Nima Yusuf Pleads Guilty to Helping Al Shabaab in San Diego

San Diego: Somali refugee pleads guilty to helping funnel jihadists from Minnesota to al-Shabaab

Nothing says "gratitude" for refugee status like turning around and helping the main reason Somalia is hemorrhaging refugees. "Somali refugee acknowledges aiding terror group," from the Associated Press, December 1 (thanks to Kenneth):

A Somali refugee living in San Diego pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to aiding four men who left Minnesota to join a Somali terror group, including one man who is suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing in the African nation in October.

Prosecutors have said Nima Yusuf conspired in Southern California and elsewhere to aid al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked militia trying to create an Islamic state in Somalia. As part of her plea, the 25-year-old permanent resident of the U.S. acknowledged that she agreed to help the men with money and personnel.
Over the past three years, Minnesota has been the center of a federal investigation into the recruitment of people from the U.S. to train or fight with al-Shabab in Somalia, which hasn't had a functioning government since 1991.

• Twenty people have been charged in the state in connection with the travelers and alleged terror financing. 
• Others have been charged in St. Louis with funneling money to the terror group, and Yusuf was among four people charged in San Diego in late 2010 with helping al-Shabab.
• Yusuf acknowledged to prosecutors that she knew the four men had left the United States to become fighters for al-Shabab. 
• She said she sent $1,450 between February 2010 and November 2010, and also acknowledged lying to federal officials twice when she denied that she had sent money to Somalia.

The men - Abdisalan Hussein Ali, Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax and Abdiweili Yassin Isse - are accused of fighting for al-Shabab and are charged in a separate federal indictment in Minnesota.

Authorities have said they believe Ali and Hassan left Minneapolis for Somalia at different instances in 2008. Members of the city's Somali community fear Ali carried out a suicide bombing on Oct. 29 in Mogadishu that Somali authorities said killed 15 people.

Al-Shabab released a recording of the alleged bomber, who the group identified as a Somali-American, Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah. One of Ali's relatives told the AP he listened to the recording and believes it was Ali's voice.

The FBI hasn't confirmed the identity of the bomber's remains. If they are confirmed to belong to Ali, it will mark the third time someone from Minnesota has been involved in a suicide attack in Somalia.

According to court testimony and documents, Faarax and Isse left Minnesota in a rental car on Oct. 5, 2009, and headed south to the U.S.-Mexico border. At the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego, they told a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer that they were flying from Tijuana to Mexico City. They ultimately made their way to Somalia.

Federal officials wouldn't say whether Yusuf had contact with Faarax and Isse while they were in the San Diego area.

Yusuf faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She remains in jail without bail. Her plea is subject to final acceptance by U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz at or before sentencing on Feb. 1

The Rest @ Jihad Watch

ABDISALAM ALI, Another Minnesota Mujahadeen, becomes a Suicide Bomber

The extremist group al-Shabab in Somalia said, on Sunday 10/30/2011. an American man was one of two suicide bombers who carried out an attack in Mogadishu on Saturday, killing 10 people. The only evidence of the bombers' identities so far is a recording of what al-Shabab says is one of their voices.

That audio clip has led some local Somalis to identify one of the bombers as a young man from Minneapolis, although others who knew the man dispute that. The Associated Press reports two suicide bombers blew themselves up in an attack Saturday on an African Union base.

A website associated with the terror group al-Shabab posted an audio clip of a speaker identified as responsible for the bombing. The man urges jihad against nonbelievers. "Jihad is what is most important for the Muslim (omah?). It is not important that you become a doctor or you become some sort of engineer."

Several news outlets quote Omar Jamal of St. Paul, first secretary of the Somali mission to the United Nations, as identifying the man as Abdisalan Hussein Ali of Minneapolis, after two of Ali's friends who listened to the recording said it sounds like him (see - Minnesota-Suspects).

Local community activist Abdirizak Bihi said the voice on the recording has a persuasive tone that is meant to appeal to Somalis worldwide. "What we are worried about is the immensity of the message. How articulate it is," said Bihi. "It is really, really very good for the recruiters to use that."

Abdirizak Bihi's nephew, Burhan Hassan, left for Somalia in 2008 (see - Minneapolis Network), the same year Abdisalan Hussein Ali allegedly did -- and Hassan was killed there in 2009. Bihi says he won't be sure the voice in the recording is Abdisalan Ali until Ali's mother confirms it. Official sources also aren't ready to name the bomber.

"The information that we have thus far is that one of the bombers could possibly be an American citizen of Somali origin," said Suldan Farahsed, communications director for the Somali president. "But we don't know the name or the age. All that will come out soon."

An FBI spokesman in Minneapolis also said he could not confirm the man's identity. Others who knew Abdisalan Ali in Minneapolis don't think the recording is Ali's voice. Three of Ali's friends from his years as a student at the University of Minnesota say the man on the recording has the wrong accent. They say Ali's English is worse than the speaker's on the recording.

MPR News agreed not to name the friends because they don't want to draw attention to themselves in a high-stakes investigation that started about three years ago.

The three say when they knew Abdisalan Ali, he dressed and spoke with a bit of "gangster" swagger. Despite his baggy jeans and sagging shirts, they describe him as studious and serious about school. During his freshman year at the U, he sold designer sneakers to help support his family in Minneapolis.

Abdisalan Hussein Ali's alleged departure to Somalia in 11/2008 as part of a second wave of aspiring al-Shabab fighters was a shock to many of his friends. About two dozen Minnesota men are believed to have traveled to Somalia to take up arms with the Somali terror group that has links to Al Qaeda.

While some of the men had troubled and criminal pasts, others, like Ali, seemed to have promising careers ahead of themselves.

The Rest @ Global Jihad

Another Minnesota Mujahadeen Becomes a Suicide Bomber in Somalia

One of two suicide bombers who blew themselves up during an attack on peacekeepers in Somalia was an American, the country’s Islamist leadership claimed on Sunday.

In a post on a Somali website popular with the al-Shabaab insurgency, Abdusalam al-Muhajir said that he left the US to fight with militants two years ago but now “wanted to die as a martyr”.

He and his accomplice disguised themselves as Somali government soldiers, allowing them to get close to an African Union position before troops there became suspicious and opened fire.

The two men then detonated explosive vests they were wearing. At least two AU soldiers were wounded in the attack, on Saturday morning, although al-Shabaab claimed six were killed.

The Rest @ Vinienco

In an online video released on Sunday and recorded before he died, al-Muhajir said that he was born in Somalia but that his family fled with him to the US when he was two-years-old.

He had an American accent and used both Islamic religious terminology and US street slang as he urged Muslims to carry out attacks against what he called “unbelievers”.

