Feds Order Al Qaeda in Somalia (Al-Shabaab) Website Closed

Good things come to those who are persistent and wait patiently.
The Mujahideen "al-Shabaab" Youth Movement is a Somali based group of al-Qaeda linked terrorists. They are closely associated with the African Courts Union, who we often like to call the African Taliban, but are even more radical. Their US based website has been closed by government order. The group was declared an officially designated terrorist entity back in March of 08. Complaints have been sent to their Host, Dotster, for quite some time. We started complaining to Dotster about this site in February after it was resurrected from an earlier take down by the Jawas. Dotster repeatedly refused to remove the site without a Government Order. Citing the free speech rights of these terrorists even after they were declared an officially designated terrorist entity by the U.S. State Department. Dotster also questioned the validity of the site, asking us to prove the site belonged to al-Shabbab despite all the evidence that is/was their official website. Well, the creaky old wheels of government have finally turned! After 8 months and no telling how many "suddenly missing" members of the US Somali community showing up for Jihad in Somalia the government, most likely the FBI or the Dept of Commerce's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), has at last given the order to shut the site. A quick look at the whois for kataaib.net shows http://kataaib.net/ = [ ] Domain pending cancelation per government orderWell, better late than never.... Eventually. Hat Tip: Kyros at Report on Arrakis. The last big announcement on the website was that after the Ethiopian withdrawal al-Shabbab began rounding up and eliminating those who had worked with the provisional government, the African Union and the UN. So hopefully this will somewhat disrupt their outgoing communications and recruiting. But don't get get too excited, as the closing of the site did not stop al-Shabbab from murdering 15 people today. Cross posted from Howie's Moisture Farm. Always over three times as moist as your ordinary crappy blog! UPDATE by Rusty: An interesting sidenote to this is that the Abu Shabaab blog was taken down the same day last month, thanks to Howie. The owner of that site vehemently claims that he is not a member of the Shabaab, but that his website exists only to translate Shabaab statements. I've communicated with him through email in the past. The timing of his website going bye-bye suggests there is more than a passing friendly relationship between the blogger and the group's official U.S. hosted website. There has been some discussion & speculation among the Jawas as to what triggered the order for the website to be shut down. Here's where we need some help: have there been any reports of Somalis being arrested in the past week in the U.S. or Europe? Go ahead and e-mail tips to mypetjawa(at)gmail.com Updated again by Howie: Despite the closing of the two websites, Youtube is still hosting these related youtube accounts. http://www.youtube.com/user/Shabaab0AlmujahideenLast sign in, two days ago....http://www.youtube.com/user/hayraanLast sign in two months ago.
Another Update by Rusty: 15 Americans arrested in Somalia. Four in one roundup, and eleven more in another. So, was the sting related to the closure of the website?http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/cat_counterterrorism.php

Al Shabaab's Kataaib.net site pwned!