Category: Who is going where

Somali missing youths, an update

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Normally I would just put an updating  link on the original post we did on the  missing Minneapolis Somalis.     However, this Wall Street Journal article yesterday had a few important new nuggets of information I wanted to highlight.

U.S. Somali community leaders estimate that as many as 20 men may have left the U.S. to fight in the past two years.  [We’ve heard the number 40 mentioned]

The reports have raised concern among counterterrorism officials about immigrant youths being recruited by radical groups. For years, terrorism experts have believed that better assimilation of immigrants in the U.S. than elsewhere makes the threat of radicalization of young Muslims less than it is in Britain and other countries with large immigrant communities beset by high unemployment and less opportunity. The Somali case could cause that view to be reassessed.

Experts on Islam, like Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch, keep hammering away at the point that Islamic terrorism (jihad) is not a result of poverty, unemployment, or no opportunity, it is an imperative of Islam itself, and we agree.   It is good to hear that maybe our so-called “terrorism experts” might be finally catching on!

Then here is the other bit of new information.  We have been wondering if Somali youths were missing from elsewhere in the US and the FBI seems to confirm that they are.

E.K. Wilson, an FBI special agent in the bureau’s Minneapolis office, said he couldn’t confirm the existence of an investigation, but he said the FBI is aware that “a number of young Somali men from throughout the United States have left, potentially to fight with terrorist groups. We’re in the process of working with the local Somali community to get the parents to come to us with concerns about radicalization of youths.”

Holy Cow! Now 40 young Somalis are missing in Minnesota!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Note to new readers:  This post, originally written in November 2008, has now become my archive for all the posts we have done on this topic .   The number of missing men is now generally to believed to be about 20.  If you would like to learn about the missing youths, begin reading at the bottom of this post and work your way to the most recent update below. 

 *I’ve got more updates since July 19th, 2009, just haven’t gotten them linked in here—sorry!

Update July 19th:  Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) says US should consider retrieving the Somalis who left the country to join the Jihad, here.

Update July 16th:  Counterterrorism blog:  this is about the international jihad, here.   Youtube clip of American Al-Shabaab telling Obama his charisma won’t work on them, here.

Update July 15th:  Indictments unsealed in this case, here.

Update July 14th:   We hear from Zakaria Maruf’s sister, here.  What do you know, the same thing is happening in Kenya too! 

Update July 13th:  4th Somali-American (Zakaria Maruf) dead in Somalia, the NYT called him the recruiter, here.    See also Judy’s post today about the cultural problems Somalis face in the US, here.

Update July 12th:   New York Times publishes front page story on missing Somali youths, here.   It is all about Allah, here.

Another Somali-American missing boy is found dead in Somalia, here.  Shot in the head.

Update July 11th:  Al-Shabaab leader mocks Obama, here.

Update July 10th:  More on Somalis standing up to CAIR and the Imams, here. 

Update July 9th:  We do it for Allah, here.

Update July 4th:  Another anti-CAIR demonstration scheduled today in Minneapolis, here.

Update July 2nd:  Fox News is reporting that indictments are imminent, here.

Update June 24th:  MN Somali leader confirms criticism of CAIR directly to RRW, here.

Update June 21st:   Somali community activists defend CAIR, here.

Update June 12th:  Unbelievable!  Somalis tell CAIR to butt out!  See also this excellent overview of the whole story of the missing Somali youths.

Update June 9th:   More on the death of that Somali youth at AP, here.

Update June 7th:  One Somali youth found dead in Somalia, believed to have been killed by al Shabaab, here.   Omar Jamal says US must bring the body back to Minnesota, here.

Update April 16th:   Somali youths have been missing from Minneapolis since 2007!

Update April 10th:  CAIR tries to hamstring questioning of students in Minnesota, here.

Update April 8th:  Canadian missing Somali arrested in Somalia, here.

Update April 6th:  Some missing youths hold press conference in Somalia, here.

Update April 5th:  Does an American play a significant role in recruiting the missing Somali youths, here?

Update April 2nd:   Somali terror recruitment film found by FBI here.

Update March 31st:  MPR reports that relatives of the missing youths are working their contacts in Somalia, here.

Update March 30th:  NPR reported that four missing men have returned, but have disappeared from sight again, here.

Update March 27th:  Canadian youths missing too, here.

Update March 23rd:  Jamal says missing youth spotted at the mall, here.

