Month: August 2009

Islamic scholar says he warned Australian Government about Somali radicalization

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Dr Herse Hilole said he told Australian officials that Somali refugees in Australia were being seduced by Islamic extremists, but said he was disappointed when his warnings were not taken seriously.

From Australia’s ABC News:

Two years ago, Islamic scholar Dr Herse Hilole warned that young Somali refugees in Melbourne were being seduced by Islamic extremists.

Dr Herse Hilole is now a resident academic at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur.

He told ABC radio’s The World Today that he expected this terrorist activity in Australia.

“My suspicion was that young Somali Muslims could be or may be used in the future to carry [out] some terrorist activities in Australia,” he said.

Dr Hilole has criticised the Federal Government’s response to his warning two years ago.

“The response at the beginning was good, but the current Government of Australia … [it] seems that they did not take this seriously,” he said.

For the original story on the Australian terrorism bust, go here.

Somali youth leader attacked and nearly killed in Minneapolis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know yet if this is related to the Somali (former refugee) missing youths issue or just more of the same—gang violence in the Somali “community” of Minneapolis.  From Mnnesota Public Radio yesterday:

St. Paul, Minn. — The editor of a popular news Web site for young Somalis around the world was attacked last night in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.

Mohamoud Treek, 22, said he was on his way to visit a friend at Riverside Plaza around midnight, when he saw at least two men jump out of a car. Treek said one of the men apparently hit him in the face with his gun. 

Treek said while he can’t remember most of the incident, his friends said the man tried to shoot Treek — but the gun was jammed. Treek lost consciousness and woke up at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Treek, who organized a Somali youth leadership summit at the University of Minnesota last month, said the incident was a wake-up call.

“It makes me stronger, I guess,” he said. “Now I know what I’m dealing with. Now I know this is real. It happens 24-7. If it happens to me, it’s going to happen to somebody else. Eventually, somebody is going to get killed.”

Treek is the editor of Bartamaha.com.

What are you “dealing with?”  What is “real? ” Yesterday, we had Omar Jamal dancing around identifying the evil-doers in the Somali community and now Treek.  Who are the bad guys?  We would all like to know.

Batch of Uighurs ready to go to Palau

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a Uighur update thanks to Blulitespecial.   It appears that some of these Chinese Muslims from Gitmo, once destined to be resettled in Virginia, have agreed they will try Palau afterall.

KOROR, Palau – Some Chinese Muslims still detained at Guantanamo Bay have overcome reservations about being sent to the remote Pacific nation of Palau, and a final deal on their relocation was close, a lawyer for two of them said Wednesday.

The Uighur detainees met with U.S. State Department officials on Monday and informed the diplomats they are now willing to move to Palau, said George Clarke, a lawyer acting for two of the inmates who took part in the talks.

Apparently their initial hesitancy was because they figured that the Chincse government could just come and get them there.  I don’t know what the Obama Administration has promised them,  maybe their very own Secret Service agents for protection.

The 13 Uighurs, Turkic Muslims from the far west of China, have been held by the United States since their capture in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001. The Pentagon determined last year that they were not “enemy combatants,” but they have been in legal limbo ever since.

China considers them separatists and has demanded they be sent home for trial. U.S. officials have said the men could be executed if they are returned to China and have refused to send them there.

Of course, one of the questions on Blulitespecial’s mind, and mine too, is:  What is going to keep them in Palau?

For more on Uighurs (also spelled Uighers) use our search function.

Omar Jamal: “A twist of faith” indeed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Note:  Before I launch into the latest from Omar, I need to mention that I am again way behind on the Missing Somali youth story.  More has been happening and I’ll try to catch you up tomorrow.

O.K.  I honestly don’t know what to make of this guy Omar Jamal, the head of the one man organization called the Somali Justice Advocacy Center .   We have been reporting on Jamal for a long time now.    I called him the ‘Somali Jesse Jackson’ last summer because when any Somali got in trouble for rape, or being involved with gangs, Jamal was always there.  He even blamed Bush and ‘no child left behind’ for the “community’s” troubles and dashed over to Denver to assure the FBI and the news media that the Somali who died with enough cyanide in his hotel room to kill a hundred people was just  a nut from Canada, not a terrorist.   (Search RRW for Omar Jamal and you will see what I mean).   Oh gee, how could I have forgotten, he even hurried over to Manhattan for the Somali pirate’s arrival in court there with plans to help protect his rights, but the judge didn’t let him in the courtroom.

Most troublesome is that he was convicted of immigration fraud and should have been deported a long time ago.  So why is he here and why is he in the middle of everything?

