Measles Outbreak Hits Minnesota's Somali Community Hard

An ongoing measles outbreak in Minnesota highlights all that junk science has wrought and it again features the disreputable and lamentable Andrew Wakefield, whose report claiming an autism link with vaccines was disproven and repudiated by the Lancet and Wakefield's coauthors because Wakefield cooked the books.

Health officials struggling to contain a measles outbreak that's hit hard in Minneapolis' large Somali community are running into resistance from parents who fear the vaccine could give their children autism.

Fourteen confirmed measles cases have been reported in Minnesota since February. Half have been in Somali children, six of whom were not vaccinated and one who was not old enough for shots. State officials have linked all but one of the cases to an unvaccinated Somali infant who returned from a trip to Kenya in February. The state had reported zero or one case of measles a year for most of the past decade.

Amid the outbreak, a now-discredited British researcher who claimed there was a link between vaccines and autism has been meeting with local Somalis. Some worry Andrew Wakefield is stoking vaccination fears, but organizers say the meetings were merely a chance for parents to ask him questions.

"Unfortunately a lot of the media thinks he's saying 'Don't get vaccinated.' That's far from the truth. He's basically encouraging people to get vaccinated but do your homework and know the risks," said Wayne Rohde, a co-founder of the Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota, which says parents should have other options for immunizing their children.

Measles has been all but eradicated in the United States, but accounts for about 200,000 annual deaths worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None of those infected in Minnesota have died, though eight have required hospitalization.

The infections come as autism concerns have surged over an apparent rise in cases in Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the U.S. Officials, though, haven't determined if that's really happening.

The outbreak began when an underage toddler who couldn't receive the vaccine became infected while visiting Somalia. That toddler became patient zero in the outbreak, as it spread among other children who were not vaccinated or who could not be vaccinated due to their age. This is a disease that was all but eradicated in the US except for the occasional case that was brought in just as this outbreak was.

It again highlights the junk science Wakefield peddled; kids should not be getting sick from diseases that are easily prevented by vaccination. Moreover, there's absolutely no way that Wakefield should be having anything to do with the practice of medicine or talking about vaccines. He's responsible for more misery and death and health care costs than one could possibly realize through his bogus claims.

Eight of the Minnesota kids have had to be hospitalized.

Guilty Pleas From Two NJ Men Accused of Planning To Join Jihad Overseas

Two New Jersey men have entered guilty pleas to charges that they were planning on joining al-Shabab, an al Qaeda affiliated group.

Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos Eduardo Almonte entered into a packaged plea deal Thursday in a Newark federal courtroom.

They admitted to conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap persons outside the United States by joining al-Shabab, a designated terrorist organization.

The two were arrested in June at New York's Kennedy Airport.

Alessa's family had refused to acknowledge that their son was attempting to carry out jihad and instead blamed the FBI for entrapping their son. They knew their son was troubled, had violent tendencies, and actually made violent threats against fellow students at various schools in Northern New Jersey.

Clearly, their defense attorneys thought the better of taking this case to trial and instead entered a plea deal that would likely result in sentencing recommendations of 10-15 years since both men were charged with one count of conspiracy to kill, maim and murder persons outside of the United States that carry a life sentence.

Twin Bombings Kill 70 Watching World Cup Match

It appears that Somali terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda were behind a bombing in Uganda yesterday. A large crowd had gathered to watch the World Cup finals match between Spain and the Netherlands and two suicide bombers blew up in the crowd. One bomb blew up at a rugby club. The other blew up at a restaurant where people were watching the match. More than 70 people were killed in the attacks.

The blasts hit in the capital, Kampala, within 50 minutes of each other. The first one struck an Ethiopian restaurant in a neighborhood dotted with bars and popular among expatriates; two others exploded at the rugby center.

A senior Ugandan government official confirmed there were three bombs. The second one at the rugby club was the most severe, said the official, who is not authorized to speak to the media because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Immediate suspicion swirled around Somalia Islamist groups. Islamic militants battling Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government have threatened attacks on Uganda and Burundi, which contribute troops to an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

"Our first suspicion is that this could be the work of terrorists from Somalia because of our forces in that country," the Ugandan government official said. "There is an investigation going on, our security agencies are analyzing the situation on the ground, but our first suspicion is Al-Shabaab. We've had this suspicion all along."

"We wish to condemn the criminality of these attacks," Museveni said. "From a casual look at the scene, I'm confident police will be able to reconstruct the crime scene ... We shall go after them because we know where they come from."

The bombings, he said, show "criminality, and terrorism has always been hovering over us."

In a government statement, Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed also blamed Al-Shabaab, saying he "condemns in the strongest terms the despicable terrorist acts that killed over 60 people in Kampala."

Al Shabaab terrorists have threatened attacks against Uganda for quite some time now, and it appears that they made good on those threats. An unnamed terror leader praised the attacks, but stopped short of taking credit for them:

An al Shabaab commander in Mogadishu praised the attacks but admitted he did not know whether they were the work of his group, which is fighting to overthrow the Somali government.

"Uganda is a major infidel country supporting the so-called government of Somalia," said Sheikh Yusuf Isse, an al Shabaab commander in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

"We know Uganda is against Islam and so we are very happy at what has happened in Kampala. That is the best news we ever heard," he said.

These Islamic terrorists praised those who murdered innocents while watching the World Cup.

