Category: Africa

Missing Somali “youths:” we’re baaaack!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to a friend from Tennessee, we now know that Fox News is reporting that some of the missing Somali youths*, thought to have been in Africa for terrorist training, have returned to the US.    However, the FBI is not saying whether they will be arrested!

Many of the Somali-American men who were recruited to join an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group overseas have returned to the United States, according to a source familiar with an FBI investigation into the matter — but the FBI still has not revealed publicly if it is pursuing arrests in the case.

“Some of the guys who were missing aren’t missing anymore,” the source said. “Some of them got blown up and some of them came back, and some of them are still there [in Somalia].”

For several months the FBI has been investigating at least 20 Somali-American men from the Minneapolis area who traveled to war-torn Somalia, where some of them trained and fought with an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group known as al-Shabaab, according to counterterrorism officials.

Asked to characterize how many of those men are now back on American soil, the source would only say that “several” have returned. Federal authorities believe the men went to Somalia to join al-Shabaab, which has been warring with the moderate Somali government since 2006.

The Fox News report doesn’t have much more on the Minneapolis missing but goes into a discussion of other areas of the US where the FBI is working in the Somali community.   In San Diego, one Somali-American has received a subpoena.

In fact, the FBI Field Office in San Diego has already interviewed “dozens” of people from the Somali-American community there, according to a local attorney.

[….]

Sherif [attorney] also said he knows at least one Somali-American who has received a subpoena to appear before a San Diego grand jury in the next couple of weeks. Sherif wouldn’t identify the person but described him as a naturalized U.S. citizen in his 30s. Sherif said the person “consulted” with him after receiving the subpoena. The person recently traveled to the Middle East, which may have raised a red flag with authorities, according to Sherif. He did not say where in the Middle East the person visited.

Seattle, where we have reported on Somali gang violence (here and here), is also being watched by the FBI.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officials tell FOX News that federal authorities in Seattle have been keeping track of a group of men in Washington state with alleged ties to Somali-American terrorists.

Other cities with growing Somali populations that warrant watching are:   Lewiston and Portland, ME,  Boston, MA, Atlanta, GA, Columbus, OH and don’t forget Nashville, TN!

*  If you are new to this story or you are a reporter or blogger,  I recommend you visit this post we did in November where I have been keeping an archive of much of the coverage of the Somali missing youths saga.

Note to FBI: Osama Bin Laden is linked to Al-Shabaab

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Last week at the hearing in the Senate Homeland Security Committee on recruitment activities (of American former Somali refugees) by Al-Shabaab in the US,  law enforcement officials played down the connection between Al-Qaida and State Department designated terrorist group Al-Shabaab.  In fact they attempted to lead us all to believe that Al-Shabaab’s militant activity was primarily in response to Ethiopian troop involvement in Somalia and now that the Ethiopians have left the country, Al-Shabaab would lose steam.

From the East African:

Andrew Liepman, deputy director for intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center, told senators: “”They are going to Somalia to fight for their homeland, not to join al Qaeda’s jihad against the United States, so far.”

So far!

Looks like with the release of a new audio tape, OBL thinks Somalia and saving his buddies in Al-Shabaab is pretty important.

CAIRO – Al-Qaida’s chief Osama bin Laden urged Somali militants to overthrow the country’s new president in a new Web audiotape posted Thursday, trying to torpedo a new push for peace in a lawless African nation where many fear al-Qaida is gaining a foothold.

The 11 1/2-minute audiotape aimed to rally Islamic militants at a time when the new president, moderate Islamist Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, is working to split their ranks and pull in some to support his government.

For years, Islamic militant groups — including ones linked to al-Qaida — have battled the feeble U.N.-backed central government, which controls only a small part of the capital, Mogadishu.

Ahmed, elected by parliament in January, is a moderate from the Islamist opposition and has succeeded in drawing several other groups out of the insurgency. The aim is to isolate hard-line militants, particularly the main group al-Shabab, which is believed to be allied to al-Qaida and which controls a large swath of the country.

