Rep. Keith Ellison wants to bring home the remaining Minneapolis Somalis who left to wage jihad in Somalia. After all, they're just naive youngsters who were tricked into going to Somalia to wage jihad for al Shabaab. 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.[...]What the article fails to mention is that one of the men, Shirwa Ahmed, was a suicide bomber. According to the FBI, he was radicalized at the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center the largest mosque in Minneapolis.
At least four Somali-American men from Minnesota who left to fight in the Horn of Africa have died there in recent months.
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 don't need people who fought for al Shabaab to tell us about the terror group. We at RoA have been warning about al Shabaab ever since we started this blog.
"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."[...]
"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.
at least two men with Minnesota ties were able to escape Al-Shabaab, back in December 2007.Again, the article fails to mention that Isse has pleaded guilty to "[providing] material support and resources, namely personnel, including themselves, knowing and intending that the material support and resources were to be used in preparation for and to carry out a conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons in a foreign country". He trained with al Shabaab and helped build a terror camp.
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.
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."The men are 'radicalized' here in the heartland of the USA. That's why they left to wage jihad in Somalia.