This is barbarism in full display and shows the lengths to which these terrorists will go to spread fear and cause mass casualties in pursuit of their theological objectives.

UPDATE:
Al Shabaab has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks in Uganda, where the death toll is now 74.

Details Emerge In New Jersey Terror Arrests

Carlos Almonte and Mohamed Alessa are each facing one terror-related count: one count of conspiracy to kill, maim and murder persons outside of the United States. The charges carry a life sentence if convicted.

The duo had been under surveillance since authorities were tipped off in 2006. Both men were put on the no-fly list but were allowed to purchase tickets to Egypt and to make their way through security at JFK so as to not arouse suspicion (and to permit formative acts in furtherance of their conspiracy).

Both Alessa and Almonte were on federal no-fly lists. Buying airline tickets, therefore, would have triggered red flags that could have blown the investigation. So authorities lifted the restriction, allowing them to book reservations on their separate flights, and making them think everything was a go for their trips. Then Saturday night, they cleared security, checked their bags and walked separately down jet ways as authorities waited to pounce.

Unlike many other terror-related suspects whose families rally around the suspect, the father of one of the accused NJ jihadis isn't supporting his son.

The father of one of the two accused Jersey jihadists says he is so disgusted with his son that he didn't attend his court appearance Monday.

I'm not supporting anybody that does something wrong," Pedro Almonte said of his 24-year-old son, Carlos, in an interview with the Daily News.

The Dominican immigrant from Elmwood Park, N.J., said he doesn't know what to make of Carlos, who converted to militant Islam and changed his name to Omar after high school when he fell in with Mohamed Alessa, 20.

"I don't want to talk to anybody - even him," the father said.

Almonte and Alessa were charged in federal court in Newark, and Almonte smirked his way through his appearance. He had apparently resisted arrest at JFK airport, and sported a couple of bruises. Both men were wearing "pseudo-soldier outfits of cargo pants and military-style khaki shirts with shoulder tabs." (their lawyers let them do that? that's just bad visuals if you're representing these two in court).

Both men are also linked with Anwar al-Awlaki, and both men downloaded Awlaki's jihadi sermons.
The duo prepared for jihad and the trip to Somalia.

“They only fear you when you have a gun and when you — when you start killing them, and when you — when you take their head, and you go like this, and you behead it on camera.” He added: “We’ll start doing killing here, if I can’t do it over there.” Mr. Alessa used the Arabic words for gun and killing, according to the complaint. The next day, said the complaint, he told the officer: “I leave this time, God willing, I never come back. I’ll never see this crap hole. Only way I would come back here is if I was in the land of jihad and the leader ordered me to come back here and do something here. Ah, I love that.”

Both men will be held without bail.

Two North Jersey Men Arrested at JFK Airport On Terror Charges

Two New Jersey men were arrested by authorities at JFK Airport on terrorism related charges for attempting to join an al Qaeda affiliated group in Somalia. They were intercepted before they got the chance after being under surveillance since 2006.

Mohamed Hamoud Alessa, 20, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 26, were arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport before they could board separate flights to Egypt and then continue on to Somalia, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. The newspaper cited officials familiar with the details of the arrests who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

Alessa, of North Bergen, and Almonte, of Elmwood Park, were charged with conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism through al-Shabaab, a violent extremist group based in Somalia and connected to al-Qaida, the officials told the newspaper. Al-Shabaab was designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group in 2008.

The FBI and the New York Police Department confirmed to The Associated Press that two men were arrested at the airport, but did not identify them or provide further details. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said no threat was made at the airport; New York police spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

Teams of state and federal law-enforcement agents who have been investigating Alessa and Almonte since 2006 took them into custody, the officials said. They are scheduled to appear Monday in federal court in Newark.

The arrests were made as part of an investigation known as Operation Arabian Knight. Authorities said an undercover NYPD officer had infiltrated the suspects' group of friends and was able to monitor their consumption of jihadist videos and literature, overseas travel preparations, and purchase of airline tickets.

The two men had planned their trip Somalia for several months, saving thousands of dollars, undergoing tactical training and test runs at paintball fields to condition themselves physically, and acquiring equipment and clothing they could use when they joined al-Shabaab in Somalia, the officials said. Both had bragged about wanting to wage holy war against the United States both at home and internationally, investigators said.

Elmwood Park is the next town over from where I live in Fair Lawn, and it isn't the first place that would spring to mind as being a hotbed of jihad sentiment.

Al Shabaab is an al Qaeda affiliate and has repeatedly declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. The group has been quite active in Somalia and is a major player in that failed state.

Law enforcement was in the process of searching both homes late into the night searching for evidence.

Alessa and Almonte are scheduled to appear in federal court in Newark on Monday on multiple charges. Don't expect that to be the end of the investigation.

The prosecution of Alessa and Almonte is being led by New Jersey’s new U.S. attorney, Paul Fishman. In a meeting with The Star-Ledger’s editorial board last month, Fishman hinted there were serious national-security investigations on the verge of becoming public, though he declined to say anything more.

"There are cases in the pipeline that are of huge significance," Fishman said.

Somali Islamists Inviting Osama and al Qaeda To Join Them In Somalia

Last year, I warned of the situation in Somalia and that as a failed state, it was a ripe region for al Qaeda to exploit. Well, it seems I wasn't alone in that assessment as one of the Somali Islamist groups aligned with al Qaeda's interests wants to have Osama bin Laden and his band of Islamic terrorists set up shop in Somalia.