Update March 20th:  Fox News is reporting that the missing youths have been found, here.

Update March 19th:  Osama Bin Laden encourages Al-Shabaab to fight on and capture Somalia, here.   This links our “youths” to international jihad.

Update March 12th:  My view from the Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing yesterday on terrorist recruitment here.

Update March 11th:  Grand Jury hears testimony in case of missing Somalis, here.  Senate Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing.

Update March 8th:   Jamal: He could have blown himself up here just as well.

Update March 7th:  Recruitment methods explored at Minnesota Public Radio here.

Update March 6th:   Senate panel to hold hearing March 11th on missing youths.

Update Feb. 28th:   AP tells us more about how the missing Somali men were part of a terror scare on inauguration weekend, here.

Update Feb. 27th:   Minneapolis mosque holds open house to assure community they are good guys.

Update Feb. 24th:  More on FBI director Mueller’s speech about the Somali youths, excellent reporting at the Washington Times .

Update Feb. 23th:   You gotta laugh!  The New York Times finally gets to this story  3 months after it began.

Update Feb. 17th:  Jerusalem Post reporting today that 500 could be missing!

Update Feb. 16th:   UK fears its missing Somali youths are returning, here.

Update Feb. 15th:  CAIR crying about ‘religious profiling’ as FBI steps up questioning of Somalis.

Update Feb. 12th:  More indepth coverage of the press conference from Dinah Lord.  My post here.

Update Feb. 11th:   Mystery deepens about whether jihadists captured in Somaliland are our missing boys.

Update Feb. 10th:  Press conference held and mosque denies role in missing youths case.

Update Feb. 9th:   Another missing youth story with lots of inflamed commentary here.

Update Feb. 5th:  Somali press conference called and cancelled in Minneapolis.

Update Feb. 3rd:  NPR says missing men are victims, here.

Update Jan. 31st:  Somali writer blames FBI for not spotting this terror recruitment sooner.

Update Jan. 28th:  FBI looking for missing Somali refugees in Atlanta, here.

Update Jan. 27th:  Arrest of Somali man trying to get into Canada may be linked to the missing men and the plot against the inauguration.

Update Jan. 26th:  Well what do you know!   American “terrorists” arrested in Somaliland today.  Could they be some of our missing Somali youths?

Update Jan. 25th:   Newsweek joins the crowd today.  Boy these news magazines are slow!  It is almost exactly two months after we first reported the story.

Update Jan. 18th, 2009:  Los Angeles Times fills in more details.

Update Dec. 30th:   Washington Times puts story on front page here.

Update Dec. 29th: The FBI is paying attention to Somalis in U.S.

Update Dec. 26th:  Scrutinize mosques in the US in wake of missing Somalis investigation.

Update Dec. 23rd:  Financial Times of London is reporting this story now.  Hat tip:  Jerry Gordon.

Update Dec. 21st:   UPI reported that the FBI might be taking a harder look at the local mosque, here.

Wall Street Journal reports that Somali youths are missing from other US cities, here.

Update Dec. 12th:  CNN gets on the Somali missing men story bandwagon here. 

Indepth reporting by Patrick Poole here at Frontpage magazine.

Update Dec. 8th:  More on missing men in US and Denmark

Update Dec. 4th:   Somali men missing all over the world tonight.  And, missing Somali American man who became suicide bomber buried in Minnesota.

Update Dec. 1st:   Minneapolis mosque leaders not allowed to leave country, here.

Update Nov. 29th:   News Busters says this is not West Side Story.

Update Nov. 28th:  Somali Jihadists say they are coming to get us!  At Jihad Watch today.

Update Nov. 27th:  AP story has gone everywhere, on FOX News here.

Update a couple hours later:  The story is movin’ on up nationally—to ABC now.

Thanks again to the Baron at Gates of Vienna, who just sent news that 40 (four-0) Somali young men have disappeared from the Twin Cities recently.   Two days ago we reported the number at about 20. From 5 Eyewitness News today:

Forty young Somali men from the Twin Cities are missing and federal investigators believe they may be back in Somalia training as terrorists.

“We have active Al Qaeda cells recruiting these people,” said Omar Jamal with the Somali Justice Advocacy Center.

