A ship carrying relief supplies to war-torn Somalia was captured by Islamist militants two motnths ago. Unfortunately, the mostly Kenyan crew is still being held hostage. Many Somali 'militias' have close ties to al Qaeda. It was an al Qaeda trained militia that fought American soldiers in the Mogadishu battle made famous by the movie Black Hawk Down.

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Posted by: Rusty at 12:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Where do I think bin Laden is? more...

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So far, I've only seen this AKI report which claims the US has dispatched 2,000 troops to the small Western Sahara nation of Mauritania. Last week, members of the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an al Qaeda linked group which has been fighting secularists in Algeria for some time, killed 17 Mauratian troops.

I know I've said it a dozen times, but if you want to find the hot bed of Islamic radicalism look to Africa. Also, the 2,000 US troops might also want to keep an eye out for Osama bin Laden while they are there. If I had to make a bet on where he is, I'd place it on Africa.

Via Open Source Intelligence this AKI story: more...

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It looks like US led NATO forces will finally begin to do something about the mass-starvation induced by Islamist militants in the Sudan's Darfur region. It's been way too long in the making, and let's hope whatever planning needs to be done gets done quick. Children in the region are dying today thanks to the relentless onslought of Islamist militia forces and their supporters in Khartoom.

Do you think the US or its European allies will get credit for, once again, coming to the aid of Muslims? Don't hold your breath. Expect the reaction from the Islamic world to be a) too little too late. The US let tens of thousands of Muslims die (ignoring the fact that they died as a result of other Muslims actions) b) the US is once again invading a Muslim country in a Zionist inspired crusade (remember, it was the 'victory' over US forces trying to end mass-starvation in Somalia that inspired Osama bin Laden to take his war against us up a nocth).

The Dread Pundit Bluto asks if this signals the end to the UN since NATO seems to be doing pretty much all of what the UN was supposed to be doing.

Here is the press-release: more...

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While the headlines all over America over the past couple of days talked about Amnesty International's absurd claim that Guantanomo bay was this generations 'gulag', they ignore the tens of thousands of children forced to join rebel groups and state sponsored militias in Africa. Slublog has the details.

Hat tip: Gaijin Biker

UPDATE: Lawhawk notes about the 308 page AI report:

North Korea, which actually does have a gulag system set up in the old Soviet model, gets less space accorded to its human rights abuses than the US.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:10 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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UPDATE: You think this might be related? Interrogation of Al Qaeda Leader Yields Captures

Via Editor in Pajamas I find this Reuters article that the Powerline dudes put up:

U.S. Marines landed on Somalia's coast in one of their most visible hunts for militants in the country since they set up a Horn of Africa counter terrorism force in 2002, Somali officials said on Thursday....

It was not clear who the Marines were looking for.

The Marines' arrival coincided with signs of U.S. military activity elsewhere along the coast of Somaliland, a relatively stable region which declared independence in 1991 to escape chaos engulfing the rest of Somalia, but which is not internationally recognized....

Somaliland's interior minister declined to comment. Officers from the U.S. task force based in neighboring Djibouti since December 2002 to hunt down any militants in the region were not immediately contactable for comment.

Washington fears al Qaeda cells may be seeking new havens in the Horn of Africa where weak political institutions and poor policing of deserts and coastlines might provide places for militants to plan attacks on Western targets elsewhere.

In late 2003, some militia bosses and ordinary residents reported that a top al Qaeda suspect -- Fazul Abdullah Mohammed from the Indian Ocean Comoros islands -- had been spotted in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

U.S. officials say he masterminded the bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002 that took place within minutes of a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.

In March 2003, a suspected associate of Fazul, Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed, a Yemeni, was captured in Mogadishu with the help of warlord Mohammed Dheere and taken into U.S. custody.

A) Because large swaths of Africa are militantly Islamist.
B) Because bin Laden would be welcome in many of these areas.
C) Because bin Laden believes that he has prophetic powers.
D) Because bin Laden first became aware of these 'powers' when he 'prophesied' that the might of America would be cut down in Somalia.
E) As a mystic it seems like the logical place to go.

That's the basic case. I could be wrong. Heck, I hope I'm wrong and that he's dead somewhere.

Anyway, if you're interested you can check out the 'I told you so' category below. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 03:39 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I hope he's in Africa, considering the Mercurial moods of the continent, and all the different factions with so many scores to settle, he would get sold out pretty quickly. After all, $25 mil is a lot of cheese, and in Africa, you can but a lot for that.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at May 06, 2005 03:48 PM (0yYS2)

2 IM: Excellent points. I certainly hope they get the bugger alive, too.

Posted by: Young Bourbon Professional at May 06, 2005 03:59 PM (x+5JB)

3 His chances of being delivered alive depend entirely on who captured him. Considering his mojo, he might get eaten and only his head delivered. Yes, they still do that in some parts of Africa.

Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at May 06, 2005 11:41 PM (0yYS2)

4 how about he is on moon. http://answering-islam DOT org DOT uk/Hoaxes/neil.html May be some muzlim propet was on moon too.or some muslim run lunar lavatory Neil heard the fart de allah.The call to the communal mas******** .? ) cant get enough.

Posted by: Monzter at May 07, 2005 06:27 AM (rA3Xj)

5 Hmmmm... Bin Laden in afghanistan, in sudan, in somalia. Are there any similarities there? Just think if he could bring his ideology to the whole world.

Posted by: RicardoVerde at May 08, 2005 10:13 AM (3DOby)

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Zimbabwe on U.N. Human Rights Commission.

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