This is bad news for Somalia,

During a press conference held in Mogadishu today, Moallim Hashi Mohamed Farah, the top leader for Hizbul Islam in Banadir province, welcomed Osama bin Laden and other foreign fighters to visit Somalia, Mareeg reported. While inviting bin Laden and jihadists from around the globe to fight alongside his forces against the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government, Farah also said the media was wrong to refer to jihadists as foreign fighters, and that the term should be used instead for African Union forces fighting alongside the Somali government.

Hizbul Islam and Shabaab are considered the two top Islamist insurgent groups in Somalia. While Shabaab is widely recognized as having close ties to al Qaeda, many counterterrorism analysts and African experts consider Hizbul Islam a domestic, nationalist insurgency with no links to foreign terror groups.

But Hizbul Islam is a radical Islamist group whose top leader has ties to al Qaeda. The group is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is wanted by the US for his links to al Qaeda. He is also on the United Nations terrorist sanctions list, again for his ties to al Qaeda.

Aweys co-led the Islamic Courts in 2006 until the group was ousted from power during the Ethiopian invasion in December 2006. Last September, Aweys advocated for more suicide attacks in the country, just days after suicide bombers struck an African Union base in Mogadishu.

Given how al Qaeda is on the run in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq despite the occasional terror attack focused on the citizens of those respective countries, the US, NATO, and coalition partners are thwarting al Qaeda and a Somali operation would open up a new front.

Pirates Attack US Navy Ship; Predictable Results Ensue

Pirates versus a US Navy ship on patrol in the Indian Ocean looking for pirate vessels? The pirates never had a chance.

A group of suspected pirates was captured Thursday after attacking a U.S. Navy frigate in the Indian Ocean, according to a statement released by the U.S. Sixth Fleet.

The USS Nicholas reported taking fire from a suspected pirate skiff shortly after midnight local time west of the Seychelles, the statement said. The Nicholas quickly returned fire and began pursuing the skiff, which was eventually disabled. A boarding team from the Nicholas subsequently captured and detained three people, the statement said.

The team discovered ammunition and several cans of fuel aboard the skiff, which was later sunk by the Nicholas.

Two more suspected pirates were captured on a confiscated "mother ship," the statement said. The detainees will "remain in U.S. custody on board Nicholas until a determination is made regarding their disposition," it said.

The pirates remain a scourge in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, particularly around Somalia and extending out to the Seychelles. Showing the pirates that the risks of further attacks on shipping are too great versus the ransoms that are routinely paid out by shipping concerns will finally get piracy under control off the coast of Somalia. That means killing pirates attacking shipping and sinking their ships. Until that happens, the pirates will continue attacking shipping.

Where the Threats Are

Where is the threat of jihad greatest and where does it pose the greatest concern for the US?

Pakistan? Yemen? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Somalia? The insurgency remaining in Iraq?

All of the above? None of the above?

Tunku Varadarajan says that the Obama Administration shouldn't take its eyes off the ball in Pakistan to deal with the mess in Yemen.

It's hard to disagree with Varadarajan in that Pakistan is teetering on the brink with al Qaeda and Taliban threatening the government in Islamabad; a government that has nuclear weapons at its disposal.

A nuclear-armed Muslim country with a fragile democratic government, Pakistan is our ostensible ally in the Afghan war against the Taliban and al Qaeda. The problem is, however, that the Pakistani military—which is not under civilian control, and which chafes continually against the democratically elected president, Asif Ali Zardari—wishes for nothing more fervently than the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan. The Obama administration cannot continue to ignore this obscene dance, in which the army of an allied state gives succor to the very enemy that young American soldiers fight daily in bloody battle.

This has to be the year in which the dance ends: The U.S. must demand that that the Pakistan Army sever its links with Mullah Omar and the Taliban military leadership. A case in point is the Taliban's Quetta shura, or council, which operates with impunity in the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The country's generals must also be told that they can no longer protect groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which—in addition to butchering scores of Indians—sought out and killed American and Israeli nationals in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

The problem is that the threats have piled up since the 1980s because the US has been distracted from the dirty business of dealing with failed states around the world. Somalia remains a consistent threat against shipping and provides safe haven for jihadis. Yemen has been home to some of the most notable terror attacks, including the attack on the USS Cole, and al Qaeda is all too comfortable there.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are each exporting jihad to maintain control on their countries.

Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan form a ring along South Asia of Islamic extremists and all too fertile ground for al Qaeda and other terror groups. Iran's mullahs are busy trying to crack down against the Iranian people who have grown weary of the regime's machinations to maintain control.

Somalia and Yemen both pose threats to sea traffic through the Red Sea and have repeatedly harbored al Qaeda terrorists that are able to evade the feeble government attempts to dispatch them.

Afghanistan was a terror safe haven prior to 9/11 and Iraq formerly sponsored international terrorism to pursue its agenda. Iran still does.

The world, and the US in particular, must reevaluate its approach to failed states, because the failure to do so will have repercussions long into the future.

So, to push a strategy for dealing with Pakistan while diminishing the need to deal with Yemen is one that will result in problems down the road; the threat has to be dealt with all across the globe; not just in the fashionable locales (Islamabad, Tehran, etc.).