Unless he has had some sort of conversion, I wouldn’t trust this Omar Jamal as far as I could throw him!  He has proven in the past to be a master news manipulator (see my post linked above).    Don’t ask me what his game would be in directing the blame to Al Qaeda?   AQ just seems a logical target, so what might he be steering authorities away from?  Be sure to watch Jamal in action on the KSTP-TV film clip.

The big question for us is, are the 40 missing men coming back to share their new found knowledge here in the US.  

CIA Director Michael Hayden acknowledges a growing tie between Al Qaeda and Somali terrorist groups. Federal investigators believe these missing men are training for terrorist attacks overseas, but can’t be sure they won’t return the the Twin Cities someday to carry out an attack.

Or, here is another thought, maybe, just maybe they haven’t left the US.  What if they are still here and our spinmeister supreme is leading authorities astray?  Kind of convienent that the Twin Cities “recruiter” can’t talk (having already been blown to bits).

See yesterday’s post with suggestions for the Homeland Security to check a few other US cities.

Iraqis jobless in Roanoke, VA

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yet another unhappy Iraqi refugee story, this one from Roanoke, VA.  By the way, we have written about Roanoke before because it was the location of an American blacks conflict with Somali refugees.

Anyway, the primary subject of this article in the Roanoke Times, Haidar Khairallah, is not unhappy.  He is an injured interpreter who was resettled here after a long wait and appears to be on his way to fitting in to America.   Obviously, from the story he is a secular Muslim who spent some years as a child in England and speaks English well, and that helps. 

Now he uses his English by helping Roanoke’s Refugee and Immigrant Services (a Catholic resettlement agency) to calm down some unhappy Iraqis—professionals who want jobs other than cleaning.   Same old story just another state.

In the crowded conference room of Roanoke’s Refugee and Immigration Services, Haidar has been asked to broker a sit-down with his fellow refugees. Resettlement coordinator Jasminka Traylor has heard complaints about some of them turning down manual-labor jobs. She’s asked for help from Haidar, now working as a part-time translator for the office while he looks for full-time work.

Unlike most refugees who come to America from harsh refugee-camp conditions, these immigrants were professionals in Iraq — engineers, teachers and the like. They lived in metropolitan cities in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria while awaiting security clearance and refugee status.

The Iraqis will even take a job at non-Union-still-profiting Walmart if they can get out of cleaning!

Unlike Haidar, most of the new Iraqis in Roanoke aren’t yet fluent in English and don’t qualify for white-collar work here — which Traylor explains repeatedly in the meeting.

“We don’t want cleaning job,” one man gripes. “You can’t find job in Wal-Mart instead? How about another mart?”

Growing frustrated, Traylor asks: “Who cleans in Iraq?”

“People from Sudan.”

“No,” Haidar interjects. “Iraqi people clean in Iraq.”

Traylor asks the question again. The men and women whisper among themselves but say nothing.

She throws up her hands. “You have to find something to do here to pay your bills until you’re ready to find something you want to do!”

And, Refugees International is telling do-gooders to write to Obama and push for over 100,000 more Iraqis in this fiscal year?  It’s nuts!

Start at this post to find more unhappy Iraqi refugee stories, or just go to our Iraqi Refugee category.

Where is that big city video outfit when you need them?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In the same week that a CHICAGO-based community organizing video documentary outfit arrived in Shelbyville, TN a homeless Ethiopian man was found sleeping in the town square.   The fellow says he is working at Tyson’s Food but can’t afford a place to sleep yet.

“Hey … hey! Are you OK?”

It was a little after 9 a.m. Monday when Shelbyville codes official David Langford roused the man from his slumber outside John Norton’s law offices on the public square.

The slender man called himself Mustoff and said he was from Ethiopia, in town to work for Tyson Foods, which was evident from the rubber boots he wore.

But Mustoff was sleeping on a piece of cardboard with nothing but the clothes on his back, a coat, pillow and part of a sleeping bag. He had no cash and no one in town he knew to call.

Homeless.  [Illegal or a refugee/asylee?]

The video crew was in town to coincidentally (!) film the Unity Meeting held last night, but it appears they didn’t cross paths with Tyson’s homeless employee (or at least these reports don’t tell us they did).

A crew from Chicago has been in Shelbyville for the past week shooting footage for a documentary focusing on the impact that immigration and refugees are having on the community.

The project is headed by director/producer Kim Snyder, who works with the BeCause Foundation [creating social change through the power of film] an organization created by Richard Kincade, the former president and chief executive officer of Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP).

