CBN’s Erick Stakelbeck followed up his report on western Pakistan with a look at the other forgotten front in the Long War: Somalia. We’ve documented the rise of the al Qaeda backed Islamic Courts Union. Erick interviewed Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and me, as well Adam Hassan, a representative of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia
Erick has a written report available online, along with embedded video of the television segment.
Some analysts continue to deny there is a problem in Somalia, and even doubt the influence of al Qaeda, Iran and Hezbollah in the rise of the Islamic Courts. This report in the Guardian typifies such skepticism. “Somalis, whether secular or Islamist, are parochial, and have never been animated about distant causes,” said Ken Menkhaus, a professor of political science and Somalia expert at Davidson College.
Perhaps Professor Menkhaus should explain how Hassan Dahir Aweys, a wanted al Qaeda terrorist, became the leader of the Islamic Courts. Or how al Qaeda leader Adan Hashi Farah “Ayro’ has risen in the ranks of the Islamic Courts. Or why the Islamic Courts refuses turn over three known terrorists involved with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania: Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Taha al-Sudani. Or the 17 know terrorist training camps in Somalia. Or why Sheikh Hassan Turki openly flaunted the involvement of “foreign fighters.”. Or why Sheikh Yusuf Indohaadde was caught on tape in an al Qaeda propaganda video, produced subtitles in both Arabic and Somali, with foreign fighters caught on tape inside Somalia. Or why the Islamic Courts in implementing sharia law that mirrors that of the Taliban.
4 Comments
How many of the “Enlightened left” will write about the Somalia fall as thought there were no radical Islamism anywhere – except Iraq. The apologists for the barbarity of Beslan, 9/11, and sectarian violence in Iraq – all in the name of Allah – will never get it.
“Somalis, whether secular or Islamist, are parochial, and have never been animated about distant causes,”
Why is this important? On the surface, he’s correct. Somalia doesn’t need to be involved in distant causes – they are one. But this guy will apologize for the barbarity and still remain completely ignorant to the cause.
One thumb in his mouth and one up his….well, where the sun never shines.
Even better why did over a 100+ Somali ICU go to Lebanon and fight along side Hezbolla gorillas?
The modern LLL can unconditionally support and believe every wild eyed theory about the “real danger to the world” the US but at the sametime cannot accept as realty the open evils of anyone who is enemies of the US. In the LLL world US ally= you are evil too and US enemy=you are automatic victim saint.
The Somali Jihad
Courtesy of The Fourth Rail:
CBN’s Erick Stakelbeck followed up his report on western Pakistan with a look at the other forgotten front in the Long War: Somalia. We’ve documented the rise of the al-Qaeda backed Islamic Courts Union. Erick…
It sounds as though the four man monitoring group in Nairobi basically asked random Transitional Parliament MPs for their craziest conspiracy theories and posted them as intelligence.
I mean if you take this report at face value, then the time when the Islamic Courts were experiencing its fiercest period of fighting and highest losses in Mogadishu against the ARPCT, and their entire militia numbered perhaps only 2,000 men, they sent a third of them off to Lebanon? Does that make any sense to you?
And to learn what in Lebanon exactly? How to fire crappy Soviet era missles a few miles? How to retreat really quickly? The ICU uses massed, highly mobile light infantry and heavy weapons-mounted pickup trucks. Hezbollah has to fight an entirely different foe from the ICU, and tactics that work reasonably well against Israel would not work against the Ethiopians or other Somali factions.
The claim isn’t so much disputable or even questionable as it is laughable, and casts doubt on all the other claims made in the report that aren’t already common knowledge, such as Eritrea’s aid.