Somalia: A New al Qaeda Safe Haven?

This image, taken from an al Shabaab training video,
shows a recruit with a rocket launcher.

The impoverished, lawless country of Somalia is in danger of becoming the newest safe haven for al Qaeda:.......say counter-terrorism experts. 

A group of Islamic militants called al-Shabaab now controls much of southern and central Somalia, and U.S. officials fear that the group, which swears   allegiance to Osama bin Laden, is now strong enough to take over the country's capital, Mogadishu, and defeat the weak, American-backed government there. 

"U.S. security interests are gravely threatened if a country again becomes what Afghanistan used to be: a safe haven for al Qaeda, a government run by al Qaeda affiliates, and a place where al Qaeda supporters from around the world can come safely and train to get ready to launch terrorist attacks around the world," said former White House counter-terrorism adviser and ABC News Consultant Richard Clarke.

There are also concerns that the Somali insurgents have recruited Americans.

U.S. law enforcement officials told Pierre Thomas of ABC News last week that former Minneapolis resident and naturalized U.S. citizen, Shirwa Ahmed, is believed to have blown himself up in a suicide bomb attack in Northern Somalia in last month. U.S. officials say more than a dozen young men from the large Somali community in Minneapolis may have already gone to Somalia to join up with militants.

"We have active al Qaeda cells recruiting these people," said Omar Jamal, a local Somali community activist and executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, in an interview with ABC's Minneapolis affiliate.

Recent al-Shabaab propaganda tapes, originally obtained by the NEFA Foundation, show scenes reminiscent of the al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Recruits are seen learning guerilla warfare tactics, firing rocket propelled grenades, and building explosives.

Another recent recruitment tape features an anonymous young man speaking with what appears to be an American accent and phrasing. "We're not fighting for tribe, or for dunia (earth), we are simply fighting for the sake of Allah and we are defending the religion of Allah," says the masked militant, speaking in English. "We have a global mission, that's why America puts us number 41 in the terrorists' list."

"These latest videos, obtained by NEFA directly from the Somali militants' web postings, represent some of the best available evidence that the Shabaab movement is deliberately aligning itself with Al-Qaida," said David Draper of the NEFA Foundation, a non-profit research organization that monitors Islamic militant groups. "Likewise, they are a disturbing confirmation that Western recruits are successfully reaching Somalia -- receiving instruction in terrorist tactics and indoctrination in violent anti-American ideals." 

Former Fighters Say Many Young Somali Men Have No Choice But to Join Extremist Group

Already, the group has employed brutal tactics reminiscent of the Taliban in Afghanistan to gain control of much of the country.

"Recently we saw the stoning and execution of a 13-year-old girl who had been raped in Southern Somalia," said Andre Le Sage, an assistant professor of counter-terrorism at the African Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. "She had been prosecuted according to a rather twisted interpretation of Sharia that al Shabaab leaders want to enact." 

Another video, originally obtained by a Christian news agency, shows a recent convert to Christianity being beheaded for violating the group's interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.

Former fighters now living in Kenya told ABC News that many young Somali men have no choice but to join al Shabaab.

"They say you are either supporting the Ethiopian[s] or you support us. Or if not, we'll kill you," said one former fighter. "These are the most dangerous people."

There's been no real Somali government since 1992, and only the presence of Ethiopian troops and tanks and U.S. aid has kept the transitional government in Mogadishu from collapse. Counter-terrorism experts say that the deteriorating situation will force the incoming Obama administration to pay attention to Somalia.

"But Obama will not have any more options than the current administration has, and they are very few," said Clarke.

Courtesy :

Nexus Between Politicians and Criminal World

 

