 
An innocent little girl, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, aged only 13yrs was stoned to death in Somalia. None of men she accused of rape were arrested.
 Yassin Mahi Mallin (40) is an information officer and lives in Katrineholm. He has written seven books, including translating Pippi Longstocking into Somali. He wrote the following opinion piece.
We Somalis must fight terrorism.
On Dec. 3rd of this a Danish citizen came into a ceremony for newly graduated doctors in Mogadishu in Somalia. He was disguised as a woman and had his face hidden by a burka. The man was a father to children and established in Danish society, but had radicalized in Copenhagen's suburbs where he lived and took his family to Mogadishu to carry out a feat of hell when he blew himself up he also killed three ministers and young Somalis who fought to become doctors and save lives in their homeland.
I wish I could say that he was an exception. I can't. Somalis in Denmark and Sweden as well as other countries are recruited to fight in Somalia for the Al-Shabaab terrorist group.
In Sweden there lived in the past an imam I knew. He lived many years in a Stockholm suburb and had Swedish citizenship. I knew him as a friendly, football loving man, wise and sensible. He doesn't live in Sweden any more. He's in Somalia and is now one of the top leaders of Al-Shabaab, the Islamist terrorist organization.
On the net there are pictures in which he condemns four alleged thieves to have their hands and feet amputated. He doesn't only advocate Sharia, he and his peers also practice it.
I am a Somali and I live in Sweden, a land to which I am deeply grateful. Here I got a safe haven, protection and security after having to flee the chaos that broke out in Somalia almost 20 years ago.
When I look at my homeland and at my compatriots in Sweden and in other parts of the Western world, I mourn. I mourn my people, a peaceful people, a proud and hardworking people. I mourn when I see how extremism is growing among some compatriots.
We were always Muslims, but not extremists, I can't understand how it took hold among my people. My mother never wore a burka, our women were never draped in Arabic fabrics. We were and should be Muslims in our own way, not like in Afghanistan.
We Somalis, as a group, have had trouble settling here in Sweden. You have to admit that. Unemployment is high and therefore exclusion. Despair over the collapse of our country, cultural difference and the inability of the Swedish state to deal with us Somalis are some explanations.
It's as if we shut ourselves within ourselves and seek solace in a type of Islam that is really foreign to us. We have become passive, we have given up. Though the great struggles for both integration in Sweden and peace in Somalia are before us.
It's unbearable to see how my people, far too many, import the clan-thinking to Sweden and other Western countries. It's unbearable to see how Islamist extremist groups can do their work undisturbed in democratic countries such as Sweden and Denmark.
We in the moderate group of exiled Somalis, who want to create a western democracy of our homeland, are certainly many. But if I'll be self-critical, maybe we haven't organized ourselves as well as the extremists. Neither do we get the support of the Swedish state as we could have expected. Why does the Swedish government adapt, for example, to clan thinking? When they call in people for discussions, you get representative Somalis from each clan. But it's the clan thinking that has caused all the conflicts to begin with and which forced us into exile.
Somalis act by peer pressures. Often based on fear. But when that terrible Dec. 3rd happened it was as if the people in Somalia had enough. People went out on to streets and protested against the act. People didn't dare do this in the past. But now people knew that it was enough. I hope and believe that the Somalis in Sweden realize the same thing - that it's now enough.
What we Somalis need is education; education in democracy and human rights, education on how people rebuild a country that now lacks all forms of government. We've had enough of terrorism and isolation.
We can no longer sit in our clan-based Somali organizations with activities such as .. you know? .. in any case they don't aim to open up for integration or to create democratically trained members.
At the same time we also need the help of Sweden. Without supports our people will go under.
Source: Expressen (Swedish)
See also:
* Denmark: Somali suicide bomber came from Denmark
* Denmark: Somali community shocked
* Stockholm: Al-Shabab recruited at youth center (UPDATE: Hate preacher too)
* Sweden: Increased interest in fighting in conflict areas With thanks to Islam in Europe
 As the United States turns its attention to security threats abroad, the disturbing trend of extremism in America’s Somali communities is a reminder that there are also real and present dangers at home. A growing body of evidence suggests that Somali communities in the Unites States have become fertile ground for terrorist groups to recruit and implant operatives. On November 23, the federal government announced eight more indictments of Somali-Americans in Minnesota on charges of recruiting members of their community to join the al-Shabaab terrorist organization in Somalia. This brings to 14 the number of Somalis from Minnesota who have been indicted for helping the Al-Qaeda-linked group. Of the eight indicted, only one has been arrested; the rest are currently outside of the United States.
