As many as fifty. But what is being done about it? What are law enforcement officials doing to pressure mosques to teach against the beliefs that lead to this? Why, nothing. Nothing at all. “Terror Group That Claimed Kenya Attack Has Recruited Americans Before,” by Brian Ross, James Gordon Meek and Megan Chuchmach for ABC News, September 22 (thanks to Block Ness):
The same group that claimed responsibility for an attack on a Kenyan mall this weekend that has claimed at least 68 lives has previously recruited dozens of Americans to join their cause.
U.S. officials estimate that as many as 50 Americans have traveled to training camps in Somalia, the home of the al Qaeda-linked terror group al-Shabaab, over the last six years.
Just last month, al-Shabaab released a video showing three young men claiming to be from Minneapolis who the terror group said later died as martyrs.
“This is the best place to be honestly,” one of the men says. “I can only tell you from my experience being here, that you have the best of dreams, you eat the best of food, and you’re with the best of the brothers and sisters who came here for the sake of Allah. If you guys only knew how much fun we have over here. This is the real Disneyland, you need to come here and join us and take pleasure in this fun.”
Another American, Omar Hammami of Daphne, Ala., rose to a leadership position in al-Shabaab until he was reportedly killed by rivals in the group earlier this month. Hammami, widely known as the rapping jihadist, recorded several videos of himself rhyming about what he saw as his holy war against the West and the glory of martyrdom.
Hammami and other al-Shabaab leaders have vowed to hit U.S. targets and officials worry the American recruits still there could return home with that mission in mind.
“This is something scary,” Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and terror expert, told ABC News. “I mean, if you think about individuals who went and fought in a place like Somalia and when they come back home, there’s nothing good that can come of this… What we see today in Kenya could be easily copied here in the United States.”…