Ahmed Hussein Mahamud Pleads Not Guilty in Minnesota Mujahadeen Case

A Somali-American accused of providing money and people to al-Shabab has pleaded not guilty to terror charges. Twenty-six-year-old Ahmed Hussein Mahamud entered the plea July 21 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. He faces four counts, including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Mahamud had recently moved from Minnesota to Ohio to get married. He's been ...

TheRest@Minnesota Lawyer

Operation Rhino Gets a Guilty Plea from a Minnesota Mujahadin

United States v. Mohamed (D.Minn. July 18, 2011) is the latest in a series of convictions federal prosecutors have obtained in response to the recruitment of young Somali-American men in the Minneapolis area to travel to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab. Details from the press release follow:

MINNEAPOLIS – Earlier today in federal court, a 26-year-old Minneapolis man pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim abroad. Omer Abdi Mohamed, also known as “Brother Omer” and “Galeyr,” who was indicted on Nov. 17, 2009, entered his plea before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Michael J. Davis.

In his plea agreement, Mohamed admitted being a member of a conspiracy that recruited young men of Somali descent to travel to Somalia to fight against Ethiopian troops, who were in Somalia assisting the internationally-recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. Mohamed admitted assisting the men in planning their trips, knowing that once in Somalia, the men intended to murder, kidnap or maim Ethiopian and Somali government troops.

Following the entry of the plea, U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said, “Those involved in this conspiracy, including Omer Abdi Mohamed, violated the law in a dangerous and misguided effort to support a terrorist organization. In the process, they tore apart many Somali-American families. Parents were left to fret over the disappearance of their young sons, who often left home without a word. In some instances family members discovered what happened to their relatives only by watching Internet videos being used as propaganda by al-Shabaab. I doubt many of us can imagine the feelings in such circumstances, and I can only hope that the criminal prosecutions we continue to take against those involved, including Omer Abdi Mohamed, will help deter these ill-advised actions in the future.”

Between September and December of 2007, Mohamed admittedly attended meetings at a Minneapolis mosque, restaurant and private residence, where he and his co-conspirators formed a secret plan that called for Somali men residing in Minneapolis to travel to Somalia to fight. He also facilitated the travel of several of these young men, including assisting them in obtaining plane tickets as well as the false itinerary needed by one man to mislead his family about the purpose of his travel.

In his plea agreement, Mohamed further admitted being present in Minneapolis when money was raised to mobilize groups of men to travel to Somalia. Many of the donations came from unsuspecting members of the Somali-American community, who were told the money was going to be used for Somalia relief efforts.

The indictment of Mohamed arose out of the “Operation Rhino” investigation, which has focused on young ethnic Somali men from the Minneapolis area who were recruited to fight with al-Shabaab against the TFG and African Union peacekeeping troops in Somalia.

• The earliest groups of identified travelers departed the United States in October and December 2007, while others left in February 2008, August 2008, November 2008 and October 2009.
• Upon arriving in Somalia, the men resided in al-Shabaab safe-houses in southern Somalia until constructing an al-Shabaab training camp, where they were trained.
• Senior members of al-Shabaab and a senior member of al-Qaeda in East Africa conducted the training.
• In July 2008, men from Minneapolis as well as other Americans participated in an al-Shabaab ambush of Ethiopian troops.
• Then, on Oct. 29, 2008, one of the December 2007 travelers from Minneapolis, Shirwa Ahmed, detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device as part of an apparently coordinated series of five suicide bombings in Bosaso and Hargeisa, Somalia. In doing so, Ahmed is believed to have become the first American suicide bomber in Somalia.
• Then, in June 2011, Farah Mohamed Beledi, one of the indicted October 2009 travelers, was killed at a checkpoint in Somalia as he attempted to detonate his suicide vest.

This is the sixth guilty plea in connection with the investigation.

• Kamal Said Hassan, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse and Salah Osman Ahmed returned from Somalia to the United States and have been convicted of terrorism offenses.
• Adarus Abdulle Ali and Abdow Munye Abdow have been convicted of obstruction offenses.
• Mohamud Said Omar is in the custody of authorities in the Netherlands pending extradition,
• Ahmed Hussein Mahamud is in custody in the United States pending trial.
• An indictment of eight men believed to be fugitives in Somalia also was unsealed late last year.

For his crime, Omer Abdi Mohamed faces a potential maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release. Chief Judge Davis will determine his sentence at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled.

The Rest @ Lawfare Blog

FBI Continues its case on Minnesota Mujahadeen

MINNEAPOLIS — Nearly three years ago, a Minneapolis man blew himself up oceans away in Somalia.

His death put Minnesota at the heart of a still unfolding multinational counterterrorism probe that has seen 20 Minnesotans indicted on terror-related charges, at least another nine killed in fighting overseas and a handful more arrested and convicted.

Others have been charged with fundraising or wiring money to a terror group in Somalia, and one of the men charged is scheduled to go on trial next month -- a first in the case.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder visited Minneapolis last month to reaffirm his office's commitment to rooting out those responsible for the recruiting of young Somali-Americans to return to Africa to fight for the terrorist group Al-Shabab.

Yet investigators appear no closer to unmasking a leader of the nebulous network that found foot soldiers in the Twin Cities.

The FBI's failure so far to publicly uncover a mastermind has spawned disillusionment among some in the local Somali community who wonder when, if ever, justice will be served.

"They know the big recruiters. The government knows everything," said Abdirizak Bihi, whose teenage nephew is believed to have been killed in Somalia in 2009 after joining Al-Shabab, which U.S. officials say is affiliated with Al-Qaida.

What federal officials dubbed Operation Rhino began following the suicide bombing committed by former Minneapolis resident Shirwa Ahmed in Somalia in October 2008.

Since then, investigators have identified 21 "travelers" and several more "middle men" who they contend raised money and arranged the travel of recruits to Africa. Many of those organizers, however, remain at large and are believed to be in Somalia. Special Agent E.K. Wilson of the FBI's Minneapolis office said he could not comment on how many of those at-large are still in Minnesota.

While limited in what he can say -- especially with the trial of alleged organizer Omer Abdi Mohamed set to begin July 19 -- Wilson acknowledged some things are clear.

Young men were recruited and indoctrinated by peers. Money was raised and travel arranged by those in "more of a leadership role," he said. But no kingpin has been revealed.

"It's evolving daily -- still," Wilson said of an investigation that has stretched from Minnesota to Canada, Europe and Australia. "We're still trying to put those pieces together and find out who did what. That's information we're refining and will still be working on for years to come."

What drives the FBI, Wilson said, is protecting America from the possibility that someone trained by terrorists overseas will return to carry out an attack here. That threat makes this investigation a priority, he said, although there has been no evidence of such a plot.

Until recently, the case had mostly slipped off the public radar. That changed when a second Minnesota suicide bomber was identified last week. Farah Mohamed Beledi's death in a hail of gunfire in Mogadishu rekindled frustration with the pace of the investigation.

