What Senators Didn’t Hear About Somali-American Jihadists

In December 2007, months before the Somali men began disappearing from Minneapolis, I reported exclusively here at Pajamas Media about a jihadist fundraiser in the Twin Cities area attended by hundreds of local Somalis. The event featured top jihadist organizer Zakaria Mahmoud Haji-Abdi, the deputy chairman of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) and now second in command to Somali “president” Sheikh Sherif Ahmed.
In that instance, homeland security officials failed to prevent Abdi from entering the country and conducting a series of fundraisers here in the U.S., where he encouraged recruitment to the jihad and financial support from the Somali community for their cause. As the story of the missing Somali men began to unfold late last year, I reported that some of those same homeland security officials have now admitted privately that the fundraiser the year before had been the “tipping point” for radicalization in the Minneapolis area. That notwithstanding, another ARS official was recently allowed to enter into the U.S. to conduct even more jihadist fundraisers. (Stay tuned to Pajamas Media for more on that report.)
And it is no big secret what the common denominator is to all of the missing men — all attended the Abubakar as-Siddique Mosque in south Minneapolis, led by extremist imam Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmed, the largest mosque in the area. Seeing as this link between the mosque and the missing men has been the focus of recent articles in the Los Angeles Times and Newsweek, it is hard to believe that this has escaped homeland security’s notice, especially since the mosque’s imam and youth director have been placed on the agency’s “no-fly” list and were prevented from leaving the country back in November.
Some of the families of the missing men have been much more forthright in placing blame — publicly accusing the mosque and its leaders for the disappearance of their kin. And yet there was not a single mention of the mosque or the imam’s connection in either Mudd’s or Liepman’s published testimony. Even more shocking is the revelation from a Fox News article on Tuesday that FBI officials had yet to meet with mosque officials (a meeting was scheduled for this Thursday).
For several years, many leaders in the Somali community have complained about radical elements in their community who actively support terrorism. Included in this group is Abdirahman Warsame, who runs the Terror Free Somalia Foundation and tracks these issues on the group’s website. Last year Mr. Warsame published an article detailing how the taxpayer-financed Voice of America Somali Service was dominated by supporters of al-Shabaab and the Islamic Courts Union.
They have also complained that many of the leaders the U.S. government relies upon for direction and advice are in some cases the same individuals responsible for radicalization. One group that the Department of Homeland Security has turned to in this crisis is the North American Council of Somali Imams, which includes as one of its top leaders none other than Abubakar as-Siddique imam Abdirahman Ahmed.
Another regular complaint made is that government programs and offices supposed to serve the Somali community get involved in clan and inter-tribal politics. Many of these programs, most of which receive public funds, are run by the dominant Hawiye clan, and services intended to help Somalis integrate are frequently denied or deliberately obstructed to those of other clans...more..http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/what-senators-didnt-hear-about-somali-american-jihadists/2/
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