Four of those previously arrested have pled guilty and two have been released while they wait to be tried. The government believes that about 20 Somali-Americans have left the state to join al-Shabaab’s jihad in Somalia, at least three of whom have died since departing. One, Shirwa Ahmed, died when he became the first American suicide bomber. Several of those indicted attended the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in St. Paul, as did many of those who were recruited.
The mosque released a statement in March saying that “Abubakar Center didn’t recruit, finance, or otherwise facilitate in any way, shape, or form the travel of those youth.” Somali gangs are also becoming an issue in Minnesota. Shukri Adan, a former Somali community organizer, said in 2007 that there 400-500 members of his community were involved in gangs. More at FPM 
 From CAN: Up to five Somalis living in Canada disappeared earlier this month and the authorities are investigating whether they have joined the ranks of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, The National Post reports.
The individuals are believed to have flown together to Kenya, which borders the East African country currently suffering from a civil war.
“As you know, we have one of the largest Somali diaspora communities in the Western world,” the newspaper report quoted William Elliott, the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police, as saying during an October 30 presentation. “The potential follow-on threat, from a Canadian and RCMP [Royal Canadian Mountain Police] perspective, is Somali-Canadians who travel to Somalia to fight and then return, imbued with both extremist ideology and the skills necessary to translate it into direct action.” The National Post reports that if the group has indeed joined the terrorist forces in Somalia, they wouldn’t be the first Canadians to do so.
A businessman in Toronto was killed in 2008 fighting Ethiopian troops that had intervened in the conflict, and a “handful” of others had also joined the fight. Somali-Americans have also gone to Somalia to join al-Shabaab, at least two of which have since died in the conflict, including one who became the first American suicide bomber.
Press reports indicate that as many as 20 Somali-Americans have disappeared in the Minneapolis area and are believed to have gone to Somalia. World Threats
 Federal counterterrorism officials investigating the recruitment of ethnic Somalis in the U.S. for jihad in Somalia say the case echoes the type of homegrown radicalization that threatens parts of Europe. The U.S. announced charges against eight men this week, and agents allege three of them helped persuade men to join an extremist group. The recruiting network enlisted about 20 young men, many of them born in the U.S. and having little knowledge of Somalia, to join the al-Shabaab insurgent group in Somalia. The network's apparent success is influencing the way government counterterrorism officials view the threat of radicalization in the U.S. Ralph Boelter, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Minneapolis office, said the notion of domestic radicalization "is a moving target. It's evolving. These young men traveled without consulting their families. Now it's happened; now we should all be on guard." Patrick Rowan, who was chief of the Justice Department's national-security division when the Somali probe began, said: "If there was ever a subconscious belief in the counterterrorism community that our society is different from Europe and therefore we don't have to worry about problems like they've had, the activities in Minneapolis demonstrate we can't think that way." The cases come amid a flurry of terror investigations in which radicalization may have played a role. In September, federal prosecutors charged an Afghan national in what authorities believe was the most advanced al Qaeda plot to bomb targets in the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Authorities are also investigating whether radicalization was involved in the case of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. The Somali cases are different because the motivation of the Somalis was to fight for their homeland. Still, investigators fear that once indoctrinated abroad, such youths could turn their attention to the U.S. More at WSJ
 In the early morning of October 19, a fire ravaged through the property surrounding Masjid Salama, a growing Columbus, Ohio, mosque frequented primarily by members of the local Somali community.
Several Somali-owned businesses surrounding the mosque were heavily damaged, but the mosque itself was not touched. However, because of the surrounding damage, the mosque itself has not been cleared for reopening. As reported by the Columbus Dispatch, fire investigators immediately determined that arson was to blame for the blaze. But rather than blaming the arson on unknown anti-Muslim individuals engaged in a religious hate crime, many inside the Columbus Somali community are fixing their suspicions on leaders of another local Somali mosque, Masjid Ibn Taymiya.