Like many of the men who left, Beledi was known to have worshipped at Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in Minneapolis -- the largest mosque in Minnesota.

Beledi didn't work at the center, but sometimes volunteered there, according to a recent statement from Abubakar's executive director, Hassan Jama. Beledi also spoke at a public open house at the center in February 2009, several months before he left the country.

"As for Farah's alleged travel and subsequent death in Somalia, the center has learned that from the media," Jama said in the statement.

To date, the FBI has found no evidence that mosque leaders, including Abubakar's, were responsible for the recruitment of those who went back to Somalia, Wilson said.

Bihi, who once defended the sometimes-methodical pace of U.S. justice, has lost patience.

"For a long time I would explain that this system is different. They need a lot of evidence. But now I'm running out of excuses," he said.

But the FBI's failure to nab a head conspirator may simply reflect reality, according to local attorney Stephen L. Smith, who has represented 20-30 witnesses and possible suspects.

Smith, who began getting calls in 2009 from local Somalis called to testify before a federal grand jury, said he wouldn't be surprised if investigators "had the top dog wrapped up."

But, he added, "I think there are people higher up. I don't think there's 'The One.'"

Smith said he is convinced there are people here and abroad who helped local men reach the Horn of Africa. The ongoing investigation appears to have slowed that traffic, he said, but young Somalis still may be slipping away to fight.

The Rest @ Naples News

Another Minnesota Man Charged with Support, Another Man Again a Suicide Bomber in Somalia

American charged over aid to Somali militants

Ahmed Mahamud, who previously lived in Minnesota, was charged with four counts including conspiracy to provide material support and providing material support to al-Shabaab, which the U.S. government has designated a terrorist group, according to the unsealed indictment.

He is accused of trying to provide money and people to help the militant group in its fight against the Ethiopian military. The four-page indictment did not offer more details about his activities.

Mahamud is expected to be sent to Minnesota to face the indictment, the Justice Department said. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted.

Already 18 people have been charged in Minnesota during a three-year U.S. investigation into efforts to recruit Americans to train or fight with al-Shabaab in Somalia. Eight have been arrested, five of whom have pleaded guilty.

At least two of the group charged in U.S. courts are believed to have been killed in Somalia. American officials have expressed concerns that the country could also provide a safe haven for al Qaeda militants.

The FBI said on Thursday they had identified one of two bombers who blew themselves up at a government checkpoint in Somalia on May 30 as a Twin Cities man who faced terrorism charges for traveling to Somalia and joining al-Shabaab.

Farah Mohamed Beledi, 27, was identified by comparing fingerprints obtained from one of the bombers with those known to be from Beledi, the FBI said. The FBI has not identified the second bomber.

Beledi was believed to have left Minnesota in October 2009 to travel to Somalia, according to a federal indictment released in July 2010.

Al-Shabaab rebels controls wide swaths of the African country, including parts of the capital, fighting the West-backed government. They claimed responsibility for deadly bombings in Uganda last year that killed 79 people.

The Rest @ Reuters

More Minnesota Mujahadeen Video

US Indictments for Support of al Shabaab Terrorists

Originally published on 5 August, 2010.

*********
(AP) MINNEAPOLIS - The federal government charged 14 people Thursday, including two women from Rochester, Minnesota, with supporting the terrorist group al-Shabaab in Somalia.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the cases in Minnesota, California and Alabama a “deadly [pipeline” of terrorist support.

He credited leaders in Muslim communities in the U.S. for helping law enforcement agencies address the problem and bring the cases to prosecution.

One of two indictments issued in Minnesota alleges that two Somali women and others went door-to-door in Minneapolis, Rochester and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada to raise funds for al-Shabaab's operations in Somalia.

The indictment says the women raised the money under false pretenses, claiming it would go to the poor and needy, and used fake names for recipients to conceal that the money was going to al-Shabaab.

The indictment alleges the women, Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan, also raised money by making direct appeals to people in teleconferences "in which they and other speakers encouraged financial contributions to support violent jihad in Somalia."

During one teleconference, the indictment says, Ali told others "to forget about the other charities" and focus on "the Jihad."

Ali is accused of sending $8,608 to al-Shabab on 12 different occasions between Sept. 17 2008 through July 5, 2009.

After the FBI searched Ali's home in 2009, she allegedly contacted an al-Shabab leader in southern Somalia and said: "I was questioned by the enemy here. ... they took all my stuff and are investigating it ... do not accept calls from anyone."

The U.S. "must prevent this kind of captivation from taking hold," Holder said.

Most of the people charged are U.S. citizens.

• Some supported the terrorist organization from the United States and others traveled to Somalia to join up with al-Shabaab.
• The indictment says Ali and others sent the funds to al-Shabaab through various hawalas, money transfer businesses that are a common source of financial transactions in the Islamic world.
• Minneapolis Somali community advocate Omar Jamal said Thursday he was happy to hear of the indictments."We welcome this as a positive step toward the beginning of the defeat of al-Shabab," Jamal said.
• Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan were scheduled to make an initial court appearance at 2 p.m. Thursday in St. Paul.
  

The Rest @ myfox.com

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Ahmed Osma's Partner Arrested in The Netherlands

Yesterday the Star Tribune (published in Minneapolis-St. Paul) reported on a seemingly significant arrest in the Netherlands related to the al-Shabaab recruiting networks that have centered on the Twin Cities area. From the Star Tribune:

A 43-year-old Somali man from Minneapolis was arrested this week in the Netherlands for allegedly financing the recruitment of up to 20 young Somali men from Minnesota to train and fight with terrorists in their homeland....

The identity of the man, who was arrested Sunday at an asylum-seeker's center 45 miles northeast of Amsterdam, was not released.

• But Special Agent E.K. Wilson of the Minneapolis FBI office confirmed Tuesday that the man was arrested in connection with the ongoing counterterrorism investigation that began here when young men began disappearing in 2007.
• "We are aware of this individual and of this arrest. And it is tied to our ongoing Minneapolis investigation," Wilson said.
• "We are and have been working closely with Dutch authorities through our legal attaché office in Brussels and coordinating with the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs."

Dutch prosecutors said in a statement that

• the man lived in Minneapolis before leaving the United States in November 2008 and arrived in the Netherlands about one month later.
• The statement said American authorities asked for the man's arrest and are seeking to have him extradited....
• According to the Dutch statement, U.S. prosecutors suspect the man of bankrolling the purchase of weapons for Islamic extremists and helping other Somalis travel to Somalia in 2007 and 2008.
• The article refers to this as likely "the most significant development yet" in the investigation into US-based Shabaab recruiting networks.

This assessment appears to be correct. A recent article in CTR Vantage that examines Shabaab recruiting networks in the West shows that though recruiters seem to play a significant role in these networks, much is still not known about them.

