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Last year in The Journal of International Security Affairs I chronicled the jihadists' brief rule in Mogadishu, their displacement of the relatively less virulent and violent cultural Islam of Somalia, and the international media's breathless enthusiasm for their brutal regime. They were driven from Mogadishu then, but the Somali jihad is not over. "U.S. air strike kills al Qaeda boss in Somalia," from Reuters (thanks to all who sent this in):
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - U.S. war planes killed an Islamist rebel said to be al Qaeda's leader in Somalia and as many as 30 other people on Thursday in Washington's biggest blow against an insurgency raging since 2007.The rebels said Aden Hashi Ayro -- who led al Shabaab militants blamed for attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian allies -- died in the first major success for a string of U.S. air-strikes on Somali insurgents in the last year.
"Infidel planes bombed Dusamareb," Shabaab spokesman Mukhtar Ali Robow told Reuters by phone, referring to a town in central Somalia, where body parts lay strewn round a wrecked house.
"Two of our important people, including Ayro, were killed."
The death of the Afghanistan-trained militant is likely to bolster the Western-backed Somali government's efforts to stem a rebellion that has been gaining ground. But it is sure to enrage Ayro's fellow fighters, who say they are waging a jihad to eject Ethiopian troops.
One local elder said 30 bodies had been recovered from the ruins.
Ayro was a key figure on the ground masterminding the Islamists' Iraq-style insurgency against allied Somali-Ethiopian troops. The violence had intensified in recent weeks, with scores of deaths in Mogadishu and a series of hit-and-run raids by the Islamists on towns outside the capital.
"His elimination is very important," said M.J. Gohel, head of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a security think-tank in London.
"(But) the penetration by al Qaeda in Somalia is so great that he will be replaced. This is a setback (for the militants), and it will be felt, but it's not a mortal blow."
[...]
Al Shabaab is the armed wing of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council that took over most of southern Somalia for the second half of 2006, until the government and Ethiopian forces routed it in a two-week war.
Under Ayro, the Shabaab adopted Iraq-style tactics, including assassinations and roadside bombs and claimed at least one suicide bombing -- unheard of in Somalia's moderate Sufi Islamic customs.
Western security officials and diplomats say it has also been responsible for killing aid workers and journalists, the desecration of an Italian colonial-era cemetery in 2005 and scores of attacks during the insurgency.
Sufism is not necessarily all that "moderate," as you can see here. And Ayaan Hirsi Ali's childhood experiences amply demonstrate that East African Islam is not utterly benign. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the Islamic Courts Union manifests influences from outside the region that have only exacerbated the violence and instability that was already there.
Posted by Robert at May 1, 2008 9:14 AM
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"... he will be replaced."
That's okay, we have more bullets.
Posted by: profitsbeard![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 1, 2008 9:49 AM
the relatively less virulent and violent cultural Islam of Somalia
RELATIVELY
Every time we hear of a peaceful culture of Islam we should put that word in front. Ayatollah Khomeini made Saddam Hussein seem less of a threat than he really was. Why? Because Iran's revolutionary brand of Islam made everyone around it seem moderate and peaceful.
Posted by: PMK at May 1, 2008 10:17 AM
Bravo Zulu to the Infidel Air Crews. Tax money well spent. Next!
Posted by: MP at May 1, 2008 11:30 AM
Who's next in line for a missile?
Posted by: tanstaafl at May 1, 2008 1:01 PM
Tax money well spent? Seriously?!?!?!?!?!? We spend millions to bomb a backwater nobody in Africa when our public school system is crumbling at our feet, our health care system is equally atrocious, and we are killing our natural resources by our irrationsl reliance on fossil fuels. What's next? Sending troops to occupy the United Arad Emirates? Qatar? Papua New Guinea? Seriously, where do the lying sacks of shit let it end?
Posted by: theonecalledjonesy at May 1, 2008 2:05 PM
Troll alert! Caution...do not feed the troll.
Great shooting guys! One more scumbag bites the dust! This guy needed killin' big time.
Sheik Muqtar Robow, a spokesman for the al-Shabab militia that Ayro led, called Ayro a martyr for the Islamist cause.
"Our brother martyr Aden Hashi, has received what he was looking for — death for the sake of Allah at the hands of the United States," he told The Associated Press. ( I say, "Line em' up"! We can give them what they seek in short order...no waiting!)
He said another senior Shabab leader, Sheik Muhidin Mohamud Omar, also was killed in the attack. Great! A twofer! And a few pawns thrown in as well.
Somali government officials have said Ayro, who was believed to be in his 30s, trained in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States and is the head of Al Qaeda's cell in Somalia.
Few Somalis had heard of him before 2005, when Ayro desecrated a colonial Italian cemetery in Mogadishu, throwing hundreds of exhumed corpses into the sea. He then built a mosque on the site and began training fighters there.
Wotta piece o' crap. And what the hell is wrong with him? Everyone knows that Mosques have nothing to do with violent Islam! Training fighters there...Jeez. he should be punished... oh..that's right...he was.
