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| U.S. Mulls Striking Somali Terrorist Training Camps | |||||
| 2009-04-20 | |||||
| H/T Weasel Zippers Anyone really, really think The One will do this? The Obama administration is watching more than just pirates in Somalia. Officials have been tracking a Somali terrorist group and are weighing whether to strike some of its training camps. The fear is that the group, al-Shabab, could join forces with al-Qaida and target the U.S Everyone is now joining forces and targeting the U.S. A senior government official tells NPR that because the U.S. military is worried about al-Shabab, all options are on the table -- including a military strike. The official said the most likely scenario would be an attack from the air, not boots on the ground. "Journalist" forgot to add, "Because our military is so over-extended between Iraq and Afghanistan Until now, the group has concentrated its efforts in Somalia, but officials, including National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter, worry about al-Shabab's future intentions. "As a general matter, the focus has remained in Somalia. But I am not in a business where I am willing to bet the farm that it will remain that way," Leiter said in a speech before the Aspen Institute earlier this month. The al-Shabab camps have a kind of open-door policy: They don't just train al-Shabab recruits; they will welcome anyone who arrives claiming to fight for jihad. Two recent suicide bombings targeting South Korean tourists in Yemen were linked to the al-Shabab camps. Not everyone thinks a military strike will solve the problem. "The calculus always has to be, on a military attack, are you better off after it than you were before," says Richard Clarke, the former National Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
J. Peter Pham, a professor at James Madison University who has studied al-Shabab, also worries that if the U.S. decided to launch a military strike, it would backfire. Right now, he says, al-Shabab isn't particularly popular in Somalia, but a U.S. attack could change that. "A bombing run or other attack risks allowing them to wrap themselves up in the mantel of nationalism, and that might actually bring up the level of public support for them," Pham says.
They really tried to take the khat away? Dumber than I thought they were The point is: Somalis like al-Shabab not for its ideas, but for the relative security it provides. Where al-Shabab seems to have developed a loyal following is among the Somali diaspora, including in the United States. The State Department put al-Shabab on its list of terrorist organizations last year. Some critics say the listing ended up giving the group prestige it didn't deserve. Al-Shabab means "The Youth" in Arabic, and in many ways, that describes the militia perfectly.
"We're simply fighting for the sake of Allah, and we're defending the religion of Allah," one young man says in a video. "We have a global mission. That's why America puts us number 41 in the terrorist list." That's not a translation of an al-Shabab video -- it was actually produced in English, clearly for a Western audience. The FBI believes such videos -- along with recruiters on the ground -- helped convince some young Somali-Americans to join al-Shabab. At least two dozen young men from Minneapolis, which has the largest Somali community in the U.S., have gone missing over the past two years. Good guess That raises another problem for U.S. planners mulling a military strike: If American citizens are on the ground, could they carry out a military attack? Killing American teenagers from Minneapolis could be a political nightmare.
Back in 2002, a suspected American al-Qaida operative named Kamal Derwish was killed by a U.S. Predator strike in Yemen. The death was so controversial, the CIA and the military still haven't admitted that Derwish was killed that day.
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| Posted by:Sherry |
| #9 If you look at pirate attacks last year and now this year, they have increased greatly. I would not be surprised if al Q got into the action, using Somali I agree with Pan. Cut off the head and the rest whithers away. We as a government do not have the will to do what needs to be done. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-04-20 21:22 |
| #8 Back in 2002, a suspected American al-Qaida operative named Kamal Derwish was killed by a U.S. Predator strike in Yemen. The death was so controversial, the CIA and the military still haven't admitted that Derwish was killed that day. I'm glad we were doing that. I hope we still are. As for the idiots who decided to take up jihad, by declaring war on us, they gave up the right to demand special protection. Kill them without mercy. I'm sure in the meantime someone has been tracing down calls to/from the U.S. from Somalia. Hopefully that will lead somewhere. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-04-20 20:54 |
| #7 Someone is paying for the camps and for the youths to travel via the airlines to train for jihad. Somalis living legally as refugees from the UK and Australia have also disappeared and may have legit passports for re-entry, posing a national security threat. This is coordinated and needs shut-down, as camps will pop up elsewhere if the trail is not followed through. |
| Posted by: Thealing Borgia 122 2009-04-20 19:39 |
| #6 Bombing training camps is a short term politically motivated effort. Granted we need to shut them down, like cutting cancer out, but we need to attack the leadership and destroy them. We need to go after the financers and kill them, someone is paying for these camps and they are not Somalies. The problem with that is it is not politically tollerable to strike a wealthy family firm in Saudi. So our cowardly leaders continue to play "Wack Mole" and not hit the real targets! |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-04-20 18:50 |
| #5 Who cares if we kill traitors in Somalia? I mean, if you take up arms for a hostile foreign power - whether a state or not - that is the kernel of treason. Used to be that we executed traitors, not coddled them. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2009-04-20 18:10 |
| #4 Sink the entire pirate armada on the way out. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-04-20 17:01 |
| #3 Something will have to be done sooner rather than later. Al-shabab is a growing threat. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-04-20 17:01 |
| #2 mojo -- there's been lots of reports and speculations on the "missing youths." |
| Posted by: Sherry 2009-04-20 16:37 |
| #1 In Minneapolis? |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-04-20 16:33 |