Those arrested to date in the Twin Cities case have been people who traveled to Somalia, or those who facilitated the travel, but the recruiters have been largely in the shadows.

For example, when 26-year-old Salah Osman Ahmed pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists based on his travel to Somalia, he spoke elliptically of the recruiters who helped draw him there, mentioning "secret meetings" beginning in October 2007 with people he would only describe as "guys."

The arrest of a bigger player in the case may provide greater insight into these networks.


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2009/11/arrest_in_netherlands_may_yiel.php#ixzz0WguAEeSr

The Rest @ The Long War Journal

Autralian Shabaab? Perhaps, Perhaps Not

There have been reports claiming that a Group in Australia is associated with the Somali al Shabaab. I have been waiting to see where this falls out, becasue this doesnot fit into their normal way of operating.

For the Record, Some in Somalia have denied the Australia Connection - But the Shabaab are signficantly decentralized, and one of the four battlions could do such a move without informing the other.

It may be an group recruited by internet, or a dispora connection like the Minnesota Mujahadeen.

At the moment, I would say the jury is still out.

-Shimron Issachar


PROSCRIBING Somali-based al-Shabaab as a terrorist organisation could force its Australian supporters underground and make monitoring their activities more difficult for police and intelligence agencies, security analysts have warned.

On Tuesday, four men of Somali and Lebanese descent aged between 22 and 26 years, with alleged links to al-Shabaab, were arrested in a joint counter-terror police operation in Melbourne.

The group is accused of plotting a suicide attack on Holsworthy army base in Sydney in which they would have become Islamic martyrs.

Yesterday, Kevin Rudd said al-Shabaab had been considered for listing as a terrorist group in Australia.

But the federal government had not proceeded to list al-Shabaab because it didn't want to compromise Tuesday's counter-terrorism operation in Victoria.

"This has been the subject of some internal deliberation within the government ... for a period of time," the Prime Minister told ABC radio.

In Cairns, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said al-Shabaab's status was under review but no decision had been made to list the organisation as a terror group.

"These things are kept under constant review but, given the events of the last couple of days, it's obviously something we're now giving very serious consideration," Mr Smith said.

Al-Shabaab (The Youth) is a militant wing of the Islamic Courts Union that controlled much of restive Somalia prior to its invasion in 2006 by US-backed Ethiopian forces. Respected national security analyst Allan Behm said there were good reasons for not declaring al-Shabaab a terrorist organisation.

Many of the 5000-strong Somali community are former refugees who fled years of violence and lawlessness but have found it very difficult to integrate.

"This is a community under real stress," he said. "Many of them are not educated, many have not got good employment prospects unless they are educated, they are a very isolated community and they will stick together.

"When communities are in that sort of situation, they can fall victim to a lot of different sorts of things -- alienation and anger."

The Rest @ The Australian News.com

Salah Osman Ahmed of Brooklyn Pleased Guilty to Shabaab Link

Brooklyn Park man will plead guilty to supporting terrorists, attorney says
Second terrorism suspect to plead guilty today.

Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, will plead guilty in federal court today to providing material support to terrorists, according to his attorney.

Ahmed, a part-time security guard from Brooklyn Park, is accused of traveling to Somalia in December 2007, allegedly to train with al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group that federal officials say has links to al-Qaida.

Ahmed's attorney, James Ostgard, said late Monday night that his client will plead guilty to a single count -- providing material support to terrorists -- before U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Ostgard said three other counts will be dismissed at Ahmed's sentencing: Conspiracy to Kill, Kidnap, Main and Injure and two counts of giving false information to law enforcement.

Ahmed was one of two men indicted by a grand jury in February for training with al-Shabaab. Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, 25, of Seattle, Wash., also has admitted to federal investigators that he trained with the terrorist group. Isse has already pleaded guilty.

The indictments for both men were made public two weeks ago after Ahmed was arrested on his way to his security job. Isse had been in custody since his arrest in Seattle in February.

• Investigators say the indictments are part of a larger, ongoing investigation into the disappearance of up to 20 Twin Cities men of Somali descent over the past two years.
• Family members and federal officials believe the men have returned to Somalia to fight in a continuing civil war.
• Family members or federal officials have confirmed that at least four of those Minnesota men have been killed.

It is believed that the ongoing investigation focuses on who recruited and funded the men's travel to Somalia.

By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune

The Rest @ The Minniapolis Star Tribune

Minnesota Kids Join Terrorists in Somalia

by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison said the U.S. government is trying to ensure the safe return of some of the young Somali-American men believed to be fighting with a terrorist group in their homeland.

Ellison said he has been included in classified briefings about efforts to bring the missing men back to the Twin Cities.

At least four Somali-American men from Minnesota who left to fight in the Horn of Africa have died there in recent months.

One of youngest, a skinny teenager from Minneapolis named Burhan Hassan, was trying to leave the fighting and make his way to the U.S. embassy in neighboring Kenya, according to family members. They believe a fellow member of the extremist group Al-Shabaab shot Hassan to death when the group learned of his plans to escape.

Congressman Keith Ellison thinks the U.S. should try to retrieve the Minnesotan men who may have been misled into joining Al-Shabaab and want out.

“We can’t have a knee-jerk emotional reaction,” Ellison said. “We’ve got to have an intelligent reaction. If a young person says, ‘I have been lied to. I don’t like these people. I want to get away from them,’ we should help them do that, as long as we know that does not create a public safety issue for Minnesotans and Americans.”

Ellison wouldn’t offer more details of the plans, saying the discussions were classified. But he said the efforts involve private non-governmental organizations as well as government entities. A State Department official did not respond to requests for interviews.

Ellison, whose district includes the largest concentration of Somali-Americans in the country, said the U.S. government has a vested interest in bringing the men back to safety. The FBI is investigating how and why about 20 men left the Twin Cities to join the chaos and bloodshed of a homeland they barely knew.Larger viewBurhan Hassan

Ellison said the U.S. should send a message to the young fighters.

“If you’ve learned the truth about these exploitative organizations like Shabaab, who are so dangerous, then abandon them and then help tell the truth about what these groups are really all about,” Ellison said.

The Minneapolis office of the FBI has encouraged any of the Minnesota fighters who have had second thoughts to find their way to “the nearest friendly diplomatic agency.”

“If these men did come to a point where they wanted to return home, that they were disenchanted with the situation over there, tired of the fighting and wanting to come home, we’d certainly like to get the word out that they should do that,” said FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson.

But Wilson also added that the FBI remains focused on the investigation, “and that focus has not changed at all.”

Asking a fighter to simply walk away from Al-Shabaab because he had a change of heart is a tall order. Families have heard that the men are being closely guarded.