Yesterday the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an opinion piece by Jamal where he speaks out (for the hundreths time!) for the families of the missing youths, painting those who joined the Jihad as victims of unscrupulous Imams and other radical  “deranged”  indoctrinators twisting the faith.

Here are some segments of his opinion piece, see if you can figure out what he is up to.

Last winter, as I sat and talked with panic-stricken mothers whose sons had gone missing, each told a painful story about a boy for whom their families had great hopes. Their stories reflect the pain in the Somali community, which has been torn apart by a sheer twist of faith.

I had to laugh, did he mean ‘twist of fate’ which is a common phrase, or was it intentional to say ‘twist of faith’ which defintely applies in this case, but is his English that good to come up with such a clever play on words?

He tells us everything was going along just hunky-dory with the Somalis in Minnesota, the largest population of Somalis in North America he says and spreading out across the state, until the radicals got their hooks into the youth:

But at the same time, unemployment and stalled integration also led to an isolation and hopelessness for many young Somali men in Minnesota. The American dream became discouragingly far-fetched, and a gang lifestyle now is on the rise. The feelings of isolation, hopelessness and desolation have made the Somali community susceptible to deranged imams who can sway the opinion of the less-educated masses in any given direction with a single edict.

The call to a theocratic form of governance by a small group of radicals occupied a commanding voice in a community weary of a long civil war and mayhem. In order to bring an end to this ongoing, well-planned indoctrination and recruitment effort, not only in North America but also in Europe, we have to defeat this radical voice in the community, a voice that is manipulative, conniving, and bent on agitation and political madness.

O.K. already, we got the message, now just tell us who the well-funded evil doers are!

Somalia is now on the verge of collapse in the hands of Al-Shabaab, a terrorist wing of Al-Qaida in Somalia. What is more concerning is that Somali youths all over the world are still subject to more misleading indoctrination by an associated group well-funded to drive an already impoverished Somali community into more misery and suffering.

We must find a way to voice our opposition to the invasion and control of Somalis by outside forces, be it Al-Qaida or any other entity, in a way that does not permit our young men to be manipulated into becoming pawns to be killed in Somalia or to face prosecution for “material support for terrorism,” even when they are victims themselves from imams with long-term political ambitions.

Read the whole piece and let me know if you have any insight on what he is doing, besides stirring the pot.  I’m guessing he is probably right on the Imams, I don’t mean to diminish that likelihood, but all of this doesn’t seem to fit his past role in the “community.”  So what is he really up to?

IRC gets another Iraqi refugee sob story planted

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I actually haven’t had an Iraqi sob story in a couple of weeks.  Readers may recall that the IRC (International Rescue Committee) put out a report back June in which they said they needed more money for the Iraqis who are being resettled in a big way into the US right now.

This story from 3 On Your Side in Phoenix follows the classic story model we see over and over again.  It begins with this grab-your-attention line:

It was once a dream but now Iraqi refugees are finding life in America is filled with harsh pitfalls.

Then it’s followed by a sad story from an Iraqi family or two that is now struggling to survive in the US.   And, by the way, some have returned to the Middle East in disgust.

We do learn some new information, the Iraqi refugee numbers will be sliced in 2010 (that fiscal year begins Oct. 1, 2009).

The family is five of the 257 Iraqi refugees settled in Phoenix last year, according to a recent report by the International Rescue Committee (IRS) [Edit, that is funny! IRC!].  That is up dramatically from just eight in 2006, and 47 in 2007. But because of the nations’ sharp economic downturn, the IRC’s Iraqi resettlement numbers are declining with even fewer expected in 2010.

IRC spokesperson Katherine Ried says that with the U.S. job pool shrinking, it is becoming more difficult to resettle refugees because they are expected to find jobs within a month of arrival.

Then comes some boiler-plate-guilt-tripping talking points.

Upon arrival, each refugee is granted a $900 stipend by the government, an amount the IRC says does not even begin to meet basic needs, like food and rent.

Aysar asks, “How do you expect a person, he came from empty pockets to pay $800 next month?” Ried adds, “So we’re seeing that people are struggling a lot more to be able to pick up where we leave off.” 

[….]

Refugees can apply for some additional funding but the IRC maintains the U.S. resettlement program is still dangerously underfunded, adding that many immigrants are here for helping American troops.

“They put their own lives at risk, the lives of their families at risk and so we really need to be supporting them in coming to this country,” says Ried.

Now you should feel sufficiently guilty for the IRC to come in with their standard plea for money.   They never tell you that the money likely will pass through them and to their affiliates to distribute to the downtrodden!

The IRC is calling for Congress to allocate more money for refugees facing poverty and eviction.

Suggestion to IRC, why not try modeling your program after these folks in Wisconsin instead of relying on more taxpayer funding for your corporate structure.