Somalia Frees Suspect In Thwarted Bombing

Somali authorities have freed an individual who was caught trying to bring the very kinds of materials on board an aircraft that nearly brought down Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

A Somali court acquitted and released a suspect who tried to board a plane in Mogadishu in November with chemicals and a syringe - materials similar to those used in the attempted attack against a Detroit-bound airliner.

The Somali individual gets to slink back into the woodwork - hiding in the safe havens of Somalia's lawlessness while the US and other law enforcement and intel services are thwarted in gaining valuable information needed about Abdul Mutallab's attempt to bring down Flight 253. The court ruled that he didn't have the intent to commit a crime.

Somali Police Commissioner Gen. Ali Hassan Loyan said the court released the suspect on Dec. 12 after ruling that officials hadn't demonstrated he intended to commit a crime. The man, whose name has not been released, said the chemicals were to process camera film.

In light of the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound plane, Gen. Loyan said Somali authorities would collaborate with U.S. officials and share information and the confiscated materials.

"Somalia's federal government affirms that it is ready to double its cooperation with the countries in the world, particularly with America, for it is clear that the incident that happened in Mogadishu and the one that happened in a region in America are similar," Gen. Loyan told a news conference in the Somali capital.

U.S. officials on Wednesday learned about the early November incident at Mogadishu's international airport and began investigating for links between it and the Detroit case.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. investigators were working with Somali authorities, and linking the case to the Christmas attack "would be speculative at this point."

A Nairobi-based diplomat, though, said the incident has similarities to the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound plane. The Somali was said to have a syringe, liquid and powdered chemicals -- tools similar to those used by the Nigerian suspect on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

If the two incidents are linked, then Somalia's actions to release the Somali individual was a colossal mistake. Moreover, the reasoning of the Somali court is just baffling given that police experts claimed that the materials taken from the Somali individual were sufficient to endanger the aircraft, though an expert said it was insufficient to take down the aircraft. So, bringing dangerous materials on board an aircraft was somehow insufficient to result in criminal charges and a conviction in a Somali court.

Meanwhile, other nations are bolstering their security protocols as a result of Mutallab's attack.

It is once again a reminder that we are only as safe as the weakest link in the security chain particularly as terrorists continue to probe our defenses and find our weaknesses.

Dropping the Ball

Last month, a Somali was arrested trying to bring a syringe and a powdered substance on board an aircraft. The scenario was frighteningly similar to the methods used by Abdul Mutallab on Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The Somali man — whose name has not yet been released — was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the Nov. 13 Daallo Airlines flight took off. It had been scheduled to travel from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai. A Somali police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise, said the suspect is in Somali custody.

"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaida or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed," said Barise.

A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident in Somalia is similar to the attempted attack on the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day in that the Somali man had a syringe, a bag of powdered chemicals and liquid — tools similar to those used in the Detroit attack. The diplomat spoke on condition he not be identified because he isn't authorized to release the information.

Multiple media outlets are also reporting that the CIA had intercepted signals of an impending attack.

Two officials said the government had intelligence from Yemen before Friday that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda there were talking about “a Nigerian” being prepared for a terrorist attack. While the information did not include a name, officials said it would have been evident had it been compared with information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.

The government also had more information about where Mr. Abdulmutallab had been and what some of his plans were.

Some of the information was partial or incomplete, and it was not obvious that it was connected, the official said, but in retrospect it now appears clear that had it all been examined together it would have pointed to the pending attack. The official said the administration was “increasingly confident” that Al Qaeda had a role in the attack, as the group’s Yemeni branch has publicly claimed.

Shortly after being briefed, Mr. Obama addressed reporters in his second public statement on the matter in two days, announcing that a review already had revealed a breakdown in the intelligence system that did not properly identify the suspect as a dangerous extremist who should have been prevented from flying to the United States.

“A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama said. He said he had ordered government agencies to give him a preliminary report on Thursday about what happened and added that he would “insist on accountability at every level,” although he did not elaborate.

Then, there's where al Qaeda is operating and continuing to recruit for jihad. That means looking more closely at Yemen and other failed states like Somalia.



UPDATE:
CNN makes it clear that the ball got dropped by the CIA who failed to circulate the information it had obtained to the necessary authorities, including DHS and the TSA, who were in a position to stop Mutallab from boarding.

UPDATE:
Reports claiming that Mutallab didn't have a passport when he boarded NW Air Flt. 253 are untrue.

The suspected terrorist who tried to blow up Northwest Flight 253 Christmas day did present a passport to authorities in Amsterdam before boarding the Detroit-bound plane, Holland's counter-terrorism agency said Wednesday.

Abdulmutallab arrived in Amsterdam on Friday from Lagos, Nigeria. After a layover of less than three hours, he passed through a security check at the gate in Amsterdam, including a hand baggage scan and a metal detector, officials said.

Abdulmutallab was carrying a valid Nigerian passport and had a valid U.S. visa, the Dutch said. His name did not appear on any Dutch list of terror suspects.

The problem is that his flight profile should have raised alarm bells - buying a 1-way ticket in Lagos for Nigeria to Detroit in cash; to say nothing of the warnings received by the CIA and Mutallab's own father contacting law enforcement to warn about his son's actions.

