Day: June 24, 2009

FBI looking for leads about missing Somalis in Atlanta

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We previously heard about the FBI checking out Atlanta, among other cities, to try and determine if more Somali youths are missing and possibly gone to Somalia for terrorist training.  But, here is a new article today from New America Media:

CLARKSON, GA. -– In this small town on the edge of Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking out for an alarming kind of crime: radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town’s young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa.

There is terrorist recruitment taking place already in Minnesota, said Clarkston police chief Tony J. Scipio. That’s why his department and the FBI are looking for anything similar in the Somali-American community here in Clarkston.

[…..] 

To fight potential recruiters, the Atlanta FBI has spent the last several months in what the agent-in-charge called an “outreach” program to Clarkston Somali-Americans, including mosque visits and community meetings.

Lots and lots of Somalis were resettled in the Atlanta area:

Atlanta’s Somali-American community mushroomed after 1991 with arrivals of war refugees. Between 2000 and 2007 alone, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement sent some 3,000 Somalis to Atlanta.

We only have a few listening!  Somali community organizer, Yonis, is talking here about anger against the US for supporting the transitional government in Somalia.

Sharmarke Yonis, of the Georgia Somali Community, a non-profit headquartered in Clarkston, says that anger doesn’t always translate into a violent act.

There’s sympathy because every religion spawns radicals who commit hate crimes, such as a person who would bomb an abortion clinic in the name of Christianity, he suggested, but emphasized that he sees no danger in Atlanta. [Well, well the old Christians are terrorists too argument!] 

“In Georgia, we don’t have many, just a few listening,” Yonis said. He believes the threat is bigger in Columbus, Ohio, or Minneapolis, where the Somali-American populations measure in the tens of thousands.

Listening to who (or is it whom)?

Interesting, what did I tell you, every city with a Somali population has a Somali COMMUNITY CENTER and a community organizer probably largely funded by you—the taxpayer.

For new readers:  The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.

Add Chad to the list of countries sending refugees to the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A new and fairly large group of refugees from the central African country of Chad will soon begin arriving in the US.  Incidentally according to the US State Department, Chad would not be a top tourist destination (see travel warning here).

This new group of refugees will be resettled in Kentucky, Texas, Iowa and Utah, according to AlertNet here.

N’DJAMENA, Chad, June 23 – The UN refugee agency has begun a pilot programme to resettle 1,800 refugees in Chad to the United States, with a first group of 11 from several countries flying out of N’Djamena at the weekend.

The group that left on Sunday included seven urban refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), three urban Sudanese refugees and one person from the Central African Republic (CAR) who had been living in Dosseye camp in southern Chad. They will fly to New York and later be resettled in the states of Kentucky, Texas, Iowa and Utah.

UNHCR plans to identify a total 1,800 cases for possible resettlement in the United States this year. 

[….]

The United States is the first country to agree to resettle vulnerable refugees from Chad.

I just checked my stats and in 2008 we took 23 refugees from Chad and this year through April none had arrived so far

Look who is preparing the refugees for life in America!

Besides the information about the new refugees this article had a bit of information about the process that readers often wonder about.  It’s the UN that identifies likely prospects for us.  Then, check this out:

It is a meticulous process that usually takes 7-9 months per case. Potential resettlement cases are identified by UNHCR protection officers in the field and the refugees undergo several interviews. The International Organization for Migration conducts medical screening and the International Rescue Committee runs orientation programmes to prepare the refugees for life in their new homes.

Don’t tell me it’s the International Rescue Committee (IRC) that supposedly prepared the Iraqis for life in America.   If anyone can confirm it is the IRC we would really like to know because uniformly the Iraqis are reporting they were told their lives would be like heaven here!    If you are new to Refugee Resettlement Watch, check our Iraqi refugee category to see at least 20 posts in which disappointed Iraqis complain that their live’s here aren’t what they expected.

Iraqi government appeals to its scientists to return

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

But many don’t feel it’s safe enough yet.   From Reuters:

BAGHDAD – Iraq appealed on Monday for scientists living abroad to return home and use their expertise to help rebuild their homeland’s economy after years of war.

For decades Iraq boasted one of the most highly educated populations in the Middle East, and the government spent large amounts of its oil wealth to train its brightest individuals, sending many overseas to study at prestigious universities.

In the meantime we see Iraqis arriving in the US only to live in poverty, apparently pressured into coming here by the government contractors who make their living off refugees.