This mosque is dominated by supporters of the al-Shabaab terrorist group, and members have made repeated attempts to take over the rapidly growing Salama congregation through an unsuccessful campaign of legal and physical intimidation. Following the blaze, I met with two leaders of Masjid Salama, who described the ongoing efforts by the leaders of Ibn Taymiya to take over their burgeoning year-and-a-half-old congregation. On November 12, the Salama leaders had to obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent the bulldozing of their rented facility by a leader of the Ibn Taymiya mosque, Mohamed Hassan, who, they say, is the ringleader of the campaign. “The first thing Hassan did was to obtain the lease rights to the property we rented, and then use his contacts in City Hall to try to illegally evict us,” one of the Salama leaders said. In fact, Hassan took the Salama mosque to court earlier this month, only two weeks after the arson at the mosque property, claiming that they had not paid rent — a claim that was soundly rejected by the judge when the Salama leaders provided canceled copies of the rent checks for the past year. Hassan had also rejected checks for the past three months rent. But Hassan’s harassment campaign began earlier this year when he obtained trespassing orders from the Columbus prosecutor’s office. According to the Salama leaders, Hassan hoped to force them from the mosque property, change the locks overnight, and reopen the mosque the following day with a new imam appointed by Ibn Taymiya. That plan failed when it was pointed out that the mosque property wasn’t even in the Columbus prosecutor’s jurisdiction, making the orders invalid. The Salama leaders said that Hassan then sent a team of “mediators,” who proposed that the entire Salama board resign, but the current imam would be retained and the “mediators” would appoint a new board. Needless to say, the Salama leaders rejected the proposal out of hand: These people have nothing to do with our mosque. Who are they to demand mediation for anything? And all the proposals these mediators proposed would get rid of our board and finish the takeover of our mosque. This new board they would appoint would get rid of our imam as soon as they were in place. Why would we ever agree? Not long after came the fire that has closed Salama ever since and the unsuccessful judicial hearing on the bogus claims that the mosque had not paid its rent. More at Pajamas Media H/T: Creeping Sharia
 Movies and television? No way. Executions? Bring the whole family -- or else! "Somalis 'made to view executions'," by Mary Harper for BBC News, October 25: Hundreds of people in Somalia have been forced to watch Islamist militants executing two people accused of spying. People in Merca said al-Shabaab militia patrolled the town with loudspeakers, demanding they attend the executions. The militants also ordered schools to close for the day as they were keen for children to watch the two men being shot dead by a firing squad. Most of those at the execution, on a patch of open ground, are reported to have been women and children. It is becoming something of a pattern for al-Shabaab to encourage young people to engage in violence. It recently organised a quiz for young men in the southern town of Kismayo. The prizes included AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and anti-tank mines. The aim, said al-Shabaab, was to stop young men from wasting time, and to focus on important things like defending their territory and their religion. Priorities: As the Ayatollah Khomeini said, "There is no fun in Islam." At the prize-giving ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of people, the militants urged parents to teach their children to handle weapons at an early age. Somali children's rights groups say al-Shabaab is intent on brainwashing the young to believe in violent Islamism. In this way, it can ensure it has a steady supply of recruits, ready to fight for its aim of establishing extreme Islamist rule, not only in Somalia but far beyond its borders.
 "U.S. intelligence officials have been following the case out of concern that the Somalis leaving Minneapolis are being funneled to al-Shabab through what might be America's first jihadi pipeline." More on this story. Of additional concern is what these jihadists may do if they make it back from Somalia. "FBI Makes Another Arrest In Missing Somalis Case," by Dina Temple-Raston for NPR, October 10: The FBI has made another arrest in its yearlong investigation into a rash of disappearances from the Somali community in Minnesota. A 26-year-old medical technician from St. Paul was arrested on Friday and charged with making false statements to FBI officials. His arrest had been under seal until Tuesday, when he appeared in a St. Paul federal court. An FBI spokesman said that Abdow Abdow's arrest was related to the ongoing investigation into the two dozen Somali youths who have left the United States and traveled to Somalia to join a militia there called al-Shabab. The criminal complaint against Abdow says he lied about driving a handful of Somali-Americans from Minneapolis across the country on Oct. 6. One of the young men in the car had his passport and $4,000 in cash. Two other young men who were passengers in Abdow's car tried to leave the United States through Mexico two days later. When Abdow was asked about his fellow travelers, he denied they were in the car, the FBI says. When interviewed at work, Abdow allegedly told the FBI, "I'm talking too much." Then, when he finally admitted having a handful of passengers in his car, he added, "Whatever those guys are into, I'm not." The FBI would not say whether the men in the car were among those under investigation or whether they intended to travel to Somalia. U.S. intelligence officials have been following the case out of concern that the Somalis leaving Minneapolis are being funneled to al-Shabab through what might be America's first jihadi pipeline.