Gitmo Detainee Released To Country With Whom US Has No Relations

I'm sure that this will work out splendidly. In President Obama's rush to empty Guantanamo Bay of detainees to fulfill a campaign pledge to his leftist base, he's more than willing to overlook the fact that some of the detainees he's releasing are being sent to countries that have no relations with the US. Indeed, one such detainee was sent to Somalia which has no functioning government to speak of, but which has a significant al Qaeda presence and the Islamists have no interest in keeping tabs on the detainee the US sent.

The dozen included six Yemenis, four Afghans and two Somali citizens. Their departure left the prison camp census at 198 on Saturday -- the first time the detention center dropped below 200 captives since February 2002.

Defense and Justice Department officials Saturday refused to comment on the massive transfer, a portion of which was reported by The Washington Post on Friday as a potential "prelude to the release of dozens more detainees to Yemen'' at a time of gathering Republican resistance to the White House plan to move other detainees to Thomson, Ill.

Reports from Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia that has its own autonomous government, identified the freed Somalis as Ismael Arale, 45, and Mohamed Suleiman Barre, 44.

Arale and Barre were processed by the Somaliland government and then released to rejoin their families in Hargeisa, the major city in Somaliland and capital of the region, according to a statement on the official Somaliland Web site.

The United States does not recognize the government in Somaliland and there were no official statements on how Arale and Barre arrived there. A local newspaper, the Somaliland Press, said they arrived aboard a jet provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross, suggesting that the United States had released the men to the Red Cross in a third country.

Arale, who's been described as a document forger and Islamic jurist, was captured in Somalia in 2006 was one of the last detainees ever taken to Guantánamo.

The Pentagon said in a June 6, 2007, announcement that Arale ``exemplifies the genuine threat that the United States and other countries face throughout the world from dangerous extremists.''

As I've repeatedly pointed out in the past, the release of detainees is fraught with danger, not the least of which is that many of those released have gone on to rejoin the jihad to fight against the US.

One detainee went on to become the head of al Qaeda in Yemen. Dozens others have engaged in terrorism and/or attacks on the US or US interests around the world. 30 of those released have gone on to be killed or recaptured in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

The political decision to close Guantanamo Bay does nothing to improve the US security situation, and undermines US national security particularly if these detainees return to their life as terrorists and resume their connections with jihadi groups like al Qaeda

Barbarism on Parade in Somalia

In a scene reminiscent of similar reports from Iran, a Somali man was stoned to death by an Islamist group just outside Mogadishu for reportedly committing murder. The man was buried up to his chest and stoned until dead. It's a practice condoned by Islamic law and Sharia.

Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, 48, was buried in a hole up to his chest and then pelted with rocks by fighters from the rebel group Hizbul Islam on Saturday in Afgoye, about 20 miles from the capital, Mogadishu.

A rebel judge announced that Ibrahim, along with a man who had been accused of murder, had both confessed to their crimes.

The alleged murderer got a more merciful punishment -- he was shot to death.

"This is their day of justice," the judge, Osman Siidow Hasan, told the hundreds of villagers who had been forced to attend. "We investigated, and they confessed."

Ali Gabow, one of the villagers, told Reuters, "I could not watch."

"The lady who had been with the second man was only given 100 lashes because she said she had never married."

Somali Pirates Continue Harassing Shipping

Not only have they continued their attacks, but they have again attacked the Maersk Alabama, a ship that was briefly siezed by pirates earlier this year and whose captain was held hostage for several days before US Navy SEALs rescued him and killed three of four of his captors.

The Maersk Alabama repulsed the attack by firing back at the pirates.

The United States Navy Central Command said four suspected pirates in a skiff came within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama at 6.30 a.m. Wednesday about 600 miles off the northeast coast of Somalia as it headed for the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack, the navy said in a statement.

“Due to Maersk Alabama following maritime industry’s best practices such as embarking security teams, the ship was able to prevent being successfully attacked by pirates,” said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of the Central Command. “This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take pro-active action to prevent being attacked.”

No injuries or damage were reported, the Navy said.

That comes after a captain of a hijacked chemical tanker reportedly died of gunshot wounds inflicted when pirates seized his ship off the Seychelles Monday.

Piracy continues to be a huge problem, and ransoms are a big reason. Yesterday, the Spanish apparently paid $3.5 million to secure the release of a Spanish crew.

The pirates had threatened to kill the Spanish crew unless Spain agreed to release two pirates captured by its navy a day after the Alakrana was seized. A Spanish court on Monday indicted the two pirates for kidnapping and armed assault, charges that could allow Spain to deport them. News of the sailors' release emerged as the European Union said it would consider expanding its anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia as pirates venture further south to attack commercial vessels.

The EU's mission off the Horn of Africa will not diverge from its objectives, though officials may agree on changes, the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told reporters after a meeting of the bloc's defence ministers in Brussels.

''If the pirates move south, we'll have to see if some adaptation can be done,'' Mr Solana said. The EU force, consisting of eight warships and four surveillance planes supplied by eight countries, has been operating off Somalia since December to protect commercial trade.

Typically, pirates press for ransoms totalling millions of dollars in return for freeing crews.

By continuing to pay ransoms, it makes attacking shipping all the more attractive to the Somali pirates and the risks are mitigated by the huge paydays.

Moreover, there continues to be evidence that the pirates are in cahoots with the Islamists who are busy trying to control Somalia and who may have affiliations with al Qaeda. Indeed, there are reports that al Qaeda has been urging the Somalis to continue their high seas terror campaign.