An International Crisis Group report linked Ayro to the murders of four foreign aid workers, a British journalist and renowned Somali peace activist Abdulqadir Yahya.
The bravery! Killing foreign aid workers...bet they put up quite a fight. Those British journalists are always well armed as well. And I'm sure the peace activist was hard to take down to.
The United States has repeatedly accused Islamist Somalis of harboring international terrorists linked to Al Qaeda, which it blames for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
I understand there were some, what appear to be, civilian casualties. Regrettable if they were in fact, unaware of the nature of their neighbors. But what are the odds of that? Tweenst slim and none IMHO.
This is what happens when the field is full of weeds and wheat. The wheat must fall with the weeds. Humans have a choice, and can remove themselves from the weeds. If they stand among them, they can expect to be cut down as well. War sucks. Slavery sucks more. One must make a choice between the two while one can.
at May 1, 2008 2:48 PM
"What's next?"
-from a posting above
How about Obama's pet project: the 845 billion dollar windfall known as the "global poverty act" to alleviate,or at least place resources in the hands of the UN to alleviate,(how's that organization's efficiency track record?)the scourge of poverty worldwide. Additionally,for any who expect president Obama to cease funding for and initiate an immediate withdrawal from Iraq,they are preparing themselves for a grave disappointment.
Happy May Day to all practitioners of: "the philosophy of failure,the creed of ignorance,the gospel of envy."
-WChurchill
at May 1, 2008 3:16 PM
Scott,
WChurchill? I never knew Ward Churchill said that?(; And yet some question the state of the "crumbling" public school system. That same system that in California teaches the five pillars of islam at tax payer's expense. Are we not surprised the publicly founded education sector has devolved into a minor league farm team to prepare kids for a future indoctrination in the big leagues of what currently passes for higher education?
Posted by: kafir world at May 1, 2008 3:21 PM
Ward Churchill...HA! Good un'! Winston Churchill...is that some kind of cigarette? No..wait...that was Winston Chesterfield...yes? Winston tastes good like a...hmmm....oh well...
I believe that the consumer gets what he wants... We wanted big cars that got crappy mileage and that's what we got. If folks were only buyin' cars that got good mileage, that's what we'd get.
The school system is no different. In those communities where the parents are concerned and take an active part in the school system, the schools are halfway decent. They, for the most part, get what they demand or they vote in some folks who will do so.
In those communities where the parents, for all appearances, don't give a damn about their kids, where they are left to run wild and in some cases encouraged to do so by criminal parents, the schools suck and are dangerous. Is this what they demand? No. It's what they allow to occur.
Parental involvement is the key. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, only nowadays ya gotta squeak pretty damn loud t' get any grease...
at May 1, 2008 3:53 PM
"the penetration by al Qaeda in Somalia is so great that he will be replaced"
no wonder, we've left them alone for over 10 years, what do we expect?? IF there was ever a country in Africa that welcomed the Islamofacists in, it is Somalia. Sudan's close but it seems to me that after the Blackhawk down incident we just abandoned the mission. Couldn't have the MSM reporting more bad news there could we?
at May 1, 2008 4:47 PM
"Troll alert! Caution...do not feed the troll."
and by troll, you mean someone who has a differing opinion than yours and therefore you will not engage in civilszed dialog with?
i fancy I deserve to be called better than 'troll'...
Posted by: theonecalledjonesy at May 1, 2008 5:59 PM
If the shoe fits...
Posted by: Drewbenstein at May 1, 2008 6:26 PM
"Seriously, where do the lying sacks of shit let it end?
Posted by: theonecalledjonesy"
when they have conquered all the infidel lands..
Posted by: pulsar182 at May 1, 2008 8:06 PM
Billy Goat Gruff here, and head-butting Trolls is my forte.
War was officially declared on my country on 9/11/01, when Muslims who follow Islam and called themselves Al Qaeda killed thousands of us.
The United States is at war, whether we like it or not, and we will engage the enemy when and where we find them.
I fully support efforts to eliminate any combatants related to Al Qaeda, no matter where they are.
Screw the socialist agenda...there's a war on.
at May 2, 2008 4:55 AM
Jonesey,
Our national defense is the federal government's responsibility always and everywhere.
Our federal government was not founded to run a public school system, state and local governments were [and the Churches were the first to establish schools in our country, history shows]. Nor was the federal government founded to provide health care, train doctors, or run hospitals and clinics (these are primarily state, local, and private responsibilities). Subsidiarity works best, centralization doesn't.
Moving down the line of your disenchantments, the last I heard, the United States is on very good terms with the UAE and Qatar (our allies in the First Gulf War), and certainly on excellent terms with Papua New Guinea, which we shed American blood to liberate in World War II, and which we and our allies are still pledged to defend. I don't see any hostilities imminent with any of these. Peace through strength, after all.
These are not questions of either/or. Good government in one realm does not preclude good government in another. These are mutually dependent and mutually reinforcing concerns.
If you want genuine dialog, Jonesey, use your head more and think, not just emote. That's what this lying sack of sh** thinks.
Posted by: John C
at May 2, 2008 11:09 PM
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