Think of the potential pipeline as an underground railroad for jihadists -- an intricate but informal network of militants who help their brothers in arms not only travel to terrorist training camps but also return home.
The return trip to America is what worries U.S. intelligence. They envision a raft of young men training for jihad and slipping back into the U.S. to launch an attack. Al-Shabab, a militia group with links to al-Qaida, is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.
For almost two years, it has been recruiting young Somali men from cities such as Minneapolis, Cleveland, Boston and San Diego, putting them on the front lines of Somalia's civil war. One of those recruits, a young Minneapolis man named Shirwa Ahmed, blew himself up in a suicide bombing last October. Two of the men who were traveling with Abdow earlier this month stopped at the U.S. border not far from San Diego. One agent says this has been one of the biggest domestic terrorism investigations in this country since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. So far, five of the young Minnesotans who have traveled to Somalia and joined al-Shabab have been killed in the fighting there.
His comments come five days after five men were charged in Victoria over their alleged links to the a terrorist plot and the radical fundamentalist group. The men, of Somali and Lebanese descent, had planned a suicide shoot-out at Sydney's Holsworthy military base. "In view of the events that happened in Melbourne this week, we would be most surprised were al-Shabaab not to be listed," Senator Brandis told Sky News. Al-Shabaab is not listed as a terrorist group in Australia but has been listed in the United States since February 2008. When asked if proscribing al-Shabbab as a terror group would send them underground, Senator Brandis said the group was a covert operation picked up by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). "So, I don't think driving them underground is really the issue." Senator Brandis said the opposition would await the details of national security assessments, but he accused Attorney-General Robert McClelland of "dragging his feet" on counter terrorism policy. Mr McClelland on Saturday said the Federal Government would consider changing the regime that governs whether or not radical groups are listed as terrorist organisations. He said the Government was considering a review of the proscription process, making more transparent the criteria applied when identifying a terrorist group. "In the next couple of weeks it is anticipated we will be issuing a discussion paper on the proscription regime and specifically identifying the informal criteria that are applied by the security agencies," he told ABC radio.
 The arrests come after a seven-month counter-terrorism operation. Five men being questioned over an alleged terrorist conspiracy had sought a religious ruling to authorise an attack in Australia, a court has heard. Their arrests come after a seven-month counter-terrorism operation and police raids across Melbourne this morning. It is alleged five men were planning to carry out an armed attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney. The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard some of them discussed obtaining a religious ruling from overseas or interstate in support of their alleged plans. One of the suspects, Nayef El Sayed, 25, of Glenroy, has been charged with a terrorism-related offence. During his brief court appearance he sat behind a window and refused to stand to acknowledge the magistrate because, as his lawyer explained, his religious beliefs meant he felt he should only stand for God and not a man. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to face court again in October. Federal Police also won an application to further question three other suspects who appeared in court today but have not been charged. Victorian Magistrate Peter Reardon acts of terrorism in Madrid, Mumbai and London have struck at the heart of democratic society and investigators should be allowed to fully investigate such serious allegations. A fifth suspect is in custody on other matters. Raids About 400 law enforcement officers took part in the series of raids that led to today's arrests. The 19 raids took place across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Australian Federal Police Acting Chief Commissioner Tony Negus says the operation was the result of seven months' work by several agencies. He says more arrests are possible. "There are further inquiries being conducted both in Australia and overseas," he said. