Geopolitical Analysis With Karen Greenberg!

Oh boy! Get the popcorn!

The United Nations and the United States support the current government and thus the African Union Forces – largely from Kenya and Ethiopia – that are engaging al-Shabaab and others on behalf of the government of Somalia. Significantly, the opposition to Kenyan and Ethiopian intervention in Somalia – carrying with it a longstanding historical bitterness – is shared by non-Islamic groups as well.

 Are any of those sending terrorists to blow up shopping malls? No? Shocker...

Since the beginning of the rise in hostilities in the civil war, many Somali Americans have agreed with the opposition to the current regime. Many of these Somali Americans have gone abroad for the purpose of ousting the current government and pushing back against African Union Forces. Many have joined al-Shabaab in the process.

So...their loyalty is not to the country that took them in, sheltered them and gave them a better life, but to the fly-blown shithole they escaped? And...that shouldn't worry anyone?

According to Peter King, and others, the prospect of these foreign fighters returning to the US, and recruiting and training others, poses a grave danger to the United States.

Well, d'uh! But Karen clearly thinks it's not a problem.

First, none of the individuals who traveled to Somalia and who were eventually arrested and convicted, was accused of planning an attack on the United States.

No, just another country, that they were planning to overthrow. Nothing to worry about there, move along...

Second, in the United States proper, where Somali Americans donating funds to Somalia-based causes are often under suspicion for providing material support for terrorism, there have been numerous convictions for financing al-Shabaab. But not one of these individuals has been linked to plans for an attack on the United States.

Yet...

And finally, in the only case where a Somali American was accused of planning a violent attack in the US – Mohammed Mohammed who was accused and convicted after participating in an FBI sting operation to bomb a Christmas Day parade – there was no accusation of a link to al-Shabaab or any other terrorist organization.

You know, that's not as reassuring as you seem to think. If they can do that without help, what can they do WITH help?!

… the Somali diaspora in the United States has demonstrated – for example, in Minneapolis and St Paul, where many of the foreign fighters come from – a strong determination towards integration into the American way of life via educational institutions, business and civic organizations.

Au contrare!

And do we really want to assume the worst as a means of prevention? Have we become a society too scared to think that our law enforcement officials can weed out those who pose a danger to the United States from those who break the law in a misguided effort to support local causes abroad?

Well, I suspect so, because in the past, they've proven utterly useless at doing so, haven't they?