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Your Taxi Driver Might Be A Terrorist!!! Somali Americans Become National Security Problem!!! By Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org A group affiliated with al Qaeda could strike the United States in the near future. That’s grim assessment of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who spoke this week at a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Mueller’s remarks represent the first time a senior law enforcement or intelligence official has stated on the record that the al-Shabaab, a Muslim terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda, is no longer content to strike within the East African nation of Somalia. During...

This week, we celebrate the Navy SEALs’ rescue of American ship captain Richard Phillips. Their action, from the night airdrop that delivered them to the waiting warships to the split-second action in which three of the pirates were killed, was what we expect from our best special operations troops. But while we praise their skill, let’s not lose sight of who Phillips’ captors were. His Somali pirate captors are Islamic jihadists, dedicated to the same goals as Osama bin Laden and other jihadists around the world. In August 2008, when the pirates became especially active off the Horn of Africa,...

Al-Qaida is nothing if t opportunistic. Its leadership watches the news carefully. It tracks how stories play. It adapts its tactics. Now, counterterrorism experts are worried that al-Qaida and its affiliates will be inspired by Somali pirates. "Potentially, piracy is a platform for their activities," says Robert D. Kaplan, a fellow at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security. "There are already al-Qaida affiliates in Somalia. If they can make contact with pirate federations, then al-Qaida can use piracy as a form of terrorism." In recent months, al-Qaida has strengthened its ties with a Somali terrorist group called al-Shabab....

MOGADISHU, Somalia Apr 12 (Garowe Online) - Rebel leaders in southern Somalia associated with Islamist factions have hailed recent pirate attacks off the coast of the Horn of Africa region, Radio Garowe reports. In separate comments, Al Shabaab spokesman Muktar Robow “Abu Mansur” and Ras Kamboni Brigade leader Sheikh Hassan Abdullahi “Turki” have hailed ship-hijackings by Somali pirates. In Baidoa, capital of Bay region, Abu Mansur told reporters that the pirates are “protecting the Somali coast.” "Foreign powers want to divide the country [Somalia] and the pirates are protecting the coast against the enemies of Allah [God],” Abu Mansur said.

In Somalia, Islamist fighters loyal to the Islamic Courts Union have taken control of several bases vacated by Ethiopian troops in the Somali capital. Mogadishu remains tense amid fears that militant al-Shabab fighters could launch attacks against moderate Islamists and African Union peacekeepers for control of the city. Residents in the capital, Mogadishu, say the Islamic Courts Union militia have tightened security and are now in charge of most positions in the city. The ICU took over six bases on Thursday, as Ethiopia pulled the last of its forces out of the capital and ended its two year-long mission to...

Fears are growing that this lawless area, bordering Kenya and Ethiopia, could become a stronghold for terrorists with possible links to al-Qaeda. Somalia's weak official government, the 14th in the last 17 years, depends entirely on the presence of Ethiopian troops, who are deployed in and around the capital, Mogadishu. They invaded in December 2006, mounting an American-supported operation which overthrew an earlier Islamist regime, styling itself the Islamic Courts Union. But Ethiopia has pledged to withdraw its troops at the end of December. When they leave, the official government is likely to fall - or be forced to evacuate...

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s transitional government looks as if it is about to flatline. The Ethiopians who have been keeping it alive for two years say they are leaving the country, essentially pulling the plug.

The Somali community in the Metro has become fearful after reports that one of their own was a suicidal bomber. Federal sources say Shirwa Ahmed blew himself up in a suicide bombing in northern Somali last month. They also believe he was a recruiter in the Twin Cities for a terrorist network. Government sources believe that as many as 40 young men who knew Ahmed, recently left Minnesota without telling their families. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS talked to Ahmed's family. They said they have not heard from him in weeks. The report was the talk of this busy Somali market on...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2008 – Defense Department officials today confirmed an attack against an al Qaeda terrorist in Somalia yesterday. “On March 2, the United States conducted an attack against a known al Qaeda terrorist in southern Somalia,” Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman, said. “As we have repeatedly said, we will continue to pursue terrorist activities and their operations wherever we may find them,” he said. Whitman said the United States works closely with partners in the region in the conduct of military operations. “We share common goals with respect to fighting terrorism,” he said. “We will continue to seek out,...

  Make Comment View Comments Printable Article Font Columbus' Hometown Jihad By Patrick PooleFrontPageMagazine.com | July 11, 2007 Last Monday, Ohio freshman US Senator Sherrod Brown (D) probably had no idea that when he met with a group of Columbus-area Somali leaders that they were being led by one of the most vocal Western supporters of the Somali al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). That oversight is forgivable, considering that Abukar Arman, one of my Hilliard, Ohio neighbors, regularly operates among the political elite of the state of Ohio, though as I discovered in my extensive investigation,...

Eight foreign Muslim fighters have been killed during fighting with government forces in Puntland, a remote, mountainous northeastern Somali area, according to a senior official. Hassan Dahir Mohamoud, Puntland's vice-president, said on Saturday that there were no civilian casualties because the area is uninhabited. At least one US warship late on Friday shelled the area where the fighters had set up a base after they clashed with government forces. Speaking from Garowe, Puntland's capital, Mohamoud said security forces are pursuing another five foreign Muslim fighters. He said the government knew the nationalities of five of the foreigners: Britain, Eritrea, Sweden,...

US Navy attacks Somali militant base. Written By:james Rono/bbc , Posted: Sat, Jun 02, 2007 Caption: US blames militants for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. A US Navy warship has carried out a missile attack on a Somali village where Islamist militants are reported to have set up a base. Somali officials said a remote village in the Puntland region was bombarded, days after foreign militants arrived. US reports suggest the target was an al-Qaeda operative suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The strike would be at...