The $8 billion Hasan  Ali hawala--:   The smoking gun-  

                      The facts that have emerged in the Hasan Ali case clearly lead to the disconcerting inferences that ruling party leaders were involved in Hawala and stashing away national wealth illegally abroad; that there was undeniable nexus between politicians and criminal world; that the probe was derailed, stymied and rendered meaningless by delay and prevarication thanks to the involvement of the ruling party leaders; that the present government has no interest in recovering back the national wealth stashed abroad; that on the contrary, it is clearly interested in not exposing those who had stashed their wealth abroad.
a) Ali began to be involved in Hawala business in billions in 1990s;
b) Ali was involved with Adnan Khassogi, the international arms dealer, who was found in the probe into the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 to have supplied to arms to LTTE, in business and finance from 1982;
c) He was involved with politicians, particularly the ruling congress party leaders;
d) He had respectable local associates to front for him;
e) He, who had nothing twenty years back, had billions in his and his associates’ account by end 2006;
f) The probe into him was delayed and rendered directionless and almost purposeless, which indicated that the government was keen, even desperate, to bury the Ali case as detailed herein later;
g) The Solicitor General of India has in an extraordinary step written to the Government of India that the Ali case must be investigated from national security angle also, which he could not have done without some critical material that must have been brought to his attention;
h) Yet, the attitude of the government to Ali probe is a clear testimony to the fact that the government, far from pursuing and bringing out the national wealth stashed away abroad, is aiding and collaborating with the buccaneers who have criminally misappropriated the national wealth.
The shocking details of the Ali probe tumbled into the public domain through the media obviously because the officials who were investigating the case found that the political establishment was not keen to pursue the case, began to leak out the details. Whatever information the public has today is not through any detail given out by the government to Parliament or to the public. The media reports, sourced in the details leaked out to the media by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department are the only information available to the people. Yet the details which have appeared in the last four years, when seen collectively, shows a shocking fraud on the people of India by the ruling establishment which has clearly subverted the Ali money laundering probe involving over $8 billions.
a) Hasan Ali’s bank balances grew from $1.5 million in 1982 to $8 billion in 2006
b) A more disturbing aspect is Ali’s deep involvement with transactions in billions with Adnan Khassogi, the infamous international arms dealer whose name figured in the assassination case of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 as an arms supplier to the LTTE, which masterminded the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.
c) Ali received $300 millions from Khassogi as “Funds from Weapons Sale”, which was frozen by the Swiss Government, but Ali managed the Swiss government later.
d) Ali associate had confessed to involvement of Congress leaders
e) ED regarded Ali’s illegitimate funds as linked to terror, organized crime, gun-running and bribes; why anti-terror law was not invoked? The ED show cause notice has stated: “It is suspected that the accounts with such huge deposits of money originating from various international destinations are proceeds of heinous crimes such as terrorism, arms trade, gun-running, corruption and organized forgery, fraud and others”. These are grounds fit for action under the anti terror law of India in force then, the Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act 2004 [which had replaced the Prevention Of Terrorism Act]. Under that law, the Ali funds could have been frozen as “proceeds of terrorism” and confiscated under section 24 of the law and pending the due legal process, by registering an FIR under the law, the Swiss government could have been requested to freeze the Ali accounts.
f) Investigate Ali from National Security angle, tells Additional Solicitor General to Finance Minister;
g) The way Ali case was handled showed that ruling party bigwigs were involved with him;
h) An inevitable question has arisen as to whether Ali fronting for a leading politician? The media has recently reported, “Investigators are also trying to ascertain the real beneficiary behind Hasan Ali’s spectacular wealth. Investigators say funds might have been amassed from defence deals and Hasan Ali could be a front for a politician;
i) ED had proposed to arrest Ali in December 2008; no arrest till now
j) The government had made a Collusive request to the Swiss authorities for assistance, which has bounced back
k)The Hasan Ali’s case – the smoking gun
An irrefutable proof of a secret meeting of the Maharashtra Government and the Political Adviser to the President of the Congress Party Smt Sonia Gandhi with Hasan Ali has been revealed by one of the members of the Task Force, Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, on 25 January 2011 in the debate in the Times Now TV Channel moderated by Shri Arnab Goswami on Black Monies stashed overseas. In his sensational revelation Shri Mahesh Jethmalani said that that the Crime Branch of Mumbai Police in Mumbai has a video recording of the secret meeting between Hasan Ali, who was absconding in the Enforcement Case of $8 billion against him, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh and the Political Advisor to the Congress Party President Shri Ahmed Patel, and Shri Ghafoor Ahmed Khan, who was later appointed as the Police Commissioner of Mumbai at Hotel Centaur [now known as Tulip] in Mumbai on 8.11.2008
Shri Mahesh Jethmalani has made available a copy of the CD of this audio-video with the transcript of the conversation among the four persons [in which the decision to appoint Shri Gaffoor as the Commissioner of Mumbai Police] to the Task Force. The transcript of the answers given by Hasan Ali to the Police, taken from the Video available with Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, one of the members of the Task Force:
In fact, this information and the video recording was first placed in the public domain by Shri Ram Jethmalani, the well-known senior lawyer [who has filed the Writ in the Supreme Court on the issue of black money abroad] on 15.4.2010 at a press conference addressed by him in Mumbai. While Ali tells the Police that he met Shri Ahmed Patel in Centaur Hotel, Shri Patel has however denied having been present at any meeting with Ali or ever met him; Vilasrao Deshmukh ordered an inquiry into the affair, but till now nothing contrary has been found out. The Home Minister Maharashtra has denied the meeting. But the video exists and is in the possession of Shri Mahesh Jethmalani one of the members of the Task Force. 
(Courtesy :-Executive Summary Of Indian Black Money Abroad In Secret Banks and Tax Havens       ;-
Second Report Of The Task Force on the steps to be taken by India
Members    ;-Shri Gurumurthy, Chartered Accountant, Chennai;Shri Ajit Doval, former Director Intelligence Bureau, Delhi;Prof R.Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore;Shri Mahesh Jethmalani, Senior Advocate, Mumbai)[Para XVII]
The complete report is at http://bjp.org/images/pdf/feb_08_bjp_task_force_report_ii.pdf