“We believe in the power of story to help highlight communities and individuals tackling complex social issues right now,” Snyder said.

This reporter will also be interviewed by the crew about the Times-Gazette‘s series of stories on the influx of Somali refugees and their impact on Shelbyville.

The foundation has previously done documentaries on the homeless and its officials feel the topic of immigration and how towns like Shelbyville is grappling with it is a big issue.

“We have been told that Shelbyville was not only an interesting example but a possible way for people elsewhere in the country to learn a bit through open dialog about what is happening here and what people are really thinking and feeling about it,” Snyder said.

The film crew was at the American Legion Thursday to shoot footage of Catalina Nieto, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Collation (TIRRC) and Abdul Farah, the social adjustment director of the Somali Community Center of Nashville, who both spoke to the Rotary Club of Shelbyville.

Shelbyville BeWare BeCause, they are using your town!   They will gloss over the tensions and problems of the Tyson’s African employees and then show what great work the TIRRC and the Somali Community Center are doing to bring you all together in harmonious unity.  This is a politically motivated campaign.  Your film, your town, will then be used to shame other towns into silence. 

All of a sudden these “change” agent/activists are everywhere you turn!  This is from BeCause’s scanty website:

The BeCause Foundation was founded in 2007* to heighten awareness about a number of complex social problems and promote change through the power of film.

The BeCause series of short documentaries highlights the groundbreaking work of pioneering individuals and organizations providing solution-based models for social change. The films and adjoining outreach campaigns are designed to raise awareness, illuminate the resilience of the human spirit, and inspire others to become involved. The series aims to break stereotypic images of victimization and “charity” and replace them with ones of empowerment, hope, and transformation.

Each film is created as the cornerstone of a larger media campaign to promote advocacy about the profiled cause and related organizations.

It is starting to feel like a horror movie where all these creepy manipulative “change” people are everywhere!

* I couldn’t find any financial information on this organization, wonder who is funding them?

Iraqi Palestinians suffer on border, but no Arab country wants them

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is yet another story about the Iraqi Palestinians living in camps along the border of Iraq and Syria.  And, again it’s a plea from these ‘friends of Saddam’ for resettlement to a third country.  I will bet you if you examined the United Nations site where this article is located you will not find any similar desparate plea from the UN to resettle the Iraqi Christians whose plight is much worse than these Palestinians.

AL TANF, Iraq-Syria Border, October 30 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has rushed assistance to hundreds of Palestinian refugees stuck in camps on the Iraq-Syria border after heavy rain and flooding caused chaos and misery.

Also, again the article is deceptive because it doesn’t tell you the reason these people are refugees.  They were favored by Saddam Hussein and those Muslims now in power don’t take too kindly to them. 

The flooding is just one more chapter in the ordeal suffered by the Palestinians in Al Tanf and Al Waleed since fleeing their homes in Baghdad to escape threats, kidnapping and violence. They have endured sandstorms, snow in the winter and soaring temperatures in the summer. In Al Tanf, two children have been killed by passing trucks and there have been a couple of major fires.

Some of the refugees have lived at Al Tanf for three years, barred from entering any of the countries neighbouring Iraq. “We cannot go forwards, nor back. We have a road on one side that threatens our children’s lives daily, a high wall on the other; in front and behind we have two impenetrable borders,” explained Abu Ziyad, a member of the Al Tanf refugee committee.

“Our only hope is resettlement. For the sake of our children, our wives, our elderly, we beg you, please get us out of here,” he pleaded.

UNHCR on Thursday reiterated its appeal to the international community to provide resettlement places for Palestinians from Iraq, with no other option currently available for the refugees. “We urge more countries to open their doors to resettle the Palestinian refugees and bring their precarious situation to an end,” said Daniel Endres, UNHCR’s representative in Iraq.

Where is the famous Muslim charity?   These people are Arabs.  Why isn’t the UN begging countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia to take them?    Hey, here is a thought, maybe if Obama becomes President, he and buddy PLO Khalidi could be sure they get resettled among their own folks in the Middle East.   But, don’t count on it, if Obama becomes President he will be welcoming them to a town where you live.

And, besides putting a guilt-trip on the world over Palestinians keeps the Israeli hate strategy going.   See my last ‘UN guilt-trips the world’ post here.  Search our site for “Iraqi Palestinians” for more information.