"When we heard what happened with the twin towers on the radio, we were very, very sorry," emphasizes the local imam in the Somaili village of El Wak, Sheikh Ali Abdi Mohammad. "We like America very much, and we invite you to like us too. Anyway, Islam cannot allow for any killing. That is not what I preach." Al Ittihad was expelled from the village more than two years ago by a coalition of local tribes and the Ethiopians. "Those days are gone" says District Commissioner Yussuf Haji Osman. "We did not welcome them then, we would not do so now."
Amazing what a good bombing campaign can do somewhere else. We remember how well you liked us when we were delivering groceries ten years ago, and then thanked us by dragging our boys' bodies through the streets. We remember. |