Somali rebels increasingly resemble Taliban: floggings, music bans and possible al-Qaida links

Somali rebels increasingly resemble Taliban: floggings, music bans and possible al-Qaida links

www.foxnews.com

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Men are forced to grow beards. Women can't leave home without a male relative. Music, movies and watching sports on TV are banned. Limbs are chopped off as punishment, and executions by stoning have become a public spectacle.

Somalia is looking more and more like Afghanistan under the Taliban — two rugged countries 2,000 miles apart, each lacking a central government, each with a hard-line Islamist militia that cows the public into submission.

(visit the link for the full news article)

After reading this article I could not help but find it to be pure propaganda. There are a few statements that seem to contradict each other.

Halfway through the article is this statement:

"Even many Somalis who don't like the Shabab's ideology are immensely thankful for the drop in crime in many areas under the group's control. Their daughters are not raped. Their crops are not stolen en route to market," she said.

Followed by this:

"But Human Rights Watch said in an April report that the stability was achieved by "unrelenting repression and brutality."

So the Somalis are experiencing a drop in crime, rape and etc, but it was achieved by brutality? This confuses me. If it's brutality against those who wish to kill and rape, I'm all for it! That's how you deter crime, by killing and beating the criminals. If this refers to the citizens than I must be misunderstanding.

What really caught my eye is the eagerness to equate the Somalis to the Taliban with links to Al-Qaida. Sounds like a Bush, pre-invasion speech to justify future war against the nation. That's not what I think this article is for, but I guess I am tired of always hearing about terrorist this and Islamist that. It's getting old. Human beings make these choices, not the religion of Islam.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 21-8-2010 by sheepslayer247]

I thank my lucky stars to be in America today. I love waking up to only the sounds of birds singing, slumbering into my livingroom and turning on my 57in to catch some weather and news, then jacking up the tunes on cable TV while I start my day. Picking vegetables and running down to the store to shop, kissing my hunny bunny on his smooth cheek after he shaves, man, I can't beleive the lack of freedom to live your life under the Taliban!

reply to post by space cadet


I agree Space Cadet. There is nothing better than living in America, of course that all I've known, but great just the same.

My point was to point out how the MSM is quick to call unstable areas with issues with terms like 'Taliban-Like' or 'Islamist'.

It's just a different way to look at it I guess. Btw, When the IRS confiscates your tv to pay taxes or puts your smooth-cheeked man in jail for growing his own veggies, I'd like to hear how free you think you are then. Freedom is a matter of perspective. IMO anyway.

Woot! Another country to invade!

Seriously, who gives a crap what Somalis, cave-dwelling Afghanis, or Pakis want to do, if they want to live under sharia law and terrorize their own women and children, and breed themselves out of existence, then let them.

The only reason were in Iraq and Afghanistan now is because of the OIL. Not because of Taliban floggings.

I kept looking for the part in the article about such-and-such-a number of billions of gallons of oil or some rare-earth element being found somewhere in Somalia. Othrwise, why bother diluting the Taliban-brand product for no real reason? Then again, maybe that info will be in the next article and they are just "softening us up" with the "Taliban connection" stuff before they release the big info...

Originally posted by silent thunder
I kept looking for the part in the article about such-and-such-a number of billions of gallons of oil or some rare-earth element being found somewhere in Somalia. ...

Here you go, don't know how good this source is:

us-africa.tripod.com...

...Evidence suggests the presence of untapped deposits of uranium, thorium, iron ore, tin, zinc, copper, petroleum, and rare earth minerals. ...

reply to post by sheepslayer247

What really caught my eye is the eagerness to equate the Somalis to the Taliban with links to Al-Qaida. Sounds like a Bush, pre-invasion speech to justify future war against the nation. That's not what I think this article is for, but I guess I am tired of always hearing about terrorist this and Islamist that. It's getting old. Human beings make these choices, not the religion of Islam.

With the drawdown of "combat" troops in Iraq, the MSM will also have to drawdown its coverage of that country's turmoil lest more Americans question the value gained from the huge cost in human lives and money. This vacuum will lead to questions about why the US is bombing other middle east countries. So, as we would expect, they're turning up the volume on demonising them in advance of the questions.

