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American jihadi struggles inside al-Shabab
After arriving in Somalia in 2006, Abu Mansoor al-Amriki joined the al-Shabab militia, fighting U.S.-backed African Union forces. And in Marka, Somalia he ruled. Omar Salim, a resident said, "Everybody feared him." For the past three years, he lived in this bucolic oceanside town with three wives and five children in a small residence on a narrow pathway. Known in Arabic as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, he had come a long way from his home in Alabama. Amriki, whose real name is Omar Shafik Hammami, has been the militia's most visible face, using social media Web sites to spread terrorist propaganda. In some videos, he raps, praising jihad and extremist Islam. He was indicted in the United States on charges of terrorist activities, and a federal warrant was issued for his arrest in 2007. But in recent months, there have been shifts in his rhetoric, from defiance to fear to a quest for survival and relevance. In one video, he portrayed himself as a victim facing a death sentence ordered by his own comrades. He has even penned the first part of an online memoir in which he describes himself as "a middle-class white guy" who can "only pray that Allah grants me a righteous ending." Western and Somali security experts say Amriki's journey is a reflection of the divisions and struggle for identity within the militia itself as it suffers major loses on the battlefield. A visit with African Union forces to Marka, in an area the militia once controlled, provided an on-the-ground look into Amriki's life as a jihadi, as well as the militia's current state.
Posted by: ryuge 2012-10-06 |
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