Mogadishu has been under siege in recent weeks as groups like Al-Shabaab vie for power. The U.S. has no diplomatic presence in Somalia; however the FBI has staff and agents in neighboring countries that are assisting in the investigation.

Still, at least two men with Minnesota ties were able to escape Al-Shabaab, back in December 2007.

Court records released this week say Abdifatah Isse left for Somalia in hopes of fighting against the Ethiopian troops who invaded the country. According to the documents, only after Isse arrived in Somalia, he realized he joined a movement connected to Al-Shabaab.

At the time, the U.S. had yet to declare Al-Shabaab as a terrorist group. Isse and another Minnesota man were able to flee Al-Shabaab soon after arriving.

A friend identified the other man as 26-year-old Salah Ahmed of New Brighton. The friend said Ahmed told the other Minnesota fighters that he needed to seek treatment for his allergies.

Then Ahmed and Isse escaped to Kismayo, and eventually returned to the United States.
Now, the two men are back in Minnesota — behind bars.

Authorities this week released indictments charging each of them with providing material support to terrorism and conspiring to kill people abroad. At least one of the men, Isse, is cooperating with authorities. A trial for Ahmed is scheduled for October.

But bringing the remaining recruits back to the U.S. isn’t without risk. John Radsan, a former assistant general counsel for the CIA, said the U.S. government is taking such a heightened interest in the case of the Somali-American fighters because of broader concerns on global terror.

“These people are trained, perhaps over there. They become radicalized over there,” Radsan said. “They are engaged in combat, and if those people can be put on that cycle, it’s only another step before they might come back here to do bad things in the Twin Cities.”

Counterterrorism officials have said they have no evidence that the young men were plotting attacks on the U.S.

Congressman Ellison agrees that the U.S. government’s first responsibility is to protect its residents. But he also thinks if the recruits pose no threat to national security, they should be allowed to re-integrate into the American culture they left behind.
__________________________________________________________
Source: MPR(Reporters Elizabeth Stawicki and Sasha Aslanian contributed to this report.)
Related Posts:

The Rest @ Bartamaha
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Missing Somali-American killed in Somalia
Relative confirms death of fourth young man from Minnesota in Somalia
Somali man's family says he's not a terrorist
Somali terror suspect waives detention hearing
First clue to how Isse and other young Somalis were recruited to fight: He was approached “at a house of worship.”
(LISTEN) Speech may provide clues to missing Somalis' motivation
More Arrests May Happen In Missing Somalis Case
Somalis, FBI in other U.S. cities on alert for terrorist recruiting
Somalia urges Somali-Americans not to join rebels
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Shabaab Recruitment in America

CLARKSON, GA. -– In this small town on the edge of Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking out for an alarming kind of crime: radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town's young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa.

There is terrorist recruitment taking place already in Minnesota, said Clarkston police chief Tony J. Scipio. That's why his department and the FBI are looking for anything similar in the Somali-American community here in Clarkston.

In Minneapolis, as many as 20 young men have been reported missing from their homes since last fall. They are thought to have been lured into the ranks of al-Shabaab in Somalia.

That group got a terrorist designation from the U.S. State Department, which ties it to al-Qaeda, bombings, assassinations and attacks on peacekeepers. A powerful faction fighting Somalia's transitional government, al-Shabaab's agenda is extremely strict Sharia law.

• To fight potential recruiters, the Atlanta FBI has spent the last several months in what the agent-in-charge called an "outreach" program to Clarkston Somali-Americans, including mosque visits and community meetings.

Supervisory special agent Andrew Young said radical violent Islamist recruiters use the same strategy as a street gang recruiter, or even a little league coach. "From what we know about recruiters, whether they're Islamic, drug gangs or the coach, they're looking for those kids who are looking for something deeper inside. To one it could be geopolitics. To one it could be a friendship. They're all looking for something," he explained.

And terror recruiters are quickly becoming adept at online tactics, noted Young. "That's what we see as a trend hitting home,” he said.

“We see a lot more Internet recruiting being targeted to our youth." If young people go to Somalia, the FBI's biggest worry is that they may return with dangerous souvenirs, like bomb-making or demolition skills and a radical anti-U.S. agenda.

Atlanta's Somali-American community mushroomed after 1991 with arrivals of war refugees. Between 2000 and 2007 alone, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement sent some 3,000 Somalis to Atlanta. Because so many suffered in the war, they're unlikely to see much appeal in returning to war, say Somali-American leaders in Clarkston.

But the alleged Minneapolis recruits spent little or no time in war-ravaged Somalia or in refugee camps. That may make young people vulnerable to a dramatic, nationalistic appeal, according to one Georgia leader. "If al-Shabaab says, 'We're fighting Ethiopians,' then they'll have sympathy," declared Omar Shekhey, president of the Somali-American Community Center, a statewide umbrella group.

• Somalia's transitional government is supported in part by the army of Somalia's number one enemy, Ethiopia.
• The two countries have fought two formal wars in 40 years.

Al-Shabaab has no sympathizers in Clarkston, Shekhey insisted, but suggested that the other side -– the transitional government –- is frustrating, ineffective and unpopular.

He jumped to criticize the transitional government's power-sharing formula that he says reduces some Somalis to half-citizens, or non-citizens because it fixes quotas for parliamentary seats by clan.

U.S. support for that interim government rouses ire in some, Shekhey said, especially young people who reject the costs of that U.S. strategy. "They can be angry," he said. "'Why is the U.S. doing this?' they ask."

Sharmarke Yonis, of the Georgia Somali Community, a non-profit headquartered in Clarkston, says that anger doesn't always translate into a violent act.

“We might have some people who have sympathy, but not anyone who will commit a hate crime," he said.

There's sympathy because every religion spawns radicals who commit hate crimes, such as a person who would bomb an abortion clinic in the name of Christianity, he suggested, but emphasized that he sees no danger in Atlanta.

"In Georgia, we don’t have many, just a few listening," Yonis said. He believes the threat is bigger in Columbus, Ohio, or Minneapolis, where the Somali-American populations measure in the tens of thousands.

No Somali-Americans are reported missing in the Clarkston area.

• A four-month police and FBI joint operation of surveillance and confidential informants turned up nothing, according to the police chief.
• But "the word ‘FBI’ scares people," said Hussien Mohammed, the director of Sagal Radio, a Clarkston-based station that broadcasts in English plus four languages spoken in east Africa: Somali, Afaan-Oromo, Amharic and Swahili. "They're coming from a country that has no law. They've been beaten, abused, harassed by security forces in their country … Some have been taken away in the middle of the night. People fear the same here."
• Mohammed seemed conflicted about the level of FBI involvement."Too many visits from the FBI have been seen in our community," he said, but later added, "It's their job. It's why we're safe."
• He's very adamant on one point, which is backed up by other Somali-Americans and law enforcement: "These people are very peaceful like any other community. They've been terrorized at home enough. They want to be Somali-Americans, not just Somalis.