Somalis wary of 'Bin Laden' tape Bin Laden was giving an opinion, the Somali leader said The powerful Islamist movement in Somalia has distanced itself from comments about Somalia attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. An internet audio recording warned the West not to send troops to Somalia. But a leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, which has taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, said they did not rely on any outside group. The US has accused one Islamic leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, of links to al-Qaeda and involvement with terror. Mr Aweys denies the US allegations,...

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A fundamentalist Muslim who is listed by the U.S. State Department as a suspected al-Qaida collaborator was named Saturday as the new leader of an Islamic militia that has seized control of Somalia's capital. The militia, which changed its name Saturday from the Islamic Courts Union to the Conservative Council of Islamic Courts, said in a statement it had appointed Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys as its new leader. The Bush administration says Aweys was an associate of Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s. The Islamic militia seized control of the capital Mogadishu and much of southern...

The chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, left , has talks with the ambassador of the Arab league to Somalia, Abdalla Mubarak,Wednesday, June 21, 2006 in Mogadishu. MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR MOGADISHU, Somalia - For a Mogadishu port worker, an Islamic group's takeover of most of southern Somalia means he can haul cargo without fear of rampaging militiamen. At the other end of the economic scale, a Coke executive is just as eager to grasp a chance at normalcy in a country that has known little but violence for more than a decade. The Islamic militia's victory...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A new group of al Qaeda-linked "jihadis" or "holy warriors" has won a foothold in Somalia and though small may flourish if stable rule does not return to the anarchic Horn of Africa nation, a report said on Sunday. The "new, ruthless independent jihadi network" is run from the capital Mogadishu by a militia boss trained in Afghanistan and has already killed several foreign aid workers, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank said. "Ultimately, the threat of jihadi terrorism from Somalia can only be addressed through the restoration of stable, legitimate and functional government," added the ICG...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Ethiopia's prime minister warned on Thursday of the danger posed by a "very active al-Qaida cell" in Somalia's capital and said a stable government is the best way to eliminate the terrorist threat in the chaotic Horn of Africa country. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in an interview with The Associated Press days ahead of an election in which he is seeking a third consecutive term, said his government supported the Somali transitional government formed in neighboring Kenya last year and would do everything possible to help it take power and eliminate the terrorist threat. "Wherever there...

An Islamic leader on a U.S. terrorist list threatened a holy war Friday if an African peacekeeping force enters Somalia to try to install a new government and stop more than decade of clan warfare. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former Somali army colonel suspected of having ties with the al-Qaida terror group, told reporters that allowing foreign troops into Somalia was contrary to Islamic teachings. It would be the religious duty of all Somalis to fight any peacekeeping force, he said. Clan fighters might find God's forgiveness for helping plunge Somalia into chaos if they cleansed "themselves with the...

Do you know how the alleged "shopping-mall" bomber entered our country? He didn't cross the border illegally. He didn't sneak in on a ship. He came through the front door at America's invitation. Nuradin M. Abdi, who was indicted last week for plotting with al Qaeda to blow up an Ohio shopping mall, flew here from Somalia and received bogus "refugee" status in 1999, according to authorities. Prosecutors allege that Abdi then fraudulently obtained a refugee travel document, which he used to fly to Ethiopia for jihad training. After returning, Abdi blended back into the American landscape along with tens of...

Americans hunt for al-Qa'eda in Mogadishu ruins By Adrian Blomfield in Mogadishu (Filed: 27/03/2004) Even the crumbling buildings seemed to be holding their breath as the column of Somali gunmen crept through the desolate ruins of Mogadishu's former administrative district. A crunch underfoot and the column froze. A flock of birds rose squawking from a bombed-out structure to the right. Abdullahi Ahmed, the gunmen's leader, wheeled around. His kikoi sarong rose slightly to reveal the scars from American bullets on his legs. "Don't stop, keep moving," he whispered urgently. "There are snipers here." We crept on along the rubble-strewn boulevard,...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Defense Department is said to be mulling a proposal to expand special operations forces and send them to destroy insurgency strongholds along the Lebanese-Syrian border. U.S. defense sources said the proposal is being examined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They said the plan calls for a multi-pronged attack on insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon and Somalia. "The global war on terror is continuing, and it will for the foreseeable future," Rumsfeld, who did not cite future U.S. counter-insurgency targets, said on Tuesday. "As we prosecute the war, we'll need to continue to strengthen,...

NAIROBI : Kenyan authorities have arrested more than two dozen suspects wanted for two al-Qaeda attacks, including some sought by the US , a senior government official has said. The suspects, including several alleged masterminds, were accused of taking part in the 1998 car bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi and the November 2002 attack on a coastal hotel in Mombasa , National Security Minister Christopher Murungaru told the independent East African Standard newspaper. Most of the suspects were foreigners and were rounded up by Kenyan authorities and foreign security agencies in a recent anti-terror operation, Murungaru told the...

Six unidentified armed Americans have apprehended a presumed Yemeni national, suspected of having links to al-Qaeda, from a hospital in Somalia's capital and flew him out of the country.On Tuesday the six men, accompanied by members of a Somali militia group, took the man from Kaysaney hospital. Staff named him only as Issa and said he was carrying a South African passport."The Americans with a Somali translator came with details of the man including his photograph and fingerprints," a nurse at Kaysaney hospital said Wednesday.According to several sources in Mogadishu, the detained man is thought to have links to...