With more and more information coming out regarding the five American men who were arrested in Pakistan for terror-related activity, an all too familiar scenario is emerging as to where they apparently adopted some of their jihadi dreams. From the article at Gather:
Now, I want to compare that statement from the mosque "coordinator" in Virginia with a statement made by a man whose nephew was involved in a mosque in Minneapolis where a number of young men had left to join al Qaeda-linked forces in Somalia. This is from ABC News:
What we see in all of this is not only the common thread of mosques producing jihadists for world and national terror, but we also see a significant amount of coverup being done by the leadership of these American mosques. You saw the statement from the uncle of the young man that went to Somalia and turned himself into a human bomb. Well, let's look at these statements from the two key mosques in Minneapolis-St. Paul, from officials who at first attention to all of this had nothing but denials....from the report at the LA Times:
Oh no, nothing to see here, right? What mosque officials in America have been trying to do is to blame the recruitment on "certain individuals" that have brainwashed their young men. However, they don't seem to have any answers as to how these individuals got into the mosques, how they were able to interact with the young men, etc. I'm sorry but this is a bit like a guy running an illegal poker game in his basement blaming gambling arrests on someone that came into his house selling stolen lottery tickets.
The other "spin" that the mosque officials have been using is this claim that these young men were just normal, run-of-the-mill boys that fell into the hands of some evil conspirators. Hmmm....well, I'd make the claim that if you create an air in that mosque that glorifies jihad, if you create an atmosphere that showcases the heroism of martyrdom, then you are just as damn guilty in the process. And the fact of the matter is this - millions of young American men are exposed to ideas in their late teens and early twenties and yet, they DO NOT ACT ON THEM. To treat these jihadis like 5 year olds who were told to go steal some cookies out of a cookie jar is ridiculous.
If you preach hate, you get hate. If you condone bloodshed, you get bloodshed. If you glorify jihad, you get...jihad.
The five young American men who were arrested in Pakistan and had links to the Taliban participated in a youth program at a community mosque in suburban Virginia and were well-liked in their community, CNN reported.
"I have always known these kids as fun-loving, career-focused children that had a bright future for themselves," said Mustafa Abu Maryam, youth coordinator at the I.C.N.A. Center, an affiliate of the the Islamic Circle of North America, in Alexandria, Virginia. "As far as I know they were wholesome kids. Very goofy. You know, talked about girls. Very wholesome."
Now, I want to compare that statement from the mosque "coordinator" in Virginia with a statement made by a man whose nephew was involved in a mosque in Minneapolis where a number of young men had left to join al Qaeda-linked forces in Somalia. This is from ABC News:
Osman Ahmed, whose nephew Burhan Hassan left for Somalia in November 2008, said employees at two mosques in the Minneapolis area may have been behind the cases of some young men going to fight in Somalia.
"The management of those two mosques have a influence to the community," Ahmed told the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today. "And that's what we believe, after 2006, started recruiting the kids and also spreading their ideology of extremists."
What we see in all of this is not only the common thread of mosques producing jihadists for world and national terror, but we also see a significant amount of coverup being done by the leadership of these American mosques. You saw the statement from the uncle of the young man that went to Somalia and turned himself into a human bomb. Well, let's look at these statements from the two key mosques in Minneapolis-St. Paul, from officials who at first attention to all of this had nothing but denials....from the report at the LA Times:
The imam, Abdirahman Ahmed, did not respond to interview requests. In a posting on its website, the mosque said it "unequivocally condemns" suicide bombings and other terrorist acts. It blamed the travel ban on "false, unsubstantiated rumors."
The leader of another mosque under scrutiny, the Darul Da'wah center in St. Paul, Minn., denied rumors in the Somali community that the alleged suicide bomber and several other missing men were among his followers.
"Nobody who is part of my mosque left for Somalia except one man who went for his health," the imam, Hassan A. Mohamud, insisted in an interview last week. "He left for depression, stress that he was feeling, and he will be back in three months."
Oh no, nothing to see here, right? What mosque officials in America have been trying to do is to blame the recruitment on "certain individuals" that have brainwashed their young men. However, they don't seem to have any answers as to how these individuals got into the mosques, how they were able to interact with the young men, etc. I'm sorry but this is a bit like a guy running an illegal poker game in his basement blaming gambling arrests on someone that came into his house selling stolen lottery tickets.
The other "spin" that the mosque officials have been using is this claim that these young men were just normal, run-of-the-mill boys that fell into the hands of some evil conspirators. Hmmm....well, I'd make the claim that if you create an air in that mosque that glorifies jihad, if you create an atmosphere that showcases the heroism of martyrdom, then you are just as damn guilty in the process. And the fact of the matter is this - millions of young American men are exposed to ideas in their late teens and early twenties and yet, they DO NOT ACT ON THEM. To treat these jihadis like 5 year olds who were told to go steal some cookies out of a cookie jar is ridiculous.
If you preach hate, you get hate. If you condone bloodshed, you get bloodshed. If you glorify jihad, you get...jihad.
Somali Americans Suspect Minneapolis Mosques in Recruiting Youth
Somali-Americans told lawmakers on Capitol Hill today that they were not aware of any current recruiting in the United States of young Somali men to engage in fighting overseas and said they suspected some employees at a mosque in Minneapolis had been behind just such a scheme.
Osman Ahmed, whose nephew Burhan Hassan left for Somalia in November 2008, said employees at two mosques in the Minneapolis area may have been behind the cases of some young men going to fight in Somalia.
"The management of those two mosques have a influence to the community," Ahmed told the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs today. "And that's what we believe, after 2006, started recruiting the kids and also spreading their ideology of extremists."
At a hearing today in Washington, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., called the ongoing investigation the "most serious instance of homegrown terrorism in the United States."
ABC News has confirmed that federal investigators have recently issued grand jury subpoenas in the case.
The cases of young Somali-Americans going back to Somalia to fight with the designated terrorist group Al-Shabab have received increased attention from the FBI and DHS officials in the past few months. The trend gained attention after Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen, killed himself in an Oct. 28, 2008 suicide bombing.
"We believe he was recruited here in the United States and that others may have been radicalized," FBI Director Robert Mueller said last month.
Today, Abdirahman Mukhtar, who attended school with Shirwa Ahmed, said he was not aware of any active recruiting in the Somali community and told the committee, "I don't know how he ended up in that situation."
"When learning about Shirwa role as a suicide bomber, people were shocked and angry, because it goes against the Somali culture and it is also inherently anti-Islamic," Mukhtar said.
According to law enforcement and U.S. intelligence officials, as many as 20 young Somali men have traveled from the U.S. to Somalia, causing concern both among security officials and members of Somali communities.
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