The Imam and the youth leader were probably skipping town, headed to Saudi Arabia, as evidence points to the mosque’s role in possibly encouraging Somali young men (refugees!) to leave for terrorist training. Hat tip: Blulitespecial
The theory is that the youths have gone to Somalia to fight in the civil war, but we don’t know that yet! At least these two are not leaving on a jet plane. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
An imam and a youth coordinator at a Minneapolis mosque were prohibited from boarding a flight Saturday morning to Saudi Arabia as part of a spiritual pilgrimage, an attorney for the mosque confirmed Sunday
The attorney said it’s likely the men are on a federal “no fly” list because they and the mosque have been connected by rumor to a number of missing Somali men whose families fear have returned to their East African homeland to fight in that nation’s civil unrest or to receive terrorist training.
The FBI, which has been investigating alleged links between some in Minneapolis’ large Somali refugee community and the strife in that nation, would not comment on the airport incident. The scope of any such links, if they exist, remains unclear.
There is so much in this article, you really must go read the whole thing. Here is another interesting piece of information. The two mosque leaders were stopped by the Transportation Security Administration’s “no-fly” list. This agency is one of the quiet efforts of the Bush Administration that has helped keep us safe since 9/11.
Mahir Sherif, a California attorney who represents Abubakar as well as other Somali mosques across the country, said there are many possible reasons why the men are on the federal Transportation Security Administration’s “no fly” list, which as of mid-August contained about 50,000 names. But he suspects that the reasons are linked to stories circulating in the Somali community that the mosque has been used to indoctrinate and train young men to return to Somalia — stories that Sherif strongly denied Sunday.
He might be denying it, but the families have been pointing to the mosque as the source of the indoctrination. I noticed in an earlier report on the missing Somali men that one family said their son only went to school, came home and went to the mosque— bells went off for me.
Here is a comment from a relative of another missing man:
The relative said he is a bright young man who attended the University of Minnesota and spent a lot of time at the Abubakar mosque.
“He used to sleep at the mosque … like he lived there,” the relative said through an interpreter in a West Bank apartment.
I’m closing by echoing what Judy said last night:
It is insane that we let any Somalis into this country, given what is now known. It’s insane that seven years after 9/11 we have not stopped the Wahhabi Saudis from funding mosques, organizations, Middle East studies programs, and God knows what else throughout our country. It’s insane that radical Muslims carry out the stealth jihad under our noses, telling us what they’re doing while we watch them do it.
Endnote: The Minneapolis Star Tribune finally caught on to the Somali immigration fraud story a couple of days ago. But, in the eyes of the mainstream media the two stories are not connected!