After Minneapolis, FBI Eyes Atlanta's Somalis
New America Media, News Report, Maggie Lee, Posted: Jun 24, 2009
Editor's Note: In a small town near Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking for radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town's young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa. They are on alert since events in Minnesota linking radical Islamists to the disappearance of Somali youth from their communities, reports NAM contributor Maggie Lee.
CLARKSON, GA. -– In this small town on the edge of Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking out for an alarming kind of crime: radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town's young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa.
There is terrorist recruitment taking place already in Minnesota, said Clarkston police chief Tony J. Scipio. That's why his department and the FBI are looking for anything similar in the Somali-American community here in Clarkston.
In Minneapolis, as many as 20 young men have been reported missing from their homes since last fall. They are thought to have been lured into the ranks of al-Shabaab in Somalia. That group got a terrorist designation from the U.S. State Department, which ties it to al-Qaeda, bombings, assassinations and attacks on peacekeepers. A powerful faction fighting Somalia's transitional government, al-Shabaab's agenda is extremely strict Sharia law.
To fight potential recruiters, the Atlanta FBI has spent the last several months in what the agent-in-charge called an "outreach" program to Clarkston Somali-Americans, including mosque visits and community meetings.
Supervisory special agent Andrew Young said radical violent Islamist recruiters use the same strategy as a street gang recruiter, or even a little league coach.
"From what we know about recruiters, whether they're Islamic, drug gangs or the coach, they're looking for those kids who are looking for something deeper inside. To one it could be geopolitics. To one it could be a friendship. They're all looking for something," he explained.
And terror recruiters are quickly becoming adept at online tactics, noted Young.
"That's what we see as a trend hitting home,” he said. “We see a lot more Internet recruiting being targeted to our youth."
If young people go to Somalia, the FBI's biggest worry is that they may return with dangerous souvenirs, like bomb-making or demolition skills and a radical anti-U.S. agenda.
Atlanta's Somali-American community mushroomed after 1991 with arrivals of war refugees. Between 2000 and 2007 alone, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement sent some 3,000 Somalis to Atlanta.
Because so many suffered in the war, they're unlikely to see much appeal in returning to war, say Somali-American leaders in Clarkston.
But the alleged Minneapolis recruits spent little or no time in war-ravaged Somalia or in refugee camps. That may make young people vulnerable to a dramatic, nationalistic appeal, according to one Georgia leader.
"If al-Shabaab says, 'We're fighting Ethiopians,' then they'll have sympathy," declared Omar Shekhey, president of the Somali-American Community Center, a statewide umbrella group.
Somalia's transitional government is supported in part by the army of Somalia's number one enemy, Ethiopia. The two countries have fought two formal wars in 40 years.
Al-Shabaab has no sympathizers in Clarkston, Shekhey insisted, but suggested that the other side -– the transitional government –- is frustrating, ineffective and unpopular. He jumped to criticize the transitional government's power-sharing formula that he says reduces some Somalis to half-citizens, or non-citizens because it fixes quotas for parliamentary seats by clan.
U.S. support for that interim government rouses ire in some, Shekhey said, especially young people who reject the costs of that U.S. strategy.
"They can be angry," he said. "'Why is the U.S. doing this?' they ask."
Sharmarke Yonis, of the Georgia Somali Community, a non-profit headquartered in Clarkston, says that anger doesn't always translate into a violent act.
“We might have some people who have sympathy, but not anyone who will commit a hate crime," he said.
There's sympathy because every religion spawns radicals who commit hate crimes, such as a person who would bomb an abortion clinic in the name of Christianity, he suggested, but emphasized that he sees no danger in Atlanta.
"In Georgia, we don’t have many, just a few listening," Yonis said. He believes the threat is bigger in Columbus, Ohio, or Minneapolis, where the Somali-American populations measure in the tens of thousands.
No Somali-Americans are reported missing in the Clarkston area. A four-month police and FBI joint operation of surveillance and confidential informants turned up nothing, according to the police chief.
But "the word ‘FBI’ scares people," said Hussien Mohammed, the director of Sagal Radio, a Clarkston-based station that broadcasts in English plus four languages spoken in east Africa: Somali, Afaan-Oromo, Amharic and Swahili.
"They're coming from a country that has no law. They've been beaten, abused, harassed by security forces in their country … Some have been taken away in the middle of the night. People fear the same here."
Mohammed seemed conflicted about the level of FBI involvement.