[…..]

Bin Laden’s message was entirely focused on Somalia, a sign of al-Qaida’s intense interest in the country….

Growing ties?

U.S. counterterrorism officials have warned of al-Qaida’s growing ties with the powerful al-Shabab group, which frequently battles government troops and militia allies and is blamed in attacks on African Union peacekeepers in the country. In Feb. 2008, the U.S. State Department added al-Shabab, which means “the Youth,” to its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The gist of the testimony I heard last week at the Senate hearing was that there is no confirmed evidence of a linkage between Al-Qaida and Al-Shabaab.  If such a linkage would occur, we were told, then that would signify a greater problem for American law enforcement in assessing possible motives for recruiting American “youths” for  international Jihad.

I think they got some linkage here.

Related stories:

* Somalis are bullies from Strategy Page:

The showdown between the moderate Moslems, as represented by the Islamic Courts (who currently control the government, such as it is), and the Islamic radicals (al Shabaab) is basically about traditional Somali practices (the Islamic Courts) and the new ideas (al Qaeda and the effort to conquer the world for Islam). However, al Shabaab does represent one practice found often in Somali history; being a bully. Somalis are big on intimidation and getting their way. That’s the main reason why Somalia has had no government for the last 18 years. The Islamic Courts, now in control of the government, are imposing Sharia (Islamic) law throughout the country (or wherever they control the population). Al Shabaab also is imposing Sharia, but favors a much stricter form, which is less popular. But al Shabaab is also more ruthless, having been accused of murdering four more moderate clerics recently.

* American Chronicle says Al- Shabaab is on the run and losing in Somalia, sounds like wishful thinking to me.   But if true it would help explain why OBL released this cheerleading tape.  This news should make those Minnesota mothers pretty unhappy because it says Al-Shabaab is being hunted down.  Read it all here.

Now, many of the same observers say that the Alshabab have been rendered toothless, and their bloodshed is near an end.

* Our missing Somali youths may have been found!  On Facebook. From Fox News.  Hat tip Blulitespecial.

The FBI investigation is looking into two key questions: Where are the missing men now? And how were they radicalized and recruited inside the Unites States? Facebook could help find the answers.

One law enforcement official told Fox News the FBI is “aware that there were some missing [Somali] community members on Facebook,” but the official declined to discuss whether any “investigative activity has or hasn’t been carried out.” The official also declined to specify how many of the missing men were found to be on Facebook.

But are they dead or alive?

High levels of autism in Minneapolis Somali community still a mystery

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update April 1st:  Minnesota Somali autism report out today, here.

It seems that the New York Times is increasingly publishing stories that are of interest to us.   Take for instance the information Judy posted on diversity in schools here last Saturday,  and then there is the story I posted on about the Iranian refugees in Iraq, here.   Now, I’ve found a lengthy discussion about the high levels of autism found among Somali children in Minneapolis, a subject we have written about previously in our ‘health issues’ category.

Autism is terrifying the community of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, and some pediatricians and educators have joined parents in raising the alarm. But public health experts say it is hard to tell whether the apparent surge of cases is an actual outbreak, with a cause that can be addressed, or just a statistical fluke.

In an effort to find out, the Minnesota Department of Health is conducting an epidemiological survey in consultation with the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This kind of conundrum, experts say, arises whenever there is a cluster of noncontagious illnesses.

Experts do not know what causes autism so its hard to pin down why this particular population should be susceptible, but note Stockholm Somalis are having the same problem.

Since the cause of autism is unknown, the authorities in Minnesota say it is hard to know even what to investigate.

“There are obviously some real concerns here, but we don’t want to make a cursory judgment,” said Buddy Ferguson, a health department spokesman. Even counting autism cases is difficult because the diagnoses are first made by the schools, not doctors, and population estimates for Somalis vary widely. Results are expected late this month.

Even if the department confirms that a cluster exists, it will not answer the question why. Still, Dr. Thun said a possible focus in one ethnic group “increases my sense that investigating it is essential.” The next step, he added, would be to look at Somalis in other cities.

