Evan Kohlmann,writing at the Counterterrorism Blog, here, seems to come to the conclusion that they are. Hat tip: Blulitespecial.
– In an audio recording released on June 1, 2008, the top commander of Shabaab al-Mujahideen, Shaykh Mukhtar Abu Az-Zubair, boasted of how “the Muslim people of Somalia have merged with the most elite fighters from the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement… Allah willing, international jihadi units will be launched from the Land of the Two Migrations [the Horn of Africa] to haunt and destroy the infidels and their interests around the world… We are an integral part of the vanguard of the global jihad.”
A self-styled Islamist movement with largely nationalist ambitions, or “an integral part of the vanguard of the global jihad” — will the real Shabaab al-Mujahideen please stand up? At least for the moment, Shabaab increasingly appears to be trotting down the latter path.
See my earlier post on ‘doing it for Allah’ here where I addressed the issue of Somali nationalism (patriotism) vs. the greater cause.
For a list of all the coverage that the missing Somali youths have received since last fall, go here.
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.