Isn’t it funny (not!) that the headline everywhere on this story calls them “Minneapolis men.” There is surely not one headline with the words ‘Somalis we raised with our tax dollars give us the finger, join Jihad!’
Actually, when you read the story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune you can see that one of the two actually succeeded in getting out of the US and is charged in absentia.
For me, it is really simple, let them go and then rescind their passports so they cannot return to America—ever! That would really send a message!
What are we going to do with this guy—Abdullahi Yusuf—give him a slap on the wrist, put him in jail (at great expense) for a few years and have this angry wannabe jihadist hanging around Minneapolis?
We have followed this same story for years—they are always “disaffected” youths whether they joined Al-shabaab earlier or ISIS now. And, the trouble will all go away, we are told, when they have more stuff, like youth activities and jobs. There is virtually no mention that it might not even take a “big fish” recruiter but their desire to go help build the Islamic State might be coming directly from their weekly mosque lessons.
I was alerted to the story by seeing Omar Jamal’s face on Fox News earlier this morning. Longtime readers know our Somali ‘Jesse Jackson’ well. See our lengthy archive on news hound Jamal by clicking here. Jamal was at one point convicted of entering the US illegally but nothing ever happened to him.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Two Twin Cities men accused of trying to join a terrorist organization in Syria were charged with conspiracy Tuesday by federal prosecutors, part of a continuing investigation into a pipeline used to recruit Somali-Americans to fight overseas.
Abdi Nur, 20, of Minneapolis, and Abdullahi Yusuf, 18, of Inver Grove Heights, are charged with conspiring to provide support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Yusuf, who was stopped by FBI agents last May while trying to board a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, appeared before a U.S. magistrate in Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon and was ordered held in custody pending a detention-bail hearing on Wednesday. Nur, who was able to board a flight bound for Turkey last spring, is believed to be in Syria.
“These two young men conspired to travel to the Middle East to engage in a campaign of terror in support of a violent ideology,” said Andy Luger, U.S. attorney in Minnesota.
“Since … 2007, our region has lost dozens of disaffected young people to terrorist organizations that would sooner see Somali-Minnesotans die on foreign battlefields than prosper in peace and security in the United States.”
A federal grand jury convened last spring is investigating the ISIL recruitment pipeline. Federal authorities believe about a dozen Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities, including two women, have managed to fly to the Middle East after being provided assurances of safe passage by ISIL contacts.
“This is a global crisis and we will continue our efforts to prevent Americans from joining the fight,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said Tuesday in Washington.
With Tuesday’s charges, he said, the U.S. Department of Justice has charged more than 15 individuals with offenses “related to the foreign fighter threat in Syria.”
The Obama Justice Department is going to roll out the youth outreach program soon and that will end this foolishness!
For community leader Abdirizak Bihi, the indictments create a sense of urgency as the Justice Department rolls out its youth outreach program.
Bihi said he believes that, in addition to online recruitment videos and social media, there must be recruiters working on the ground in the United States. “There must be somebody here to plant the seeds,” he said.
“The whole community is interested to know who is behind this, who the masterminds are.”
Maybe there is no mastermind, maybe it’s pretty simple—Mohammad told them to do it.
Why are there so many Somalis in Minneapolis? See our 2011 post here, one of our all time top posts. Thank the US State Department and its contractors—Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and World Relief Minnesota!