Posted on 09/23/2009 7:34:28 AM PDT by IbJensen
A powerful insurgent group in war-ravaged Somalia has formally pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network for the first time in an apparent effort to accelerate recruiting among Somalis, including emigres in the United States.
The group, al-Shabab, made the pledge in a video called "Labaik ya Osama" -- "At your service, Osama" -- released on extremist Web sites Sunday and shown Monday at a public screening in a suburb of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after prayers at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"This is certainly the most overt gesture of support for al Qaeda that al-Shabab has made," a U.S. counterterrorism official, authorized to speak only on the condition of anonymity, told The Washington Times on Tuesday.
In the 48-minute video, members of al-Shabab are shown training, taking part in firefights and chanting bin Laden's name.
The video features English-speaking commanders, including Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, according to IntelCenter, a firm that monitors extremist messaging for clients including U.S. agencies. Al-Amriki means "the American." His real name is Omar Hammami, and he was born outside Mobile, Ala.
The decision to pledge formal allegiance to bin Laden is increasing concern about new attacks by the group, which has been recruiting among Somali diaspora communities in the United States, Canada and Europe. Such recruits are valued by al Qaeda and its affiliates because they have passports that enable them to move easily among Western nations.
"U.S. and European counterterrorism officials are concerned about youths going [to training camps in Somalia] and coming back to stage attacks," said Karen von Hippel, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Why should they be enabled to have passports and move easily among Western nations? These killers need to be rounded up and executed instead of being mollycoddled and waterboarded.
Didn’t our Sec of State Hillary just meet with them and gave them millions of our dollars in “aid”.
Guess it bought us this.
Pledging allegiance to a dead man? Not very bright, are they?
I guess the Blessed Leader didn’t apologize enough to them. Maybe if we gave them a Cash for Conspirators program of some kind?
Because the Left is more rabid in attacking Mike Savage, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh than they are in waging the war against Islamic supremacist terrorism.
How many billions did OBL have when he died?
People were willing to do some nutty things for a chance at inheriting a slice of Howard Hughes’ billions.
Sounds to me as if Somalia is a target rich environment.
Bomb their Country.
Kill their Leaders.
Convert the people to Christianity.
fins = find
“He’s dead, Jim.”
The Hellfire missiles’ new motto will be: Shabab = Kabab.
Destroy them!
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