Al-Shabaab pulled out of Mogadishu in early August, at which point we observed that the jihadists were now simply in a position to do what they do best: not to fight like men, but to engage in asymmetrical warfare, targeting civilians to terrify and demoralize the population, and thwart any attempts at rebuilding or even at achieving some semblance of a normal existence.
They aim to create a vacuum in security in order to offer the imposition of Sharia as the "only" solution -- the only one they will accept, in any case. "Truck Bomb Kills Dozens in Somalia’s Capital," by Jeffrey Gettleman for the New York Times, October 4:
NAIROBI, Kenya — A huge truck bomb exploded on a busy street in central Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, on Tuesday morning, killing more than 50 people and possibly signaling a comeback for the Shabab militant group, which has lost territory in recent months.
Witnesses reported horrific scenes with dozens of bodies strewn across the streets, including those of students who were registering for scholarships to study in Turkey which has become a major aid donor to Somalia in recent months.
Local health officials said 55 people were killed and scores badly wounded, with the injured flooding into dilapidated hospitals already full of victims of Somalia’s famine.
According to witnesses, the bomber was driving a large truck piled high with scrap metal, apparently to conceal the explosives, and the target was a building used by Somalia’s transitional government. According to news agencies, the Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
In August, the Shabab withdrew most of its fighters from Mogadishu for the first time in years, though the group’s leaders vowed to step up guerilla attacks.
The Shabab still controls most of southern Somalia and has imposed draconian measures in its areas, banning music and Western dress. Last month, Shabab leaders awarded school children assault rifles and grenades as prizes for a quiz show.
The event was reported to be a Qur'an recitation contest.
Somalia has lurched from crisis to crisis since 1991, when clan warlords overthrew the central government and then fought among themselves. Since then, there have been more than a dozen failed attempts to create a functioning central government.
In recent years, Somalia has remained mired in chaos, torn by Islamic militancy, starvation and piracy.
A weak, fractious transitional government loosely controls parts of Mogadishu but as the bombing on Tuesday showed, even those areas are not safe.
This summer the United Nations declared a famine in Somalia, saying that tens of thousands of people have already died and as many as 750,000 may soon starve to death unless aid efforts are rapidly scaled up. The Shabab have refused to allow many Western aid organizations into their areas and have even blocked people from leaving drought zones.
A desperate populace only concerned with securing its next rations is in no position to resist. By controlling access to aid, al-Shabaab can keep resistance in check and blackmail Somalis over their very survival, leveraging the famine situation (which they deny exists) to take their real or imagined enemies for them.
The Shabab have pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda and have imported many Qaeda tactics to Somalia, including suicide bombs and remote-controlled roadside bombs. The Shabab have used suicide bombs many times before to attack targets including government forces, African Union peacekeepers based in Mogadishu, Somali lawmakers and even students at a medical school graduation. But Somali analysts said the bombing on Tuesday may have been the deadliest yet....
Oooh, tricky one for the apologists of Islam. Al Shabaab are devout followers of the 'religion of peace', but they've blown more than 50 civilians to smithereens.
Could it be ...is it possible ....is there an outside chance ... a remote possibility, even, that calling Islam the 'religion of peace' is taqiyya on stilts?
Psycho clowns!
Somalia: Mogadishu truck bomb kills more than 50
...
Witnesses reported horrific scenes with dozens of bodies strewn across the streets
............................................
And this is what leftists and anti-Americans want to see in the West, as well.
Remember the vile Nicholas De Genova, a Columbia University assistant professor of anthropology calling for "a million Mogadishus"?
*This* is what that looks like—virtually *hell on earth*.
"Protection" under Islamic governments means the same thing as Mafia "protection".
So, Minneapolis Muslims: this is what your "zakat" is going to support. If you care one whit, you'd ask for audits of your masjid's coffers.
For shame, which you don't have.
A general numbness has set in for me respecting all the useless killings by Muslims of either other Muslims or non-Muslims. It's a daily affair across the world and so I find myself often treating with the information about this, as here, in a dispassionate manner, just more statistics and all that. Still, everything that makes me up never lets me forget that Islam is just about the most horrible thing that has ever happened to mankind. For sundry reasons I have come to despise Islam as much as I have ever despised anything. What a curse to all of us it is. I will always hate it.
No surprise here!! wherever there are Muslims in the world there is death, violence, murder are inflicted on people. That is what the followers of "religion of peace" do best-- kill, kill, kill.
And we give asylum to these murderers!!! Only in America!!
Couldn't care less.
"I have come to despise Islam as much as I have ever despised anything. What a curse to all of us it is. I will always hate it" - Wellington
Ditto. Islam is a curse and a plague on the world and so are it's followers.
"Remember the vile Nicholas De Genova, a Columbia University assistant professor of anthropology calling for "a million Mogadishus?"
No, I don't remember. But what a total azzhole. No wonder he's employed by Columbia.
And, "Nicholas of Genoa" - an Italian - SHAME ON YOU! You're not fit to clean Oriana Fallaci's toilets.
I hope everyone registered this bit:
"students who were registering for scholarships to study in Turkey **which has become a major aid donor to Somalia in recent months.** [my emphasis - dda].
Hmmm. And Turkey is heading down the jihad-and-sharia route as well.
I wonder what those Somali Muslim students were going to be studying in Turkey?
Useful, constructive, nation-building type stuff like medicine, engineering, agriculture or veterinary science? ...or, Islam, Islam, Islam?
Are Fethullah Gulen's sticky fingers in this, somehow?
What does Turkey stand to get out of educating Somali Muslims and acquiring influence in north-east Africa?
Marisol. I am very, very sorry to point something out, but:
"By controlling access to aid, al-Shabaab can keep resistance in check and blackmail Somalis over their very survival, leveraging the famine situation (which they deny exists) to take their real or imagined enemies for them."
________
"leveraging the famine situation to take their real or imagined enemies for them"?
_________________________
Besides that, the following is exceedingly concise and powerful:
"...at which point we observed that the jihadists were now simply in a position to do what they do best: not to fight like men, but to engage in asymmetrical warfare, targeting civilians to terrify and demoralize the population, and thwart any attempts at rebuilding or even at achieving some semblance of a normal existence."
and...
"They aim to create a vacuum in security in order to offer the imposition of Sharia as the "only" solution -- the only one they will accept, in any case."
______________________________________
As to the content of the article, I can only recoil in absolute horror and sickness of heart.
Courreges W wrote:
"Remember the vile Nicholas De Genova, a Columbia University assistant professor of anthropology calling for "a million Mogadishus?"
No, I don't remember. But what a total azzhole. No wonder he's employed by Columbia.
.........................
He was speaking specifically about the praiseworthiness—as he sees it—of murdering Americans. (We were in Mogadishu in 1993 on a humanitarian mission to feed starving Somalis when our troops were attacked by an Al-Qaida-backed warlord, by the way—this incident was the basis for the film "Blackhawk Down).
But this infamous line has come to symbolize more generally for me just what sort of twisted ideal the hard left holds.
Here's David Horowitz in Front Page Magazine with a good article on the subject from 2003:
"Moment of Truth (For the Anti-American Left)"
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=19000
Columbia turned on him after his comments. Even his left-wing buddies acted shocked. As far as I can tell he never did gain tenure anywhere and is now busy writing books defending himself: bla bla bla boo hoo hoo. Snore