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will not be increasing its terror alert level. "Our assessment of the terrorist threat in Australia is that it comes from a small number of individuals who should in no way be taken as a wider reflection of any group within Australian society," he said. But he says today's events are a strong reminder of the security threats facing the nation. "The threat of terrorism is alive and well and this requires continued vigilance," he said. Call for calm Some of those arrested have a Somalian background and Islamic groups are urging people not to seek retaliation against Melbourne's African community. Shereen Hassan, the vice-president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, says Muslims have been shocked by the raids and are calling for calm amid fears of a backlash. "But we have faith that the overwhelming majority of Australians will not react in this way and remain calm," she said. "[We] urge the wider community and the media to respect the privacy of the families concerned. "The overwhelming majority of Australian Muslims unequivocally condemn all forms of terrorism." Mohamed Baaruud from the Somalia Advocacy Action Group says the community cannot believe some Somali Australians have been implicated. "We are all shocked," he said. "This is the last thing we were expecting. "Our community came to Australia about 17 years ago when the civil war started in Somalia and it took us a long time to recover from the trauma that we have experienced in our country of origin and start a new life here in Australia." Doctor Jamal Rifi from the Lebanese Muslim Association says the authorities are to be congratulated for preventing the alleged attack. "We'll do our best for anyone who will have any information to actually contact the relevant authority and to work cooperatively to uncover any or similar events that may take place," he said. New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says authorities feared the group was planning to carry out its attack in the near future. "It was likely imminent and that was part of the reason behind moving as we have," he said. Security NSW Premier Nathan Rees says he is satisfied the security at Sydney's Holsworthy Barracks is adequate. Mr Scipione says security at the barracks was stepped up earlier this year, shortly after police became aware of the alleged plot. Private guards are in charge of perimeter security at Holsworthy and other army bases. Mr Rees says he has no problems with the arrangements in place at the state's military facilities. "I have every confidence that the Australian Defence Force is more than adequately capable of looking after their assets, their bases and so on," he said. Newspaper investigated Meanwhile, Victoria Police is also investigating The Australian newspaper for publishing details of the raids about the time they were occurring. Police claim the story was available before some of the arrests took place and could have compromised the operation. But The Australian says the story only ran in its late edition which was not available until after the raids. It says its online publishing schedule was altered to ensure the story was not made public until the raids had occurred. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland says he will investigate the timing of the story. 'Matter of time' In other developments, a Somali community leader and Islamic scholar says he warned the Federal Government two years ago that a terrorist incident could occur in Australia. Dr Herse Hilole, now a resident academic at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur, told The World Today that he has expected such activities. "My suspicion was that young Somali Muslims could be or may be used in the future to carry out some terrorist activities in Australia," he said. He criticised the Federal Government's response to his warning. "The response at the beginning was good, but the current government of Australia ... [it] seems that they did not take this seriously," he said. "I proposed last year a project to help this situation, but my project was rejected by the Government." Source: ABC Online
Terrorist raids are reported this morning in Melbourne, involving allegations of planned suicide attacks on army installations. Yes, allegedly followers of that faith. UPDATE Hundreds of police are said to be involved. UPDATE 2 Cameron Stewart: Federal and state police, armed with search warrants, swooped on members of the suspected terror cell this morning, as they seek to arrest Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese background in what will be the second-largest counter-terrorism operation in the nation’s history. The men are expected to be charged with a range of terrorism-related offences. Authorities believe the group is at an advanced stage of preparing to storm an Australian Army base, using automatic weapons, as punishment for Australia’s military involvement in Muslim countries. It is understood the men plan to kill as many soldiers as possible before they are themselves killed. Members of the group have been observed carrying out surveillance… Search warrants for at least 19 properties across Melbourne have been prepared to allow authorities to obtain more evidence against the group, which is believed to number about 18, with a smaller, hardcore element. The suspects include Australians of Somali and Lebanese decent, most of whom are labourers employed in Melbourne’s construction industry, or taxi drivers. It is understood that several members of the group also wanted to travel to Somalia to fight with al-Shabaab, but when travel became difficult, they turned their attention to carrying out a terrorist attack in Australia.