"Too many visits from the FBI have been seen in our community," he said, but later added, "It's their job. It's why we're safe."
He's very adamant on one point, which is backed up by other Somali-Americans and law enforcement: "These people are very peaceful like any other community. They've been terrorized at home enough. They want to be Somali-Americans, not just Somalis."
Maggie Lee (www.bottleofink.com) is a freelance writer in Atlanta.
Related Articles:
Somali Woman's Illness and A Family's Quest for Healing
Missing Youth Still Haunt Minnesota Somalis
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User Comments
Peanut on Jul 23, 2009 at 09:21:57 said:
Hey Justice, did aicf send you over here to make that comment?
justice1 on Jul 21, 2009 at 11:32:52 said:
The lutheran church decided to bring those people over here and they have been nothing but trouble ever since. They are bigots against American blacks, Ethiopians and whites. They came in making demands in respect to their religion and now their bubblehead son's are running back to join El-shabbab after coming over here and walking around with their behinds on their shoulders.
sharmarke yonis on Jul 06, 2009 at 20:35:49 said:
keep doing good job, we need this can of information clarkston community
Peanut on Jun 29, 2009 at 13:32:11 said:
FeFe said: "but the US is a good friend of civil rights and sends support where it can."
LOLz, US gets in Somalia b/c it doesn't want a base for al-Q. "freedom" or not of Somali people is almost no strategic consideration. US is worried about people suicide bombin in the US. Not anywhere else. Easy to examine every guy entering US on Yemen passport, harder to look at everyone on blue passport. People with blue passport, raised in US blend in; Yemen people don't.
Ahmed on Jun 28, 2009 at 07:59:29 said:
Fefe, when I read about your type of reasoning "... US is a good friend of civil rights and sends support where it can", it becomes apparent that you are looking at world affairs through a very narrowly focused lens. Civil rights, and military intervention and under mining people’s wishes are very different. Why is it the U.S. business to intervene especially when that intervention prolongs the crisis and suffering? In the case of Somalia, it is well known that the warlords were at one time or another partially financed either directly or thru proxy by the U.S. This only prolonged the suffering of the most defenseless and added fuel to an already raging fire.
But you don’t seem to take that into account when accusing others of being intolerant and flashing the victim card. In the same token, you excuse your own hype, intolerance, and seemingly ignorant views of world affairs. It seems that you easily accept the death and gross human violation in Somalia, and elsewhere so long as the U.S. is involved for whatever reason.
The solution is not to bribe, corrupt, or coerce but rather to sincerely try to help, and to respond in a balanced, responsible, thoughtful, humanitarian manner.
When wrong we must have the courage to admit and accept that we are wrong.
U.S. and their proxies have been wrong in intervening in Somalia’s Civil War. If you don’t like hearing this, I am sorry, but it is what it is. If you do not have feelings for the suffering of others then, you must have interest in seeing their blood spilled.
Thanks. Ahmed
FeFe on Jun 27, 2009 at 17:28:22 said:
Could someone please remind Ahmed there has been no violent backlash against muslims in America since 9/11 so he need not worry that the residents in Columbus or Minneapolis who hear about possible terrorist threats will "easily develop anti-Somali attitudes, which at times could be violent."
You might spare a thought for the victims of terrorists versus flashing your victim card. I think of the Arkansas Army recruiter killed and one injured by a homegrown Islam jail convert, jihadist trained in Yemen.
FeFe on Jun 27, 2009 at 17:17:04 said:
Did you hear about the drug gang shootout killing 12 in Mexico recently? A fraction of the drug cartel sponsored violence, but the US is a good neighbor and gives them billions to fight narco terrorism.
Did you hear about the taliban and al shabaab chopping off people\'s limbs for stealing in Somalia recently? How about the Islamist-led insurgency killing a minister, the Mogadishu police chief, and a legislator this month alone in Somalia? A fraction of the Islamic supremacists violence sponsored by Osama bin Laden\'s al Qaeda network (of 9/11 fame - remember him?) in efforts to overthrow the govt and institute sharia law, but the US is a good friend of civil rights and sends support where it can.
So why am I hearing Ahmed is not tolerant of a free people helping those in Somalia? Because some of them died in violence? It seems they would rather die free than live as slaves. Where is your tolerance? Behind the victim card and threats of violence...