All sources seem to confirm that our troops are not in Somalia at the moment but you can bet your bottom dollar that the CIA is present and up to their old tricks. We also seem to be ready to intercede on the ground as and when according to

Source: Somalia: US backs puppet government’s planned military offensive
The [Washington] Post sets out the three options that the US military considers with regard to “terrorist” suspects. Firstly, an airstrike on the suspect’s home or vehicle; secondly, an attempt to take him alive; or, thirdly, an attack from helicopters that land at the scene to confirm the kill. The latter was the option the White House authorized last September, when helicopters launched from a US ship off the Somali coast blew up a car carrying Saleh Ali Nabhan, who was nominally the head of Al Qaeda in East Africa.

And why are we so interested in Somalia in the first place? Some say there's no proven oil, others say there is. The CIA's website says Somalia's natural resources consist of

uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, likely oil reserves

Derek S. Reveron writes, in his article Russia to NATO: Let’s Invade Somalia

Historically important, this area remains an essential transportation route used to ship 3 million barrels of oil per day.

And Michel Chossudovsky, in his article The "Demonization" of Muslims and the Battle for Oil, paints the region as valuable enough for 4 oil companies to invest millions in.

US sponsored "civil wars" have also been conducted in several other strategic oil and gas regions including Nigeria, the Sudan, Colombia, Somalia, Yemen, Angola, not to mention Chechnya and several republics of the former Soviet Union. Ongoing US sponsored "civil wars", which often include the channelling of covert support to paramilitary groups, have been triggered in the Darfur region of Sudan as well as in Somalia, Darfur possesses extensive oil reserves. In Somalia, lucrative concessions have already been granted to four Anglo-American oil giants.

"According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco [now part of BP], Chevron and Phillips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising concessions are hoping that the Bush Administration's decision to send U.S. troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their multimillion-dollar investments there." (America's Interests in Somalia, Global Research, 2002)

I'm glad that the OP raised this thread because we've all be so pre-occupied with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran that the other 70+ countries that the USA has active military in are not getting enough attention.

Obama secretly deploys US special forces to 75 countries across world

President Obama has secretly sanctioned a huge increase in the number of US special forces carrying out search-and-destroy missions against al-Qaeda around the world, with American troops now operating in 75 countries.

In closing, let me echo sheepslayer247's sentiment. Freedom is relative! To many people in the USA today, it's the freedom to live in tent cities where they won't be harrassed by cable tv. Lucky them

reply to post by sheepslayer247


All I can say is - beware hating countries you do not understand.

Beware hating countries politicians have told you to hate.

Beware hating any country.

I would go further and say beware of hate period. Hate is emotion and clouds reason and rational thought. It destroys and cannot solve problems.

Cheers

So what ressources do they have, which would explain an article like this on foxnews ?

[edit on 22-8-2010 by ickylevel]

reply to post by ickylevel

So what ressources do they have, which would explain an article like this on foxnews ?

Somali has no resources, but the reason for hyping this "taliban" influence in that region is to heighten fears over it spreading beyond the borders of Afghanistan. In other words, we must increase the war effort in Afghanistan to contain it. It was the same agenda we had during the cold war, where we had to "contain" communism.

reply to post by space cadet


I wish the Afghans could say the same thing - but the Americans are killing them there.

Second line.



[edit on 22-8-2010 by wcitizen]

Mm, they're rolling out the fictitious AQ again. US is starting to prep the public for the next war. Now, what assets could Somalia have that US wants?

Thanks for sharing information everyone. It seems to me that this article may be evidence that we are beginning to justify an invasion of Africa. TPTB could invade, plunder the resources and kill vast amounts of people. All in the name of Democracy.

That's how I see it anyway. And of course, Islam is the scapegoat.

reply to post by catwhoknows


I hope that I didn't portray hate towards anyone in my post. I feel that this may be the beginning of the MSM propaganda against another country that the US can plunder. I think we need to leave people alone. If they have something we want, trade with them instead of killing their governments and leaders.