UPDATE 3 More on al-Shabaab: In the summer of 2007, a 28-year-old father of three from Houston, Texas, shocked his country when he became the first American ever to be convicted of receiving military training at a terrorist camp in Somalia. Daniel Maldonado, an offbeat, outspoken young man who sported tattoos and dreadlocks, committed himself to wage jihad outside the United States and went to Somalia to receive training… Maldonado’s training in jihad came from Shabaab al Mujahideen, a group the State Department on Feb. 29, 2008, designated as a highly dangerous foreign terrorist organization. Shabaab al Mujahideen, which espouses radical Islamic rule and has close ties to Al Qaeda, is best known for operating training camps for people seeking a more extreme form of Jihad. It also has been forging relations with Somali pirates who have recently been intercepting and holding for ransom several international shipping vessels. UPDATE 4 Indeed, the senior leadership of Shabaab al-Mujahideen—including Shaykh Mukhtar Abu az-Zubair, Abu Mansour Mukhtar Robow, and others—have all clearly and publicly endorsed the idea of foreign fighters “migrating” to Somalia in order to seek specialized terrorist training and battlefield experience fighting the “crusaders.” ... Support for the recruitment and training of foreign fighters has reached all the way up through the ranks of Shabaab, to the emir of the organization, Shaykh Mukhtar Abu az-Zubair. In an audio recording released on June 1, 2008, Shaykh Mukhtar boasted of how “the Muslim people of Somalia have merged with the most elite fighters from the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement… Allah willing, international jihadi units will be launched from the Land of the Two Migrations [the Horn of Africa] to haunt and destroy the infidels and their interests around the world… We are an integral part of the vanguard of the global jihad.” UPDATE 5 From December: Dozens of young Somali men in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have disappeared in recent months, causing community members and U.S. intelligence officials to fear that they are joining jihadist groups in Somalia… A senior American intelligence source confirms that Somalis have vanished in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, adding that some people from the Caribbean also appear to have left for Somalia. And not all of the people bound for training or jihad in Somalia have a Somali background, the source said. UPDATE 6 Victoria Police: Several people are in custody and a number are assisting with inquiries as a result of a joint counter-terrorism operation in Melbourne this morning involving the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Victoria Police, NSW Police, the NSW Crime Commission and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Police executed 19 search warrants across Melbourne at around 4.30 this morning. Warrants were executed on homes in Glenroy, Carlton, Meadow Heights, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Westmeadows, Preston, Epping and Colac. Today’s operation involved approximately 400 officers from the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and NSW Police. Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia. UPDATE 7 From December 2007: FEDERAL police are investigating local Muslim leaders over suspicions they are encouraging dozens of young men to return to their homeland to join Islamic jihadis against the Ethiopian-backed Somali forces… It is understood that the investigation has widened following revelations in The Australian that a Somali from Melbourne, Ahmed Ali, who travelled to Somalia in December to fight alongside the Islamic Courts movement, was believed to be working as an interpreter with al-Qa’ida. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reported in January that Mr Ali had been killed in the fighting… Somali community figures said Mr Ali was one of 30 or 40 Australian Somalis who have returned to fight since last December… The Australian revealed in October that Mr Ali had been radicalised by Melbourne-based hardline clerics. His mother accused Mohammed Omran - the head of the fundamentalist Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jammah association who describes Osama bin Laden as a “good man” - of turning Mr Ali into a hardliner… Mr Ali was working as an imam at Eight Black, a prayer hall mainly attended by Somalis in north Melbourne, before he travelled overseas last year. UPDATE 8 From 2007: YOUNG Somali refugees in Melbourne are being seduced by Muslim extremists, a Somali community leader has warned. Herse Hilole, a Sydney community leader and Islamic scholar, fears the recruits could be used in terrorism attacks in Australia. He said some Somalis were being influenced by radical Lebanese from a hardline Wahhabi group… He told The Age extremists from Somalia visited last year to gather money and support and that one of their most important allies was the Somali mosque in North Melbourne. Leaders at the mosque declined to speak to The Age but worshippers say the mosque, in Racecourse Road, is a community centre… Other Melbourne Somali leaders denied that Australian Somalis were engaged in jihad, in Somalia or Australia… Somali Council of Australia president Salaad Ali Ibrahim said the claims were misleading. Mr Ibrahim said most Australian Somalis — more than 10,000 — lived in Melbourne. There was no danger from them, he said… Dr Hilole told The Age that Muslim extremists fell into two groups in Australia: those promoting political Islam, such as Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilali, and those who supported jihad, such as Salafis (ultra-conservatives), who controlled some mosques and schools. He said Somalis who supported the Islamic Courts movement, and there were many, did not want to integrate with Australian society. UPDATE 9 Kuwait Times, last month: Somalia’s hardline Islamist rebels beheaded seven people yesterday for being ‘Christians’ and ‘spies’ in the latest imposition of strict sharia, Islamic law, by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab group, witnesses said. UPDATE 10 From last month: The mother and a friend of an Australian man held hostage in Somalia for almost a year have confronted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to express their frustration over his plight. Bundaberg photojournalist Nigel Brennan was kidnapped in Somalia along with a Canadian journalist 11 months ago. UPDATE 11 A reminder, too, how you were once misled:
CHRISTINE Nixon yesterday confirmed it. She did mislead us on crime rates of African refugees. It’s actually four times worse than she’d claimed. .. Just before last year’s federal election, (the then Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police) embarrassed the Howard government’s immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, by contradicting his warnings that the crime rates among Somali and Sudanese refugees were high. Not so, said Nixon: “Those Sudanese refugees are actually under-represented in the crime statistics.” She was silent on the crime rate among Somalis, but repeated: “The young Sudanese who actually come into custody or dealt with us, only really make up about 1 per cent of the people we deal with . . . (W)hat we’re actually seeing is that they’re not, in a sense, represented more than the proportion of them in the population.” Source: Andrew Bolt
 A PLOT by Islamic extremists in Melbourne to launch a suicide attack on an Australian Army base has been uncovered by national security agencies. Federal and state police, armed with search warrants, swooped on members of the suspected terror cell this morning, as they seek to arrest Australian nationals of Somali and Lebanese background in what will be the second-largest counter-terrorism operation in the nation's history.