Let me say thank you to the reporter for bringing this to our attention because Americans take individual freedom seriously and we don\'t want to see anyone influenced unduly into giving up their civil rights or denying those of others -- be it a young person turned terrorist or 300 people who had to jump to their death over burning on 9/11.
After all, should a Keira Knightley foot fetish be sacrificed to a suicide vest?
www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Terror-suspect-searched-Keira-Knightley-s-feet-web/article-1101878-detail/article.html
Ahmed on Jun 27, 2009 at 16:59:46 said:
Maggie, thanks for the follow up. Somali politics has many intricate dimensions and most times those who write about Somalia miss one or more of these dimensions. Mostly this is due to the sources rather than the writers. So any claims made by these sources need to be validated. In the article on of your sources mentioned that “In Georgia, we don’t have many, just a few listening," Yonis said. He believes the threat is bigger in Columbus, Ohio, or Minneapolis, where the Somali-American populations measure in the tens of thousands." This itself is hearsay. Not all people realize that such claims can create undesired outcome. For example, when residents in Columbus or Minneapolis read about, or hear such accusations in the news media, they can easily develop anti-Somali attitudes, which at times could be violent.
The other thing is, Somalis are known for their oral communication ability and so they talk a lot and I wouldn't be surprised if through their chatter, authenticity is compromised.
Anyway, I thank you for taking the time to address my questions.
Thanks, Ahmed
Maggie Lee on Jun 26, 2009 at 12:58:39 said:
Ahmed, thanks for your thoughtful comments. Alas there are however people trying to get young Somali people to sympathize with a violent agenda and potentially fight for it. Here in Clarkston no, there\'s been no human recruiter -- I don\'t know if there was in Minneapolis. That\'s why I emphasized what the FBI emphasized to me: the Internet.
Here is my speculation, let me emphasize: sending a human recruiter from Somalia to the U.S. seems dangerous and risky (because of law enforcement vigilance). I\'d think there are few or no human recruiters; I\'d think it is media-based.
I certainly did not mean to \"purport\" any ties between Clarkston Somalis and al-Shabaab. That\'s why I used \"potential\" and \"risk\". Believe me, if there were an actual tie, the media would be all over it.
As for my quotes, I wrote them as the gentlemen said them; they each reviewed the quotes before this article was printed.
You also said it\'s not a secret that many Somalis do not like Ethopia\'s intervention.
Alas again, it is a \"secret\" from most Americans because they haven\'t studied it, don\'t read about it, not even the role of the American government.
Ahmed on Jun 25, 2009 at 22:01:42 said:
I have read this piece with interest and I think the suggestion that Somalis in Atlanta (Clarkston) are being recruited for terrorist activities to be carried out back in Somalia, is unsubstantiated and misleading.
-->I do not believe that there is any Somali in Clarkston who is an Al-shabab sympethiser, or who could have told Maggie Lee that Clarkston is a recruiting ground for Al-Shabab, or Al-Qaeda. So the questions is where could she have gotten such a misleading information from.
My best guest would be a combination of her own imagination and the reported incidents in Minneapolis. It is easy to concoct some weird news-like views, theories but it is hard to undo resulting damages. Whatever her intentions were, she has done a great deal damage to all Somalis everywhere by publishing an article full of unsubstantiated hearsays and allegations.
It is encouraging to find out that the FBI and the Clarkston police both discounted the existence of the purported ties between Somali Islamist fighters and Clarkston Somali youth.
I will be surprised if Maggie Lee had more information than the FBI and the Clarkston police could gather specially after the latter two have tried their very best efforts to get involved in the Somali community. It is not a secret that both agencies have trusted informants within the Somali community and if there were any real groups or individuals recruiting Somali youth it would have know long ago.
It is also not a secret that many Somalis do not like Ethiopia's direct and unyielding intervention in Somalia's civil war. To say it even more pluntly, Ethiopia's involvement would have not been possible without the material and military support of the U.S. With that help, the Ethiopian army have destroyed two thirds of Mogadishu. This was more devestating than the death and destruction committed by one group of Somalis on another. Their army killed indescriminately, raped at will, plundered and pillaged all types of properties.
So there you go. No American would throw parties for an occupying army that committed horrendous crimes against fellow Americans. So are Somalis. We do not appreiciate the combined efforts of other nations to subjugate the Somali nation and prolong the sufferings of the Somali people.
Finally, I would say let us not worry about the rumors and rumor mongers and be assured that there is no threat from the Somali community in Clarkston.
Sidaa iyo Nabd Galyo,
Ahmed