"Maggie Lee (www.bottleofink.com) is a freelance writer in Atlanta.Related Articles:

Missing Youth Still Haunt Minnesota Somalis

The Rest @ New America Media

Shabaab Assassinates One if its Minnesota Mujahadeen Rescruits

Al Shabaab may have murdered Minneapolis recruit in Somalia
By Jerry Gordon 06/08/09 07:04 AM EDT


FoxNews, reported the second death of a Somali American youth from Minneapolis, 17 year old Burhan Hassan in Mogadishu, Friday.

Hassan may have been recruited for the Taliban-like Al Shabaab militia in Somalia at the Abubakar As-Saddique Mosque in Minneapolis.

• Hassan's uncle, Osman Ahmed testified at a US Senate Homeland Security and Government Committee (HSGAC) hearing in March about his nephew, Hassan and accusations against the Mosque's Imam, who was put on a government 'no-fly' list.
• Last December, the remains of another Minneapolis Somali American, 27-year old Shirwa Ahmed, a suicide bomber who took the lives of 29 others in Somalia ,were returned for a funeral and interment.
• Both Hassan and Ahmed attended Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. The FBI has been investigation the 'disapperance' of upwards of 40 Minneapolis area Somali American young men who were reported to have gone to Somalia.

Hassan's uncle Osman Ahmed in the Fox report noted:

• "Someone who claimed (to be) a member of al-Shabaab called Burhan's mom Friday (afternoon) and said Burhan died Friday morning," Ahmed said.
• "Burhan's mom got shocked and (threw) the phone when she heard the story."
• "Al-Shabaab assassinated Burhan and shot (him in) the head," the individual said, according to Ahmed.

A law enforcement official told FOX News on Sunday that one of the Somali-American men was recently killed in Somalia by artillery fire, but the official declined to release the man's name.
"My sister still is under shock," Ahmed said.

Ahmed accused the Abubakar As-Siddque Mosque leaders of recruiting his nephew for Al Shabaab:

• "Like his peers, Burhan Hassan was never interested in Somali politics, or understood Somali clan issues," Ahmed said during testimony.
• "These kids have no perception of Somalia except the one that was formed in their mind by their teachers at (a local mosque).
• We believe that these children did not travel to Somalia by themselves. There must be others who made them understand that going to Somalia and participatingon the fighting is the right thing to do."

Al Shabaab also appeared to be recruting Jailhouse converts to Islam as Jihadis, such as those caught in the New York City Temple Bombing plot.

• We note the death of an Army Private and wounding of fellow recruiter at a West Little Rock mall by, Carlos Bledsoe AKA Abdulhakim Muhammad, an American convert to Islam who traveled to Yemen, and who apparently frequented a radical Mosque in Columbus, Ohio.

The Rest @ RedC0unty.com

US Bank and Wells Fargo Formerly Connected to Somali Financial Services Association of North America (SFSA )

Originally Published
August 24, 2006:

Bank of America, the nation’s largest retail banking company, announced Wednesday that it’s cutting its ties to the nation’s top two money transmitters, Minneapolis-based MoneyGram International and Western Union. This comes as Somali Financial Services Association of North America (SFSA), a union of a dozen or so small money transmitters are making an eleventh-hour attempt to prevent local banks from closing their accounts.

On Monday, local banks including Minneapolis-based TCF,
U.S bank

and Iowa-based Wells Fargo, announced they will close accounts used by Somali money wiring companies due to stiff regulations by the federal government.

The move could unravel the multi-million dollar money wiring business in Minnesota and might put millions of people in Africa and elsewhere whose relatives live in the state in financial crisis.

The Rest @ The Daily Planet

FBI In Minneapolis Raid Qaran Express, Aaran Financial in M

Last update: April 8, 2009 - 10:04 PM
By LORA PABST and RICHARD MERYHEW, Star Tribune staff writers

Federal agents raided three Minneapolis money transfer businesses that mainly serve the Somali community Wednesday, seeking records of financial transactions to several African and Middle East countries.

E.K. Wilson, a special agent for the FBI in Minneapolis, confirmed that agents searched the businesses on the city's south side to track money transactions, but wouldn't disclose any further details.

The businesses are Qaran Express and Aaran Financial, both in the Karmel Mall, near W. Lake Street and Pillsbury Avenue S., and North American Money Transfer Inc., also known as Mustaqbal Express, at the Village Market Mall, at E. 24th Street and Chicago Avenue S.

While it's not clear that the raid was directly connected to a continuing federal investigation into the possible link between terrorist groups and the disappearances of seven to 20 young Somali men in the Twin Cities over the past two years, it appears to be part of an effort since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to crack down on financial connections to terrorist networks and operations overseas.

Two months after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, federal agents froze the assets of five Somali-related operations at three locations in Minneapolis because of suspicions that they were laundering money to Osama bin Laden or his terrorist organization Al-Qaida. In the end, none was the subject of federal criminal indictments.

Somali residents had bemoaned the shutdowns, saying that the businesses were their only way of getting money to impoverished relatives in Somalia.
"We've been through this before," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul. "What happened today is the beginning of a long story, so we don't want the community to panic."


The search warrant executed at North American Money Transfer

• originated in the Eastern District of Missouri and was filed under seal on April 3.
• It states that FBI agents were seeking any documentation regarding money sent to "any person, business or entity where such transfers were destined for locations in: Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and United Arab Emirates" between January 2007 and the present.
• North American Money Transfer is based in Atlanta and has locations in Washington, Arizona, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia.
• Its Mustaqbal Express location in the Village Market Mall is one of five Minnesota branches and it serves as the central headquarters for money sent from the other locations across the country.

According to the company's website, it has been in business since 1999. "With our partnership of African Horn, one of the largest network in money transfer services, we are able to deliver your money to regions around the world where traditional financial institutions do not exist," says the website.

Abdirahman Omar, the general manager of Mustaqbal Express, was opening up shop at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday when about 15 agents arrived. They spent about 5 hours combing through records and interviewing employees, Omar said.

"They were collecting every receipt, money wires and banking statements," Omar said. "It's been confusion and nervousness all day."

Omar said his location also houses a computer sales and repair shop and an income tax service. He's not sure why his location was targeted, but recalled a raid at the company's branch in St. Louis about a year ago.

"The community knows we don't have any connection to any political group," Omar said. "We help our community to support their families."

After the raid, Omar said he was focused on getting his business back to normal and reassuring customers that he was still open. "This creates a bad image," he said. "I don't want my customers to fear."

An employee at Aaran Financial's Village Market location, which was not searched by authorities, said the company also has branches in other parts of the country, including Nebraska, Maine, Washington and Arizona.
Missing men.......

.....Over the past few months, more than a dozen people within the Somali community have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury. Dozens more have been questioned.