A small recent study of refugees in schools in Stockholm found that Somalis were in classes for autistic children at three times the normal rate.

I think one problem with their analysis is that authorities have no clue what the Somali population is, it could be much higher than they are guessing and thus the rate of autism would be closer to normal for the population.

Somalis began arriving in Minneapolis in 1993, driven out by civil war; now their population in Minnesota is estimated at 30,000 to 60,000. The city is welcoming and social benefits are generous, but many live a life apart as conservative Muslims, the women in head scarves and long dresses.

Somalis arrived in smaller numbers before 1993 (see numbers here).  We resettled over 80,000 alone and they have been having large families for 25 years.   The population in Minnesota could be much much larger than 30,000-60,000.  So it seems to me that the first step is to make sure exactly what the size of the population is.

What causes it, no one really knows.

Speculation is rampant about possible causes: living conditions in Somalia or in refugee camps in Kenya; traditional medicines; intermarriage; genetic predisposition; vitamin D deficiencies due to a lack of sunlight; and, of course, vaccines.

But each theory has weaknesses.

Since speculation is rampant and since there is some suspicion of a genetic link, I’m guessing Islamic sanctioned polygamy should be factored in.  One man with some defective gene producing children with many wives could very quickly affect a whole population.  There is polygamy in the US Somali population.

Of course the anti-vaccine folks are lobbying Somalis to cut out vaccines.

Antivaccine activists are campaigning among them, which worries public health officials, especially because some families go back and forth to Somalia, where measles is still a significant cause of childhood death, according to Unicef.

I found this statement curious.  Somalia is a country undergoing extreme violence, we are told, and that is why so many Somalis have moved to the West.  Why then are there families going “back and forth to Somalia?”    Makes me wonder if they are taking their girls to visit the “doctor.”  And, then of course, that begs the question, if they can travel back and forth safely, why are they here and not back in Africa helping to improve their country.

500 British girls have genitals mutilated every year

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update March 25th:   I thought the British number was high, but here is an article from NYC that says our cases of female genital mutilation are much higher, and we are doing less about it.

 

That is a staggering number.    And, you can bet it’s happening here too in the secretive Somali Muslim communities in cities such as Minneapolis, Seattle, Nashville, Boston, San Diego and so on.

The article, from The Times, tells us that British health authorities are promoting a campaign to reach Somalis and other immigrants from the Horn of Africa  to have the gruesome operation reversed.  It would be done free as part of their nationalized health care sytem.  Hat tip Blulitespecial.  Gosh, just think taxpayers here could be paying for similar operations in years ahead if Obama gets his way.

The NHS is to advertise free operations to reverse female circumcisions, with experts warning that each year more than 500 British girls have their genitals mutilated.

Despite having been outlawed in 1985, female circumcision is still practised in British African communities, in some cases on girls as young as 5. Police have been unable to bring a single prosecution even though they suspect that community elders are being flown from the Horn of Africa to carry out the procedures.

The advertisement will appear from next month on a Somali satellite TV station much viewed in Britain.

What is female genital mutilation?  We have loads of posts on the subject in our health issues category, but it’s important to remind readers again.

Female circumcision, which is done for various reasons, such as religious and cultural traditions, can cause severe health complications including infections and psychological problems. The procedure, predominantly carried out on girls aged between 5 and 12, can range from the removal of the clitoris to the removal of all the exterior parts of the vagina, which is then sewn up.

To understand it fully, I recommend you read Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book, Infidel, in which she describes how the procedure traumatized her and her sister.

Agency for Culture Change Management UK?   I wonder when we will get one of those.

Sarah McCulloch, of the Agency for Culture Change Management UK, said that every year more than 500 British girls were having circumcisions. “A lot of them are done in the UK, but some still travel overseas,” she said.

She said that a code of silence in Britain’s African communities had allowed circumcisions to continue and prevented arrests. The unqualified female elders, known as “house doctors” because they act in secret in a family home, are flown into the country.