While there are links between the Islamists and the pirates, some believe that the clan allegiances are more important, even as they recognize the threat posed by such links.

Militant Somali Islamist groups such as Hizbul Islam and Al Shabab – who control most of southern Somalia and most of the capital city of Mogadishu – may share a hard-core Islamist ideology with the Al Qaeda militants loyal to Osama bin Laden. But the larger portion of Somali society – and certainly those who make up Somalia's business sector and even its many armed militias – make their crucial decisions based on clan rather than on religion. In a society where nearly everyone is a Muslim, blood relationships are a firmer basis than ideology for deciding whom to trust, whom to hate, whom to do business with, and whom to fight.

"While it is true that Al Qaeda has penetrated into parts of Somalia, it is another thing altogether to prove a link between piracy and Al Qaeda," says Ms. Roque. "For the pirates, it is in their interests to have money and it is in their interests to have prisoners captured by the French to be released. This is an economic decision."

Then, there's the issue of prisoner swaps - capturing crews and passengers and hoping to exchange them for pirates captured by various navies operating in the waters off Somalia.

The world navies refuse to take steps to put the piracy to an end, and that includes zero tolerance for any piracy. It means a cessation of ransoms and instead demanding the unconditional release of the captured ships and their crews/passengers.

Somali Pirates Capture Indian Ship With 26 On Board

The Somali pirates remain a threat to shipping off the East Coast of Africa and into the Indian Ocean despite an ongoing mission by various navies to interdict the pirates and to protect the vital shipping lanes:

At least 24 Indian sailors were taken hostage by Somali pirates who hijacked a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier near
Seychelles on Thursday, just a week after a vessel with two Indians among the crew was seized by the sea brigands.

The MV Al Khaliq was Indian-managed and had a sizeable number of Indian crew aboard, Noel Choong, the head of the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre, told PTI in Kuala Lumpur.

A NATO spokesman in London said, "There were 26 crew on board -- 24 Indians and two Burmese. The 33,000 DWT bulk carrier was hijacked this morning in the Somali Basin.

UPDATE:
Meanwhile, Islamic terrorists fired on the Mogadishu airport at a time when the Somali President was preparing to board his aircraft, killing at least 20 people.

Somalia's capital sees near-daily bloodshed as a powerful insurgent group with links to al-Qaida tries to overthrow the fragile U.N.-backed government and push out some 5,000 African Union peacekeepers. Both sides of the conflict have been accused of indiscriminate shelling.

"We have seen at least 20 dead bodies lying in the streets, most of them civilians," said Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service. He said about 60 people were wounded as mortars slammed into residential areas.

Thursday's shelling started soon after insurgents fired toward President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed's plane, said police spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise.

"The mortars hit the perimeter of the airport," he said. "The plane carrying the president took off safely."

Embassy Bombing Terrorist Gets Just Desserts

News reports are indicating that an al Qaeda terrorist connected to the twin bombings of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania has reportedly been killed in a US raid in Somalia.

A senior al Qaeda operative behind the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania is believed to have been killed during a raid by covert forces in southern Somalia.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and another person are thought to have been killed in the southern town of Barawe during a raid by what is thought to be French commandos. Nabhan’s death has not been confirmed, however.

Witnesses said foreign troops swept into the town on helicopters, killed Nabhan and another terrorist, and captured two others after wounding them, Mareeg reported. Some of the commandos were thought to have had uniforms with French markings.

The weak Transitional Federal Government does not own helicopters. The French have denied conducting such a raid. Another possibility is that the raid was carried out by US special operations forces under the task force assigned to hunt al Qaeda operatives across the globe.

Nabhan was also implicated in a hotel bombing in Mombassa and an attempted attack on an Israeli civilian airliner flying out of the Mombassa airport. While some of the reports claim that it was French forces involved, ABC News reports that it was US forces who participated in the attack.

In fact, they special forces involved appear to have conducted a snatch and grab, and took prisoners and the remains of two, one of which would be Nabhan.

Congratulations are in order to the US special forces and all those involved in tracking this terrorist down, and for President Obama in continuing to take the fight to the terrorists where they are.

Now is not the time to let up, and to continue tracking down terrorists in failed states like Somalia and elsewhere in the world so that they cannot have an opportunity to plot future attacks against the West and the US in particular.

Pirates Getting Help From Overseas

This isn't much of a surprise really. The pirates and the shipping industry have been in close contact through intermediaries for years in order to secure ransoms and negotiate deals to release ships and crews in Somalia and elsewhere around the world.

Therefore, it's not much of a reach to learn that there are unscrupulous people who are tipping off the pirates as to the whereabouts of lucrative targets ripe for being attacked by the pirates.

It says that pirate groups have "well-placed informers" in London who are in regular contact with control centres in Somalia where decisions on which vessels to attack are made. These London-based "consultants" help the pirates select targets, providing information on the ships' cargoes and courses.

In at least one case the pirates have remained in contact with their London informants from the hijacked ship, according to one targeted shipping company.

The pirates' information network extends to Yemen, Dubai and the Suez canal.

The intelligence report is understood to have been issued to European navies.

"The information that merchant ships sailing through the area volunteer to various international organisations is ending up in the pirates' hands," Cadena SER reported the report as saying.