On Wednesday, the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced that it had sent letters to area high schools, colleges and universities asking that they provide legal support and assistance to Somali students who have been questioned on campus by FBI officials.

In a statement, CAIR said Somali students have reported that federal agents have approached them in libraries and while they are walking to class. Some have said they have received phone calls from FBI officials instructing them to leave class to talk.

In one instance, CAIR said, a Somali student leader at the University of Minnesota was asked by a campus police officer to attend a meeting with FBI officials "under the guise of outreach."

CAIR said the FBI asked the student questions about the missing Somali men without a lawyer being present.

The FBI's Wilson said Wednesday that all of its interviews have been voluntary.
"Under no circumstance has any conversation we've had with anybody or any interview we've done been coerced or forced," Wilson said. "All conversations we have had have been voluntary.

That's the way we conduct our interviews and that's the way we'll continue to conduct them."

The Rest @ StarTribune

Two Minnestoa Mujahadeen Interviwed in Somalia

Two young Americans who left their homes to join an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group in Somalia held a rare “press conference” in southern Somalia on Sunday, saying they want to be killed "for the sake of God," according to a U.S. law enforcement official and a report posted on a Somali news Web site.

For several months the FBI has been investigating at least 20 Somali-American men from the Minneapolis area and elsewhere in the United States who traveled to war-torn Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabaab, which has been warring with the moderate Somali government since 2006.

• Last month, a source familiar with the FBI investigation told FOX News that "several" of the men had returned to the United States, while others “are still there [in Somalia]."
• Sunday was the first time any of these men have spoken publicly.
  

"We came from the U.S. with a good life and a good education, but we came to fight alongside our brothers of al-Shabaab … to be killed for the sake of God,”

one man said at the press conference, as translated by Omar Jamal, the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
According to the news report, two men, identifying themselves as Abu-Muslim and Abu Yaxye, said they are “Somali youth” from the United States who are now stationed near the city of Kismayo, more than 300 miles southwest of Mogadishu, according to Jamal.

The men said they are talking to media for the first time so others can learn why they joined al-Shabaab, he said.

Sources told FOX News there is a video of the press conference.

• A spokesman from the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis, E.K. Wilson, said he is “aware of the video,” which he said was first brought to his office’s attention early Sunday.
• Wilson would not say whether the FBI has identified the men in the video.
  

At their press conference, the men did not say exactly how many other U.S. citizens have joined al-Shabaab, but they insisted that “many” Somali-Americans are now “all over Somalia to join the Jihad,” according to Jamal's translation.

“Some of us are still in training, others are on the frontline of the Jihad,” Abu-Muslim said, according to Jamal.

“Sadly a few of us are dead, one of whom carried out a suicide bombing.”

New Video May Help FBI Solve Somali-American Terror Case
Source: Missing Somali-American Spotted at Minneapolis Shopping Mall
Source: 'Several' Missing Somali-Americans Back in U.S. After Overseas Terror Mission
Alleged Al Qaeda Sleeper Agent Ali al-Marri Won't Be Released on Bond
Missing Somali-American Men Found...On Facebook
Grand Jury Convenes in FBI Terror Case Against Somali-Americans in Minneapolis, Sources Say
Jihad Recruiting Effort May Explain Missing Somalis in Minneapolis Area
Feds: Somali Men Disappearing in Minneapolis May Be Recruits for Terrorists
Somalian Terror Organization Shabaab al Mujahideen Looks to 'Throw the West Into Hell'
Video
New Video May Help FBI Solve Somali-American Terror Case
Disturbing Disappearance
Tracking Terrorists on Facebook
Photo Essays
Minnesota 'Lost Boys' Tied to Terror?

In the 30-minute video, featuring an anti-American hip-hop score and images of Usama bin Laden, a man dubbed "The American" purportedly leads a group of al-Shabaab militants in an ambush of Ethiopian forces, which oppose an Islamic state and have backed the new Somali government.
“If you can encourage more of your children and more of your neighbors, anyone around, to send people like him to this jihad it would be a great asset for us," the so-called “American” says in the video, which was posted on an Islamist web site.

The FBI investigation into how young American men were recruited to join al-Shabaab in Somalia is active in

• Columbus, Ohio;
• Cincinnati, Ohio;
• Boston;
• Seattle;
• San Diego, according to testimony from counterterrorism officials and others at a Senate hearing last month.

But, officials said, there is no intelligence to indicate that Somali-Americans who traveled to Somalia are planning attacks inside the United States.

The source familiar with the FBI investigation would not say publicly if authorities know the whereabouts of the men who returned to the United States, nor would the source say if authorities are pursuing arrests in the case.

But Muslim leaders in the Minneapolis area told FOX News that they believe arrests are coming.

“It will be a big relief for the community once this comes to an end,” Jamal said

The Rest @ Fox News

Statement from Abu Mansoor al-Amriki

What follows is most of a staetment from Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, alegedly a former US Special Forces trainer who went to Bosnia to fight, the fought and trained in Caucases, now Somalia.

He is now a Commander with the Shabaab in Somalia. He recently made a video recruiting American Muslims, and may have been involved in recruiting American Somalia Immigrant Parents to send their children, the Minnesotta Mujahadeen to Somalia, some of which ended up as suicide bombers.

What it reveals

• His believes are classic Sunni Salfist of the Qutbist vareity, cut from the same cloth as Ossamah Ben ladin, who who clearly holds in High Regard.
• His description of the differences between the Islamic Courts Union and the Shabaab is one of a first hand witness, and is therefore useful.
• He demonstrates that the Islamist's objectives will never be comfortable with any National identity for very long. That The Umma belong to the Calipha.
• He, along with other islamist true Mujahadeen, believe their lives have been and will be of the higest service to Allah, a distant and exacting God whom they love.
• He illustrates to western readers an example of the Mujadeens devotion. They will be armed Mujahadeen fighting Jihad whether on the battle field, working in western jobs, until they are in prison or dead. Then, they believe that will have earned paradise, to the best of theri ability.
• This is his life; he will choose no other.

It is saddnes to me that one of such devotion is based on a near-miss of his aim to reconcile with God. He seems destined for experiencing and creating tragedy and destruction, only to find that this his Aqidah is fraud, and that Paradise does not await him.

-Shimron

Abu Mansoor al-Amriki

I saw it very important in these recent days to clarify some facts that might be unknown to many. In specific I am referring to that which relates to the Islaamic Courts and the Shabaab.

It is well-know amongst the practicing Muslims of Somalia that these two groups have a long history and they are not from the new groups that have come on the scene. Rather, the founding officers of the Shabaab go back to the fall of Siad Barre and the first battles with the Americans.

However, more important than establishing their presence from a long time is establishing the large and essential difference between the two groups from the very beginning.

