James Jay Carafano links America’s new posture of weakness and the probability of an attack from Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab in an op-ed piece today in the Washington Examiner. (That’s a paper well worth reading, by the way.) He says:
Today, the group aims to be a world-class terrorist outfit, recruiting fighters under the banner of religious holy war. They are more than just a local band of fanatics. They may be plotting the next 9/11.
When you start to “connect the dots,” (the phrase made famous by the 9/11 Commission), you find there are a lot of dots to connect.
Al-Shabaab is no home-grown terrorist boy’s club. Various news sources report “foreign fighters” have joined their ranks, some in high-level leadership positions. That suggests that group has an international perspective and sees itself as part of the global Islamist campaign.
Furthermore, government intelligence officials find unambiguous links between al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab seems to see itself as the East African franchise of Osama Bin Laden International. Last month, the group released a video featuring a Somali training camp and members pledging their allegiance to Bin Laden.
As you know if you read RRW regularly,
Most troubling, Al-Shabaab definitely has links to the United States. There is a significant Somali Diaspora here. Most came in the wake of the civil war. Somali communities have sprung up across the country. About 25,000 live in Minnesota, where hundreds of Somali-owned businesses dot the state.
Al-Shabaab has been recruiting fighters from the U.S. to help wage their holy war. An American Somali recently took part in the suicide bombing of an African Union peacekeeping base in Mogadishu. The question now is whether Al-Shabaab will use its network to launch attacks here. U.S. officials think they might.
And here is the important connection:
Sensing weakness in the U.S. effort in Afghanistan, the Islamist group may believe Bin Laden’s pronouncement that America has become a “paper tiger.” If so, now would be the time for them to strike.
Carafano is too kind. It’s certainly not just weakness in our Afghanistan effort. It’s also President Obama’s continuous groveling before our enemies and our Muslim “friends” like the king of Saudi Arabia. I’ll never forget that picture of Obama bowing to the king as long as I live! At the moment we are indeed a paper tiger, because no matter what our actual military strength, if our government is determined not to stand up for our interests we may as well not have a military. To be clear, Carafano doesn’t mention Obama; just “the government.”
Carafano goes on to talk about counterterrorism measures:
Stopping any Al-Shabaab operation here will require solid counterterrorism operations and non-stop intelligence sharing. In particular, we are going to need the tools authorized under the Patriot Act which have helped foil at least 26 intended attacks on the U.S. since 9/11.
Some of these authorities, such as “roving wire taps” that let law enforcement agencies track suspected terrorists as they jump from cell phone to cell phone, are now up for renewal in Congress.
And I’ll point out that if Congress doesn’t renew those measures we’ll be hurt two ways: One by losing the measures as weapons in our fight against terrorism on our land, and two by continuing and amplifying the signal that we’re weak, weak, weak. Carafano’s conclusion:
Given all the misinformation that’s been spread by opponents of the Patriot Act, let me make one more important point right here. It would be a terrible idea to regard Somali immigrants as terrorist suspects. Profiling any group because of a few bad apples is simply un-American.
Somalis are professionals, teachers, barbers, factory workers, cab drivers, soccer moms, and members of the PTA. Communities should be working with them, building stronger ties, fighting extremist ideas, and helping them share the American dream. That’s counter radicalization, American-style.
As Ann has shown, the situation is far more complex than that. But I think Carafano knows that. We do know that there are Somalis who are upset and distressed by the radicalization of their young men by imams and others. Just as in Iraq we worked with ordinary people who did not want jihad or civil war, we of course should find and strengthen those Somalis who reject radicalism. And that would be first and foremost the women. I wonder if our government has a clue about that.