And, there is more in this Fox News report about “the American” we told you about yesterday. Hat tip: Blulitespecial.
Two young Americans who left their homes to join an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group in Somalia held a rare “press conference” in Southern Somalia on Monday, saying they want to be killed “for the sake of God,” according to a U.S. law enforcement official and a video posted on a Somali news Web site.
[….]
Today is the first time any of these men have spoken publicly.
They want others to know why they joined al-Shabaab according to a translation by none other than our old buddy Omar Jamal (See all of our coverage on this guy here. We should have made him his own category at RRW).
“We came from the U.S. with a good life and a good education [Edit: note they are not joining the jihad because of a life of poverty], but we came to fight alongside our brothers of al-Shabaab … to be killed for the sake of God,” one man said in the video, as translated by Omar Jamal, the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
In the video, two men, identifying themselves as Abu-Muslim and Abu Yaxye, say they are “Somali youth” from the United States who are now stationed near the city of Kismayo, more than 300 miles southwest of Mogadishu, according to Jamal. The men say they are talking to media for the first time so others can learn why they joined al-Shabaab, he said.
More on “the American”—- a white guy (note you can see a close-up of him at the Fox report):
A law enforcement official confirmed to FOX News that the man, identified in the video as Abu Mansur al-Amriki, is originally from the United States, but said he has been in Somalia “for some time.” The official said the man is in his late 20s or early 30s, and left the United States “many” years ago.
So what is the big deal about going to Somalia “many” years ago. Who cares if it’s “many” or a few?
The FBI is looking for ‘missing youth’ cases in other American cities, but are quick to say there is no evidence that they are being trained to return with their newly acquired skills to use against us. There is no evidence that they are not!
The FBI investigation into how young American men were recruited to join al-Shabaab in Somalia is active in Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Boston; Seattle; and San Diego, according to testimony from counterterrorism officials and others at a Senate hearing last month. But, officials said, there is no intelligence to indicate that Somali-Americans who traveled to Somalia are planning attacks inside the United States.
But some are back, we heard that a couple of weeks ago.
The source familiar with the FBI investigation would not say publicly if authorities know the whereabouts of the men who returned to the United States, nor would the source say if authorities are pursuing arrests in the case. But Muslim leaders in the Minneapolis area told FOX News that they believe arrests are coming.
So what is taking so long? I’ll bet you a buck it’s illegal to go to a foreign terror training camp and then return to the US.
See our archive of all the ‘missing Somali youths’ (former refugees) stories here.
For new readers and reporters who might be wondering how we came to have all these Somalis in the US, visit this post.