This article spends considerable time on the status of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed -- chairman of the Executive Council of Islamic Courts -- as a "moderate," and thus, supposedly someone the Somali government can work with.
But aside from the vague and useless notion of what defines the sort of "moderate" that we're expected to be excited about, Ahmed's surrender is a significant blow to the Islamic Courts movement, and its lingering aspirations to return to power. By Chris Tomlinson for Associated Press:
NAIROBI, Kenya - A top leader of Somalia's ousted Islamic movement seen by the U.S. as a potential key to preventing a widespread insurgency there surrendered to authorities and is under protection in Nairobi, officials said Monday.
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who has been described by a U.S. diplomat as a moderate who could play a role in reconciling Somali factions, crossed into Kenya, went to a police station along the border on Sunday and was flown to Nairobi, according to a police report seen by The Associated Press.
The U.S. said it was not involved in protecting Ahmed, who apparently feared for his life in Somalia, where the remnants of his Council of Islamic Courts are being hunted by Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces.
"The U.S. government is not holding or interrogating Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and was not involved in his capture or surrender," a U.S. Embassy official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to talk to the media.
U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger has repeatedly said Ahmed is a moderate Islamic leader who should be part of a national reconciliation process in Somalia.
Ahmed was the chairman of the Executive Council of Islamic Courts and shared the leadership with the Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who was chairman of the court's legislative council. While Ahmed is considered a moderate, Aweys is on a U.S. list of people with suspected ties to the al-Qaida terror network, though he has repeatedly denied having links to international terrorists.
If Ahmed agrees to hold talks with Somalia's government, it could be a major step toward preventing the widespread insurgency that many Islamic leaders have promised in Somalia.
This assertion is offered without source or additional explanation. With Sheik Aweys still on the loose, there is still ample incentive to fight, and there would be even with him in custody for the jihadists who will not compromise with the Somali government, or lay down their arms for anything short of an Islamic state.
[...]
On Sunday, Somalia's government spokesman, Abdirahman Dinari, said Kenya has handed over 34 Islamic militiamen, and that some may be senior leaders of the Islamic movement.
With this guy giving himself up and the US calling him a moderate it sure looks like a deal is in the works.
Just roll him in pig's blood and let him go. Problem solved.
"U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger has repeatedly said Ahmed is a moderate Islamic leader who should be part of a national reconciliation process in Somalia."
Oh really? Where was the reconciliation process when the Islamic courts were in power? Bow down and pray five times a day or chop chop.
I sure wish our leaders and representatives would be more realistic about who are enemy is.
This Islamic court has already shown it is not worthy to rule.
I wonder if the lack of embedded press with Ethiopian troops has made dealing with the Islamists in Somalia a tad easier....
The depth of State Department naivete and/or ignorance surrounding Islam and its agenda in this world is embarrassing.
The United States is powerful and blessed, but is blind as was the biblical character Samson.
We need a project Samson in the allusional sense... to replace our delusional assumptions about Islam and free ourselves from the illusions.
It appears that using misplaced identifiers (moderate, secular) has become msm policy. LGF recently discussed this issue here:
When moderate becomes a meaningless word
It is open to question just how much stock al-Qaeda and the World jihadist movement crowd ever really put into Somalia. I suspect very little.
It may very well be that the Islamists in Mogadishu were just unable to ward off the Ethiopians (hooray!). But it may also be that the global Islamist Movement has found new and more promising locations to base their African jihad headquarters in. I personally suspect that the Talibanist crowd that had been hiding in Somalia just decided to cut its losses and run to a new hideout elsewhere on the African continent.
Only time will tell where the Islamists in Africa will turn up next.
why do we keep trying to keep these killers alive?...It is time we start playing hardball like they do....NO MERCY...NO MERCY AT ALL....
...This man has been dishing out brutal punishment in his courts, the death sentence being about the only sentence issued....Give him to the Ethiopeans and let him stand in front of their court....
" Sunday, Somalia's government spokesman, Abdirahman Dinari, said Kenya has handed over 34 Islamic militiamen, and that some may be senior leaders of the Islamic movement."
......whats wrong fellas..did you not want your 72 virgins?.....did not want to die for the JIHAD...did not want to try your luck at fighting someone who will fight back...
.....Islam is doomed....the fighters are throwing in the towel...more of this to come...
....now if we could get that evil text the Qur'an outlawed........and find a way to deprogram the youth of Islam....
Amazing how martyr muslims with the bank accounts always "see the light" that Crusaders are nice folks they can work with when they are about to die of a long drop on a short rope.
Muslim principles fade real fast when one gets them by the turban.......take the gloves off and see how docile Ahmadinejad gets when he wets his pants hiding in a bunker.
Remember Saddam in his rat hole.
one of the best ways to de-program 'da utes of Islam' is to show them that jihadi fighters get blown to pieces.
Nothing will succeed like success - refer to the quotes from Gen. Patton and apply to active jihadis.
the other fights... they are needed as well ( ideas, money, et cetera ) but show the utes that they will have their asses handed to them the minute they raise the AK-47.
It is open to question just how much stock al-Qaeda and the World jihadist movement crowd ever really put into Somalia. I suspect very little.
-Pythagorus
I think OBL and his bed buddy the Egyptian Doctor thought Somalia was a slam dunk considering the way the UN and Westerners acted in the Sudan. I think Somolia was to be the new launching ground for the physical enterprise of training the Islamist executioners like the good old days in Afghanistan before the US called their bluff. Here the Ethiopians pulled the rug out from under them along with some superb bombing by the US and help from Kenya. Thus the called to world wide Jiahd by these rats. I hope the Ethiopians find every last one of the Jiahdists hiding in the woods. This scumbag should not be treated as an official wothy of anything except a Somalian court and a sentence to an eternal lock up.
Also, show da utes that people like the children of Yasser Arafat don't get to live in Paris with billions... find the money he ripped off and take it away from his family.
Islamic hypocrites and assorted sociopaths may join up simply because the only way to wealth in dar al-Islam is either by geologic accident or by holding the reigns of power. If you have power, you can enrich yourself.
Take away that incentive as well. Stop all jizya and seize the assets that these people squirrel away. If we can see the problem for what it is, we can see 1,000 ways to make jihad less desirable.
Cheer up Henry.
The United States' next president may be a Muslim (Obama "oh, bomb us" Barack).
If the US' blacks and latinos have their way.
This islamic clown better have something very valuable to trade (information, names, etc.) for his continued existence because as far as I am concerned his life isn't worth a bag of camel dung.
Why is he still alive??
Turn him over to the Russian KGB or the Sudanese who have been murdered in the thousands by muslims as this coward.
He deserves a quick death and not support from US taxpayers.
"Why is he still alive??"
.......Well being the coward he is, he decided that the Jihad call that there is honor in attacking and dying for Islam must be a little flawed....