I’m posting this Voice of America article to show what Al-Shabab (sometimes Al-Shabaab) in Somalia is doing and the kind of life it wants for the people of Somalia. And, this is what our Somali former refugee youths are going to Somalia to participate in?
Seven beheaded:
Al-Shabab militants in the south-central Somali town of Baidoa have beheaded seven people in what is believed to the largest mass execution carried out in Somalia by the al-Qaida-linked group since 2006.
According to relatives of the victims, the charges against the seven Somalis ranged from being Christians to spying for the Transitional Federal Government. They say none of the people were tried before the executions were carried out on Friday.
Women are the property of men:
Al-Shabab follows the ultra-conservative Wahabi tenet of Islam and its fighters have imposed strict Islamic laws in areas they control. They have forced women to cover their faces, segregated men and women in public places, and have banned music and all forms of entertainment.
They have also punished thieves by cutting off limbs and have stoned women accused of adultery. Beheadings have been relatively rare, but their numbers have been increasing. Last month, al-Shabab beheaded three people in the same region.
Could be considered a war crime? Could be? This is such a joke, so what is the big bad UN going to do about it?
On Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said carrying out such punishments without due process violated Somali and international laws and could be considered as war crimes.
Foreign fighters in Somalia (Americans too!):
The al-Shabab-led insurgency has attracted hundreds of foreign fighters to Somalia in recent months. Many of them have been seen fighting alongside al-Shabab in Mogadishu streets. Al-Shabab’s ranks are also believed to be growing from new recruits trained at various camps set up by al-Shabab in southern Somalia.
In a related story (virtually unreported except by Fox News) a couple of days ago, American al-Shabab leader mocked Obama!
An American who left the United States to join an Al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia is strongly condemning President Obama’s efforts to seek “a new beginning” with the Muslim world, mocking Obama’s “magic of charisma” and warning of more attacks against U.S. interests.
“Despite the fact that you have been … forced [by Muslim fighters] to at least pretend to extend your hand in peace to the Muslims, we cannot and shall not extend our hands,” said the man in the audiotape, identified by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) as Abu Mansour al-Amriki. “Rather, we shall extend to you our swords, until you leave our lands.”
The 20-minute audiotape, called “The Beginning of the End,” was posted Thursday on several jihadist web sites as a direct response to Obama’s much-publicized speech in Cairo on June 4, when he promised “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.”
“Let this not come as a surprise to those who are mesmerized by Obama’s speech in Cairo, our positions … have not changed in the least,” al-Amriki said, in the transcription provided by MEMRI. “If we study his words carefully, we can note very clearly that this new beginning is still heavily based upon American interests … [Obama spoke] not because he loves the Muslims he lived with in Indonesia, as a boy, but rather, it is because the only way to defeat the Muslims is by distracting them with this temporary life.”
Al-Amriki tells us what Obama and his Leftwing (diversity is beautiful) supporters never seem to understand:
Al-Amriki, speaking in English throughout the audio tape, also said Obama’s speechwriters made “one major miscalculation.”
“A Muslim doesn’t look to peace, security, education, work, or the love of any other number of things as his ultimate goals,” al-Amriki said. “Instead, a Muslim is always working and striving to please the one true Creator.”
A small brave group of American Somalis understand all this and is trying to save their young men from Al-Amriki’s recruitment campaign. They need our support. See my post yesterday entitled, “Something remarkable is happening in Minneapolis,” here.
For new readers, we have followed the Somali missing youths story since last November, see links here to all of our posts on the topic.