This enables the more organised pirate groups to study their targets in advance, even spending several days training teams for specific hijacks. Senior pirates then join the vessel once it has been sailed close to Somalia.

Cruise Ship Defends Itself From Somali Pirates; Five Other Ships Attacked

They didn't use nonlethal systems like the long range acoustic device, which sends piercingly loud sounds at the attackers. They sent hot lead; as the pirates opened fire on the cruise ship as it was steaming near the Seychelles, an Israeli security team on board returned fire. The Italian cruise line issued a statement saying that the Israelis were hired because they were the best security available.

The ship, the MSC Melody, did take some damage as bullets broke windows and damaged a lifeboat. One crew and one passenger were injured in the encounter. The pirates continued firing on the ship for some 20 minutes after trying to board. The pirates were repelled by both Israeli security and crew manning a fire hose to prevent the pirates from boarding.

This wasn't the only pirate attack over the weekend either:

Separately Sunday, four Yemeni tankers escorted by a Yemeni coast guard boat on their way to Aden were attacked by pirates. Three of the ships escaped and coast guards captured five pirates and wounded two others, said Mohammed Abdul-Rahman, a senior official at the Overseas Shipping and Stevedoring Company. Pirates could only seize one of the tankers, the Qana. The Yemeni Interior Ministry said coast guards were trying to free it.

And the Turkish cruiser Ariva 3, with two British and four Japanese crew aboard, survived a pirate attack near the Yemeni island of Jabal Zuqar, said Ali el-Awlaqi, head of the Yemeni El-Awlaqi Marine company said.

"Pirates opened fire at the cruise ship for 15 minutes then stopped for no reason," he said, adding that the cruiser was heading to Aden, Yemen, to fix a broken engine.

International military forces have battled pirates, with U.S. Navy snipers killing three holding an American captain hostage in one of the highest-profile incidents.

But Saturday's exchange of fire between the Melody and pirates was one of the first reported between pirates and a nonmilitary ship. Civilian shipping and passenger ships have generally avoided arming crewmen or hiring armed security for reasons of safety, liability and compliance with the rules of the different countries where they dock.

Pellegrino said the pistols on board the Melody were available to the commander and security agents. He said they were used as a deterrent, "in an emergency operation."

It was not the first attack on a cruise liner. In November, pirates opened fire on a U.S.-operated ship, the M/S Nautica, which was taking 650 passengers and 400 crew members on a monthlong luxury cruise from Rome to Singapore. The cruise liner was able to outrun the pirates. In early April a tourist yacht was hijacked by Somali pirates near the Seychelles just after having dropped off its cargo of tourists.

The number of pirate attacks has doubled this year, and the payment of ransoms isn't helping matters. It might secure the release of the crews, but it incentivizes the taking of more ships.

This must stop, and fighting the pirates on the seas isn't going to end the piracy. Only taking out the safe havens onshore will. No one appears willing or able to do so. Instead, everyone will talk about having to conduct more patrols, all while the pirates continue their deadly business.

Captured Somali Pirate Was Ringleader, Not Dupe

You don't say. Crew members of the Maersk Alabama have gone on the record saying that Wal-i-Musi (aka Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse), the Somali pirate captured by the US Navy in connection with the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips, was not merely some guy along for the ride, but was the leader of the group.

That directly contradicts claims made by his supporters yesterday.

Crew of the Maersk Alabama say he was the leader.

[ATM "Zahid"] Reza said he was steering the Maersk Alabama when it was attacked April 8.

"When I first saw him, he carried himself as the leader. He was asking for directions, how to start (the) engine, and asking for all the crew," Reza recalled of Muse.

Muse spoke in broken English, and mostly spoke to the captain, Reza said.

"He was surprised he was on a U.S. ship. He kept asking, 'You all come from America?' Then he claps and cheers and smiles," Reza said.

Reza, who immigrated to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 1999, said Muse was friendly and smiling at first.

"He was the one who was nice to us because two of the other pirates tried to shoot us and he stopped them from shooting," Reza said.

But Muse eventually lost his patience as other pirates failed to arrive, Reza said. Reza and his shipmates lured Muse into a darkened engine room.

During a noisy struggle there, Reza stabbed Muse in the hand with a knife.

Well, now we know how Muse got injured in the first place and why he was on board the USS Bainbridge when the snipers finally freed Capt. Phillips and killed three of the pirates holding him.

This is going to make it even more difficult for Ron Kuby to defend this guy. Kuby's a good lawyer, but Muse is not going to walk. He was caught literally red-handed.

Kuby's trying to torture a reading of international law claiming that the US was somehow violating a truce of warfare in high seas.

Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somali.

"I think there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come on to the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

As noted yesterday, age is not a problem since it's been shown he was at least 18 years old. While Musi may have boarded under a flag of truce, his compatriots continued to threaten Capt. Phillips and the US Navy is obligated to protect the life of the American captain. The US Navy owes a pirate nothing but the business end of a gun or missile.

Somali Pirate's Jolly Adventure To New York

The United States captured a Somali pirate during the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama. The pirate, Abduhl Wal-i-Musi, was escorted back to the US to stand trial. He's now in New York standing trial on multiple charges stemming from his actions to attack the Maersk Alabama and taking the captain and crew hostage.

He was front-cuffed and chained to the agents. At first, he was stern-faced, before flashing a smile for the photographers.

