Category: Africa

FBI: Relations with Somalis in US good; Omar Jamal says no they aren’t

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have to say, I am sick to death of the Somali missing “youth” story.  We are going on a year now since the issue burst (at least on the internet) on the national scene.  Now we know the missing “kids” are not so much missing but chose to leave the good life the refugee resettlement program gave them to join the Jihadists in Africa.  Here is the latest from Seattle where FBI Director Mueller held a press conference earlier this week.   There isn’t much new here, but I’m repeating it for new readers.*

From AP:

SEATTLE — The FBI is working to maintain good relations with Somalis in Seattle and across the country as it examines the role of U.S.-raised Somali men who have returned to their homeland to fight alongside terrorists, the agency’s director said Monday.

The FBI in recent years has investigated money-transfer services and the importation of a mild stimulant called khat, traditionally used by Somalis, leading to feelings of mistrust in the local Somali community toward the agency.

But those issues are outweighed by a strong desire to keep Somali children in the U.S. from becoming radicalized, FBI director Robert Mueller said at a news conference in Seattle.

“The phenomenon of individuals, young individuals, going to Somalia fighting for Al Shabab and perhaps being killed in the course of that fighting is a much more substantive issue that brings us together as opposed to divides us,” he said.

One bomber who took part in a twin suicide bombing at a peacekeepers base in Somalia last month was reportedly from Seattle, and up to 20 men from Minnesota are believed to have returned to Somalia to fight.

Three men – two from the Minneapolis area and one from Seattle – have pleaded guilty in federal court in Minneapolis to terror charges this year. At least three Minnesota men have died, including one whom authorities say carried out a suicide bombing.

Activists in the local Somali community agree that their relationship with the FBI is better than it has been, but some suspicion remains.

Some activists that is!   He’s is back again—Omar Jamal, that is.  I hadn’t seen the Somali mouthpiece mentioned for awhile and thought maybe he had returned to Somalia too with some of his old friends from Tennessee.  Not a chance, I guess.  Although he was convicted of immigration fraud in Memphis a few years back, he is still among us with his pipeline to any reporter who will listen.

In the Minneapolis area, Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said he strongly disagreed with Mueller’s characterization that good relations exist. He said Monday that ongoing surveillance and investigations made Somalis in the area, including himself, fearful.

Oh right, earlier this summer he was working with the families who lost their “kids” and trying to help the FBI find the recruiters in Minneapolis, what happened with that?  The mosque put a little pressure on him, or maybe CAIR?  Readers, the Somali Advocacy Justice Center is just him!  He gets himself involved in anything and everything including the 2008 Somali supposed cyanide suicide in Denver, this missing “youths” story, and he even dashed off to New York when the Somali pirate went to court.  Sorry, I am too lazy to put all the links in here, just use our search function for Omar Jamal and you will see what I mean.

* 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.

Somali women’s rights advocate speaks in Utah, no refugees attend

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This woman is probably one of thousands of people from around the world who would make good and legitimate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking in Salt Lake City this week, Asha Hagi elmi Amin had this to say:

Asked what message she had for Somalis now living in Utah, Asha Hagi elmi Amin repeated a single word.

“Education, education, education,” she said, “especially the women.”

Education, Amin said, is the only way to freedom. Education, she said, brought her a national platform to advocate for women and for peace in war-torn Somalia.

Education, she said, will empower women, keep them from poverty and allow men and women alike to claim their human rights.

Read about the challenges she faced and what she accomplished.

Amin embraced the only undisputed identity she had left — her womanhood. In 1992 she co-founded “Save Somali Women and Children” and then later the Sixth Clan movement, which brought together women in cross-clan marriages.

The group successfully lobbied for a voice alongside the five male-dominated ruling clans in the country’s peace talks in 2000 and won a role for women in charting the country’s future.

Today, there are 33 women serving in Somalia’s parliament and the pronoun “she” has literally been incorporated in the country’s governing charter.

Amin’s peace efforts have brought her political and humanitarian recognition.

She credits her mother for wanting her daughters to be educated.

Amin said her mother, a polygamous wife, made the “uncommon” decision to send her three daughters to a Quaranic school. Cultural stigma prevalent then held that educated girls would not make good wives, she said.

“She was very ahead of her time,” said Amin, who raised four children in a “very happy” family with her husband, who traveled to Utah with her.

But, then here is the most telling line in the entire article in the Salt Lake Tribune:

None of the Somalian refugees now living in Utah attended.

I was reminded of this post from last year where Ft. Morgan, CO had a kind of ‘meet and greet’ with the Somalis but only the men attended.  Sounded to me like the men wanted to make sure the women didn’t come out in the world and find out what they are missing!

Swedish high court assures Somalis will receive asylum

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

From Esther at Islam in Europe blog (story originally here):

Sweden’s highest migration court made a landmark decision on Tuesday regarding asylum seekers from conflict-ridden areas, opening the way for Somalis to receive permanent residence in Sweden.

[….]

In the past, migration courts throughout Sweden had ruled on petitions from Somalis in various manners, with some recommending permanent residence and others deportation. In line the high court’s decision, however, Somalis will now most likely be granted permanent residence.

If things get too bad in Sweden, note that Canada has just made a decision to accept a persecuted white asylee from South Africa, here.

By the way, since we are on the subject of Sweden, this old post I wrote in March about Sweden continues to be one of our most read posts and I have no idea why that would be.

South African white guy given asylum in Canada

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know the background of this case, but it appears that Canadian politicians are all in a tizzy because a white South African, claiming persecution in the “rainbow nation,” has been granted (at least for the moment) asylum in Canada.

Former Canadian prime minister Joe Clark believes the decision to give “racial oppression victim” Brandon Huntley refugee status in Canada should not have happened.

A diplomatic row erupted last month when Huntley, 31, was granted refugee status in Canada on August 27 after claiming he had been attacked because of his race.

In his application Huntley, who grew up in Cape Town, claimed he was persecuted as a white man in South Africa, had been the victim of seven attempted robberies and that the South African government was doing nothing to protect him.

But the Canadian government is challenging the board’s decision in the Federal Court. “Most Canadians were astounded by the ruling,” said Clark. He refused to speculate whether Huntley would be deported.

Why “astounded?”  Isn’t it possible that persecution and bigotry can go both ways.

Gee, makes you wonder doesn’t it—maybe someday French, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Dutch and the Brits can ask for asylum in the US.

Somali Jihadists could attack within the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I was away over the weekend and missed this alarming news from Fox News Catherine Herridge.    The Director of the FBI told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that indeed Somali-trained terrorists were capable of attacking within the US.   Although I missed it, Jihad Watch was on top of the story here?

That news from the FBI is a far cry from what they told this same committee back in March, here, where they assured Senators that the recruitment in the Somali American refugee community was all about patriotism and defending the homeland against Ethiopian invaders.

Do we really want to bring back those ‘youths’ who went to Somalia last year for terrorist training as the President of Somalia pledged to do yesterday in Minneapolis, here.