemency? Becasue even if their hearts and true nature is to fight uin Jihad, they cannot and will not unless they seek a ferry by boat. That is something India learned is a 2 way path of something to look out for.
This CARE site is good actionable intelligence. We should run with it. This is where the induction is most current day to gain access for probable cause of which mosques they attended and also the homes whereabouts to see similarity in travel distance.
Three Somali families tell similar stories: A son or nephew goes missing. A passport is gone. Days later the phone rings, and the teen says he’s in Somalia. But the phone call is abrupt and short on details.
And then, nothing.
Breaking their monthlong silence, relatives of three teenagers said Saturday they fear their loved ones are victims, brainwashed to return to Somalia to fight. The impoverished nation on the Horn of Africa is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and hasn’t had a functioning government in 17 years.
“We are not sure who is responsible,” said Hussein Samatar, a community leader and uncle to a 17-year-old who traveled to Somalia. “But we, as a community, believe they have to be held accountable.”
Samatar and other relatives confirmed Saturday their loved ones left Minneapolis together on Nov. 4. The young men were identified as Burhan Hassan, 17, Mohamoud Hassan, 18, and Abdisalam Ali, 19.
Abdirizak Bihi, a community organizer and uncle to the 17-year-old, said at least three more young men left Nov. 4, and he knows of about six others who have left and traveled to Somalia over the last two years.
I came across an investigative journalsit you may seek EJM. Bill Warner in Florida. The Somolian anti coalition force in Minnesota is spying on his website and return comments area. They have been seeking names of people to sue regularly who participate in anti-jihadi efforts collaboratively with Bill Warner. So if you leave a message there, do it by cell.
In my former studies over the last 5 years of Al Queda and the Muhajideen I have discovered tow levels of leadership Khan and Siddiquie. This Mosque “Abubakar As-Saddique” the leader “Mahir Sheriff” speaks of in this article has the name Siddiquie in it in the mosque… Several cases involving higher level teir members that I have actively gained intellegence on and helped assist bust were involved in bombings and terroristic acts in the UK,online, and in Paksitan and Aghanistan all had the name of Siddiquie and Khan. To me it is no coincidence what is going on here in Minnesota. This flie is in Italian. I had it traslated for you so you can see what I am referring to in reference. I marked the key points of what to lookfor for a quick conviction and more arrests of cell leaders who are recruiting for the IM, As Shahab brigades, Muhajideen, and Al Queda in the Horn of Africa, not just in Somolia.
===========================================
http://notizie.alice.it/notizie/esteri/2008/12_dicembre/08/somalia_ragazzi_scomparsi_in_usa_forse_reclutati_da_terroristi,17148880.html
Abdirizak Bihi, a community organizer and uncle of 17enne Hassan, said he had learned of three other boys started the same day, and six other parties in Somalia for the past two years. “This affair of the missing children has been going on for some time – said Bihi – we rivogliamo home our children.” The families of the three missing boys were told that young people attending the mosque Abubakar As-Saddique.
This is one of the guys we are looking for and his site.
http://www.islambase.info/
Muhammad Al Shareef – Hajj Coach
US Govt Orders Al-Shabaab Website Shut Down In Vancouver WA USA On The Same Day That 11 Americans Arrested in Somalia, Website Hosted by Dotster Co.
Al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia have had a website spewing out their propaganda on a website hosted by Dotster Inc in Vancouver, Washington, USA since April of 2007.
Al Shabaab is listed as a terrorist organization by US State Dept.
Al Shabaab is an Islamic terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda that operates in southern Somalia and in Mogadishu. Recently Al-Shabaab made international headlines for a threat made against Barack Obama’s inauguration, see my prior post, Tuesday, January 20, 2009, U.S. Probes Potential Obama Inauguration Threat From Al-Shabaab Terror Group Who Run a Website out of Vancouver WA
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I am far more concerned about the freaky Jewish kids that go to “Israel” to become IDF terrorists, even sent to IDF summer camp by their psycho parents!