About 400 police raided homes in the northern Melbourne suburbs of Glenroy, Meadow Heights, Roxburgh Park, Broadmeadows, Westmeadows, Preston and Epping. They also raided homes at Carlton in inner Melbourne and Colac in southwestern Victoria.
"Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia,'' a joint police statement said. The men are expected to be charged with a range of terrorism-related offences.
Authorities believe the group is at an advanced stage of preparing to storm an Australian Army base, using automatic weapons, as punishment for Australia's military involvement in Muslim countries. It is understood the men plan to kill as many soldiers as possible before they are themselves killed.
Members of the group have been observed carrying out surveillance of Holsworthy Barracks in western Sydney and other suspicious activity around defence bases in Victoria.
Electronic surveillance on the suspects is believed to have picked up discussions about ways to obtain weapons to carry out what would be the worst terror attack on Australian soil.
The cell has been inspired by the Somalia-based terrorist movement al-Shabaab, with two Melbourne men, both Somalis, having travelled to Somalia in recent months to obtain training with the extremist organisation, which is aligned with al-Qa'ida. Read more... Source: The Australian
By Steven Emerson | July 28
Seven House Democrats have written Attorney General Eric Holder invoking a list of grievances from radical Islamist groups and asking that Holder meet with representatives from those groups to hear their concerns, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned.The grievances include the use of convicted felons as informants in mosques, alleged religious profiling of Somali Muslims in Minnesota and elsewhere and allegations that the FBI is working with foreign governments to question American citizens who are terror suspects. In the letter, the representatives said: "These concerns raise legitimate questions about due process, justice, and equal treatment under the law. We hope you will meet with American Muslim leaders to ensure that core American values are respected for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or faith. For your convenience, we have attached a contact list of American Muslim leaders." These issues have been pushed by radical Islamist groups for months. The letter's close tracking of the interest groups' positions indicates that their officials dictated its terms for the members of Congress to sign. In fact, the nine entities all are listed in exactly the same sequence in this release from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The April 2009 release also cites two of the same issues as in the letter to Holder. The letter was signed by California representatives Loretta Sanchez, Adam Schiff, Mike Honda and Lois Capps, along with Ohio representatives Mary Jo Kilroy and Dennis Kucinich. Northern Virginia Congressman James Moran joined the group. Moran serves on the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee on defense. Schiff and Honda serve on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Kilroy sits on the House Homeland Security Committee. Schiff also serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Many of the groups listed for Holder to meet have radical histories and agendas. For example, the Islamic Circle of North America adheres to similar ideology as the Jamaat-i-Islami, which calls for Islamic revolution and creating an Islamist state in Pakistan. In the U.S., ICNA aggressively proselytizes among non-Muslims. The Muslim Public Affairs Council argues that Hizballah should not be a designated terrorist organization. Three other groups listed for contact have direct roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, an international movement based in Egypt which seeks the creation of a global Islamic state, or Caliphate. Those groups include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, which is run by a convicted felon and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Prosecutors included CAIR on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and development, considered the nation's largest terrorism-finance case. FBI case Agent Lara Burns labeled CAIR a front group for Hamas during sworn testimony last fall. Read More here,,,Source: Steven Emerson Loretta Sanchez
Adam Schiff
Mike Honda
Lois Capps
Mary Jo Kilroy
Dennis Kucinich
James Moran
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