It is supposedly a cultural (cultural relativism is crap) and religious (Islamic) obligation which destroys the sex drive and helps assure men get their sexual pleasure but that their women then don’t stray too far.  But it does more than that, it is the worst form of child abuse wrapped in a veil of secrecy often dooming girls to a lifetime of pain and psychological trauma.

Ms McCulloch said that girls were brainwashed into believing circumcision to be a cultural, and, in some cases, religious obligation that should be kept secret. “It is something they simply do not discuss — if they do they’d be seen as betraying their family and their community and culture,” she said. “I know many girls who want to accuse their parents but can’t. They don’t want to take their parents to court.”

In the US, refugee resettlement workers know this is happening and I sure hope they are brave enough to blow the whistle, but I doubt it.

Books to read:    It’s a long time since we wrote about this, but I recommend especially to our female readers three books that I found very informative about Islam.  I call them ‘my women’s books,’  one is Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s that I mentioned above.  The other two are Nonie Darwish, “Now they call me Infidel,” and Brigitte Gabriel, “Because they Hate: A survivor of Islamic Terror warns America.”

Hirsi Ali grew up in Africa, Darwish in Egypt, and Gabriel in Lebanon, so they give you a multi-country/continent view of Islam and what it means to be female in that male-dominated Islamic political and religious society.

Differing views on that Somali terrorism hearing

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m so glad I went to the Senate Homeland Security hearing this past Wednesday, because as I read reports in publications of all sorts, I’m amused by the spin (wishful thinking or intentional deception?)  from mainstream media outlets.   Here is a prime example I came across this morning from the Chicago Tribune.

There is no evidence that radicalized Somali-American youths who have disappeared over the past two years are being trained as terrorists abroad to one day return and attack the U.S., intelligence and law enforcement officials told members of a Senate panel Wednesday.

Although worrisome, their apparent recruitment by al-Shabaab, a militant group linked to al-Qaida, is more likely to signify that many are motivated to help Somalia fight Ethiopians who invaded in 2006.

After a little discussion about the issues addressed, this reporter ends with this bit of information that suggests, well if anything happens it is our (bad America’s)  fault anyway.  We made the Somalis mad!

Some Somalis felt that the U.S. countenance of the Ethiopian invasion was retribution for the 1993 deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers, portrayed in the film “Black Hawk Down,” said Kenneth Menkhaus, a political science professor at Davidson College.

I didn’t even hear Menkhaus say this, maybe it’s in his prepared testimony, but it was certainly not a major focus of the hearing, not even a minor focus, except if you were somehow trying to grasp for reasons to blame America.

Now to VDARE!

You can expect at VDARE to get news and views that are the farthest thing from political correctness and it’s always a refreshing website to visit for that reason.   Brenda Walker writes about the hearing and the press coverage of that hearing, here.

The Chicago Tribune article I cite above is titled:  “Somali-Americans tie to U.S. plots doubted” and seeks to downplay the potentially serious nature of the issue.   Right along those lines this is what Walker said:

Another aspect to the Senate hearing was the Rorschach nature of reporting about it. CNN (above) reasonably emphasized the threat. But the Los Angeles Times headlined with a pro-Islam viewpoint: American Somali youths aren’t seen posing major risk.

Walker opened with this ‘no-holds-barred’ criticism of Chairman Lieberman:

Politicians like Sen. Joe Lieberman are maddening (but common). He is bright enough to see the danger arising from hostile Somalis residing in America, yet his lifetime immigration voting grade is D- and his recent record rates an F-.

On Wednesday, Sen. Lieberman chaired a hearing titled “Violent Islamist Extremism: al-Shabaab Recruitment in America.” The Senator’s cognitive dissonance about unfriendly immigrants was further indicated by the characterization in his opening statement of the Somalis here as “victims” of “small group of extremists who are essentially terrorizing their own community.”

Read it all!

And, if you haven’t already, read Patrick Poole’s, “What Senators didn’t hear….” published at Pajamas Media.