His blue, rainproof jumpsuit hung baggy on his thin frame -- all in one piece, including the footies, like a child's pajamas.

He didn't answer questions.

Wal-i-Musi is expected to face a federal magistrate in Manhattan by this afternoon, according to official sources.

There, he will likely learn he faces kidnapping and other charges carrying a maximum of life in prison, the sources said.

He has a lawyer with the help of the Minneapolis-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center, its director, Omar Jamal, said today.

Jamal says Muse, whose parents say is 16, does not speak English and is confused at his circumstances.

Wal-i-Musi was the hapless pirate in the lot -- jumped, stabbed and tied up by his would-be captives in the early moments of the attack.

He's confused at his circumstances? I'd say that he got off lucky. He's lucky he wasn't killed along with the other three pirates holding Capt. Phillips because he sought medical attention for wounds on his hand courtesy of the USS Bainbridge. He's lucky that the US has a justice system far more compassionate than the Somali pirates, who repeatedly attack shipping with the intent to collect ransoms.

What exactly is Musi confused about? He was involved in piracy. Is the Somali Justice Advocacy Center claiming that Musi didn't know that he was engaging in piracy and violating international law? Ignorance of the law is no defense. It's basic common sense that you don't go and attack ships, threaten crews with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades and other weapons, and kidnap crews to hold them ransom. Yet, Musi was in with this particular crowd. It's what they do.

UPDATE:
Apparently Musi isn't 16, but 18. The parents spoke with the judge by phone and said as much. Musi will be treated as an adult. So much for the claim that he was a juvenile.

Weather Favors the Pirates

Weather patterns over the next few weeks will favor the pirates, who continue attacking shipping off the coast of Somalia. Light winds and favorable sea conditions might be good sailing conditions, but they aid the pirates who have smaller speedboats.

The pirates have been using armed, small speedboats to attack the large vessels. For obvious reasons, large waves would greatly hinder these tactics. The current, seasonable weather pattern favors generally clear skies and waves generally of 3 to 5 feet or less. There are no big storm systems in the northern Indian Ocean to general large waves and swells. Only spotty thunderstorms will occur along the immediate coast from Mogadishu northward in Somalia. More unsettled conditions and building seas will be found farther south toward Kenya. No rain and nearly cloudless skies are expected around Arabia and the Gulf of Aden.

A new moon is in store later this week. While the nearly unrestricted visibility by day may be a draw as far as who benefits, little or no moonlight for the next 10 to 14 days will not aid those keeping watch at night aboard merchant vessels. The pirate boats are not illuminated, while the large ships must be lit to avoid collision with other vessels in the vicinity.

Later in May and in June, seas will typically build in the region as the southerly flow picks up. The moist flow also allows thunderstorms to propagate northward to a certain point. Until then, the merchant marine sailors operating in the area will have to keep a watchful eye.

Meanwhile, The Atlantic does a disservice by claiming that the Ethiopian government, backed by the US, overthrew the one functioning government that Somalia has had in two decades. The Islamists were not the legitimate government, and the ICU and their compatriots are busy engaging in piracy, not acting like coast guardsmen.

They are attacking any and all shipping that comes even remotely close to Somalia - some of the attacks have been several hundred miles from the Somali coast. Then, there's this:

Thanks to the high-profile rescue and the courageous tale of the Alabama’s captain and crew, however, the world is paying attention now. Last week, Hillary Clinton unveiled several new anti-pirate initiatives, which include proposals for freezing pirate assets, arrangements to work with 30 nations on international maritime protection, and, most importantly, new plans to address the glaring chaos of Somalia—Finally.

Secretary Clinton also spoke of the need to take Somalia’s new Prime Minister, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed—one of the leading Islamists who fled the U.S.-backed invasion by Ethiopia nearly three years ago—very seriously. Paradoxically, the Islamists led by Sheikh Ahmed, are the only leaders who have effectively banned piracy ever—during their six months in power in 2006. Under the Islamist’s watch, piracy stopped almost completely. Now, heading back into power after nearly three years of bloody insurgency, the Islamists are ready to take on the pirates again. In the past few days, the Islamists leading Somalia’s transitional government have announced that piracy is a crime against Islam and punishable by death.

The ICU has been busy marauding all over Somalia and imposing Sharia and there have been several attacks since the ICU suddenly announced that piracy is a crime. The ICU is making much of a show of their claim that piracy is suddenly a crime against Islam, when these people have been pushing piracy for years on end.

The ICU has no interest in stopping the piracy - only getting the attention off their own actions.

There is going to be a meeting next month to deal with the piracy issue, led by the US and Secretary of State Clinton. Unless the meeting includes a consistent policy on how to deal with the pirates captured on the high seas and taking action against the militias and the black market that supports and feeds off the piracy, the situation will continue. The Bush Administration had coordinated the response, but that approach clearly has not contained or solved the situation.

At the same time, Kenya is contemplating hosting a piracy tribunal. That makes a slightly improved situation to the haphazard manner in which pirates are dealt with now. In fact, the current situation can best be described as utter chaos as some pirates are simply detained and released, while others are captured and may be held for trial in the US.

UPDATE:
Case in point. Yet another attack. Pirates opened fire on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden. Another group of pirates released a ship containing humanitarian aid after receiving a $100,000 ransom, which was euphemistically called a "reward."