Wouldn’t it make more sense and cost us much less, if Iraq’s educated professionals were cared for in the region and kept safe until they could return to Iraq.   We could share the cost with the Iraqi government and it would be a win-win situation all around.

Comment worth noting: Minneapolis Somali leader confirms criticism of CAIR and the mosque

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I told you last week that a brave bunch of Somalis actually stood up to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its apparent efforts to stymie the investigation into the Somali Missing youth case.  Today we have heard directly from one of the Somali activists to correct an error I made and to reaffirm their criticism of CAIR.

To set the stage for new readers.  On June 10th I pointed a finger at CAIR as the hold-up in the FBI’s investigation of the missing youths, here.

Maybe they could investigate if the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) would get out of the way! I have written several times about how CAIR is blocking access to Somali students and keeping them from speaking to FBI investigators. Here is only the most recent post I wrote on the subject back in April, it’s entitled: CAIR wants legal protection for students questioned by FBI!

Readers might also want to visit Judy’s post, here, where she reports that CAIR instructed Muslims elsewhere not to cooperate with the FBI.

Then much to my surprise, a group of Somalis headed by Omar Jamal* and Abdirizak Bihi (uncle to the Somali-American reportedly killed recently in Somalia) actually did protest against CAIR.  I was stunned at how much bravery this involved, here.

Next, another group of Somalis defended CAIR and criticized Jamal and Bihi here.  This is how I began that post:

I told you (here) how surprised I was a week or so ago to learn that some Somali Muslims had the guts to protest against the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the actions it has undertaken that some claim undermine FBI investigations into the Somali missing youths. My estimation of Omar Jamal had actually gone up a bit! A Somali political activist, Farheen Hakeem now informs us that anti-CAIR protesters were not really representing the Somali “community.”

Abdirizak Bihi, in a comment to that post earlier this morning, informs us that I was wrong and that Farheen Hakeem is not even a Somali.    I’ve been reading that CAIR is close to far left “Community organizers” working in places like Wade Rathke’s SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and have been speculating that “organizers” are being sent to various US cities to “organize” the Somalis.  Hmmm!  Is that how Hakeem came to be in Minneapolis?

Bihi, in a comment to RRW today, wants us to know the following:

My name is Abdirizak Bihi. Iam a Somali Cimmunity Leader as well as Somali American Missing Kids’Families Spokesman in mn NICE.

As you have mistakenly noted, Farheen Hakeem is not Somali American. She is, according to my friends, Afghan American from WI. But she likes to rule us, wip us like CAIR. She is part of , (Former Chair of CAIR, mn). Look and Read her article abou me and Exc Dirof Somali Jusctice Advocacy Center in the SatrTribune.

We are being silenced by this powerfull and highly connected CAIR org. We are not going to go away anytime soon. We survived a civil war, terror is still reigning in our homeland. It seems to follow us her and it is being funded and supported aggressively to threaten us. Fraheen Hakeem was very honest to demonstrate and be a living example of how we re misrepresented and silenced by CAIR and Her likes. See for your self. How They make our fake leaders. How they condemn those they do not like. Yeah You are the one they have been projecting to these lies. We stood up to them. They are getting so despeerate as to paint us bad.

Look for us as we continue to upgrade and claim our GOD Given American Freedom and Liberty.

Those who BRAIN-WASHED AND STOLE our children AND TOOK THEM TO SOMALI’ INFERNO (MONEY MOSQUE MAKING MECHINE Abubakr Sadique, their CAIR Allies and THEIR unsuspecting FRIENDS have done us unrepairaBLE DAMEAGE TO US. wE WILL NOT FORGIVE THEM AS LONG AS THEY CONTINUE TO BRAIN WASH THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE.

WE WILL FIGHT TO THE END TO GET JUSTICE FOR BURHAN HASSAN AND THE OTHER HUNDRES TRAFICKED CHILDREN.

WATCH YOUR CHILDREN.

BECAUSE WHEN THEY ARE NOT HERE AND DEAD LIKE MY NEPHEW, YOU’LL START LIVING IN THE PAST AND KEEP TRYING TO CHANGE THE BAD FUTURE.

aBDIRIZAK bIHI,

UNCLE OF BURHAN HASSAN

SPOKESMAN F THE SOMALI AMERICAN FAMILIES OF THE MISSING KIDS

Abdirizak Bihi

Bihi’s comment and willingness to stand up to CAIR gives me hope that at least a few Somalis  appreciate America and want to assimilate.

* As for Jamal, I don’t know what’s up with him.  We have extensively followed his escapades through media reports and frankly I don’t know what his game is.