• While the Courts used to judge over each individual tribe, the Shabaab were made up of many different tribes and they used to cooperate with the Muhaajireen from the outside.
• Also, while the Courts had a goal limited to the boundaries placed by the Taaghoot, the Shabaab had a global goal including the establishment of the Islaamic Khilaafah in all parts of the world.

This difference did not go away in the days of victory nor has it gone away even up until today. But rather it has grown larger and clearer to everyone; including the stupid Kuffaar.

As for the days of victory, then it is known that the picture presented to the world was the “moderate” picture of the Courts (as they describe them) and they strived in that period to control the financial sources, the direction of the Jihaad, and the foreign affairs.

Despite these facts even the Kuffaar could see something else behind the scenes.

• They publicized that there is an “extremist” group (according to their description) lurking within the government of the Courts. They were right on about most of this except for mistakenly believing that the leader of this extremist group was Hasan Thaahir Uways.
• Therefore, more deservingly, the Shabaab also knew about this reality and they used to encounter many difficulties because of the policies of the Courts.
• Similar to them were the Muhaahijreen who were welcomed at the airport by the Islaamic Courts with terrible statements like: “We don’t need the Muhaajireen,” and they tried to send them back; if it were not for a few of the Shabaab (like Shaykh Fu’aad and Abu Talhah as-Sudaani) who saved many of these Muhaajireen at the airport and tended to their affairs.
• The situation remained like this until the defeat befell and some of the best of the Shabaab became shuhadaa’.

So due to that, many of these realities became hidden to the new fighters who had witnessed the unity in the early days (which was for the purpose of combining the strength of each group, to avoid fitnah in accordance with (Cooperate upon righteousness and piety and do not cooperate upon sin and transgression)), and in order to judge by what Allaah revealed, as all groups claimed to want)

but they did not witness the hidden reality that was lived by those who preceded them on this path.

Therefore, this matter was in need of clarification, without a doubt, but we did not realize the seriousness of this need until after the conferences in Asmara.

These conferences invoked doubt within us for several reasons:

The first : is that Eritrea has not ceased opposing the Mujaahideen in their land. So how could they want to help the Mujaahideen in the neighboring lands? There is no doubt that they are not looking out for what is in our best interest or what is in the best interests of the Jihaad.

The second : is that Eritrea rooted out the Mujaahideen in their land due to a very despicable trick on behalf of the Sudanese government. Namely, they opened the door of politics in order for them to forget armed resistance which is the true solution to the problems of the Ummah today.

So here we have the members of the Courts in the lands of the Kuffaar, underneath their control, sitting in the road of politics which leads to the loss and defeat they were running from.

The third : is that they chose a nationalistic look for these conferences. The very name of their party indicates that this issue is strictly Somali, leaving no room for interference from foreigners (as they call the Muhaajireen) unless the interference comes from John, or Tom, or George! In that case such interference is allowed!

• So, while they deny the presence of Muhaajireen in Somalia (despite the fact that I was seen on al-Jazeerah in a Somali training camp under the name of the Courts before realizing that the Manhaj had become extremely distorted)
• and while they say that they are not in any need of foreigners, their actions indicate that they ARE in need of the apostates from ‘Abdullaah Yusuf’s parliament and the original Kuffaar of Eritrea. Subhaan Allaah! How have the scales of allegiance and enmity been flipped!

The fourth : is that they tried to steal the efforts of the Shabaab by claiming that they are in control of the direction of the Jihaad and the events taking place on the ground from their hotels.All of these affairs would have lead- if not for the proclamation of innocence from these conferences on behalf of the Shabaab- to many problems:

• The first is a lack of clarity of the issue for the Muslims on the outside (even for those on the inside as we have seen from some of the fighters) who might aid us with self, wealth, or supplication.
• The second is a lack of a clear example to guide the Mujaahideen in the future. We see that despite the fact that the Ikhwaan had a good example in Sayyid Qutub and al-Mawdoodi –who both refused to accept entering into the kaafir governments as a solution- it seems that there is no other solution for the problems of the Ummah, according to those who ascribe themselves to the Ikhwaan today, except for the ballot box!

So how would it have been if their beginning was characterized by their exemplary figure compromising his principles and having an unclear manhaj?

• The third is that this matter will be unclear to the populace after coming to power. If the Shabaab differ with the Courts after obtaining victory, the people will see the Shabaab like the Khawaarij, or Jamaa’ah at-Takfeer, or benefit seekers (similar to how they said that the Courts are just one tribe and they didn’t really want to establish Shari’ah in the days of victory). This will lead to many tribulations and a loss of previous gains.
• The fourth is a lack of ability to control the direction of the Jihaad because the wealth and media is in their hands.

Therefore, due to this huge danger the Shabaab- may Allaah reward them- announced that they are free of these conferences.

• At the same time the Muhaajireen (who came to Somalia after the capture of Mogadishu in stages) also felt the need to do this. In due course the Muhaajireen wrote a word of advice to some of those in charge of the Courts regarding these matters.
• Then, after learning that they will continue upon this dangerous path, the Muhaajireen declared their innocence from the Courts alongside their brothers from the Shabaab.

Here now is their announcement that they are free of the deviant leadership of the Courts before all of the Muslims.

This is in regards to what we have seen of the Courts. As for the Manhaj of the Shabaab then we see that they are focused upon the pure manhaj which is adopted by the Mujaahideen in the rest of the blessed lands of Jihaad.

It is the same manhaj repeatedly heard from the mouth of the mujaahid shaykh Usaamah bin Laden. It is the same manhaj heard in the addresses of the lion, the genius, the doctor Ayman ath-Thawaahiri and the one heard in the advices of the shaheed (in shaa’ Allaah), the hero, Abu Mus’ab az-Zarqaawi .The list of the heroes of this time goes on.

We stress here that we are striving to establish the Islaamic Khilaafah from East to West after removing the occupier and killing the apostates.

We will do this while holding on to the Book and the Sunnah, upon the manhaj of the salaf, with the mus-haf in one hand and the sword in the other, beneath the black banner.

We do not care about the blame of the blamers or the threats of scarce provision and we do not need doubtful finances....

...Here is an important point that must be made. Indeed this point is that it is befitting to cooperate with any group from the Muslims (as long as they are truly Muslims) whether the group is the Courts or otherwise.

This must, of course, be in accordance with the guidelines of the correct manhaj.

Finally, before closing this address of mine I would like to mention that there has not ceased to be sincere people amongst the Islaamic Courts. I see them to be sincere, but Allaah is the One who will truly bring them to account.

Therefore, these words do not mean that all of them want to destroy the religion and betray the Somali Jihaad.

However, sometimes unmindful people require a harsh reminder to wake them from their deep sleep......

Abu Mansoor al-Amriki

The Rest @ Prisoner of Joy