Terror Recruiting on the Home Front

The New York Times in a detailed investigative report uncovered a chilling story of the threats of homegrown terrorism. The article depicts how Minnesotan Somali immigrants who appeared to have fully integrated into the American way of life, in fact turned around, returned to Somalia where their parents had fought to flea and picked up arms.

The University of Minnesota students “came of age as refugees in Minneapolis, embracing basketball and the prom, hip-hop and the Mall of America. By the time they reached college, their dreams seemed within grasp: one planned to become a doctor; another, an entrepreneur.”

When hearing accounts of Somalis in danger, they expressed feelings of guilt, not being there to help. Three students dropped out and left for their distant homeland of Somalia. They joined Shabaab, a militant Islamist organization connected to Al Qaeda. In October, one of them became the first known American suicide bomber. Since then, another has since been killed.

“The case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda. […] Most of the men are Somali refugees who left the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in two waves, starting in late 2007.”

All of the students exhibited full integration into American society including excelling in school. Among them was an engineering and pre-med student.

“The case has forced federal agents and terrorism analysts to rethink some of their most basic assumptions about the vulnerability of Muslim immigrants in the United States to the lure of militant Islam. For years, it seemed that “homegrown” terrorism was largely a problem in European countries like Britain and France, where Muslim immigrants had failed to prosper economically or integrate culturally.”

In the nineties, Somalis came as refugees to the United States and sent back money as well as stories of clean water and well paying jobs. Upon arrival, many found regular jobs by day but were retreating to their Somali-style lives by night. Still, young people often find it difficult to integrate into school and find they lack a belonging. These emotions can lead individuals to look for a place where they do fit in – which makes them easy targets for recruits.

Political events in Somalia “triggered a political awakening among young Somalis in Minneapolis. Here was an external enemy against which young Somalis could unite. Spurred by a newfound sense of nationalism, college students distributed T-shirts emblazoned with the Somali flag and held demonstrations during a frigid Minnesota winter.”

 “While the United States had defended the Ethiopian invasion as a front in the global war on terrorism, many Somalis saw it as a Christian crusade into a Muslim land. […] They saw it as their duty to go and fight,” the friend said. “If it was just nationalism, they could give money. But religion convinced them to sacrifice their whole life.”

Even when in Somalia, the young men communicated on a regular basis with friends back home through the Internet in an attempt to recruit other young Americans. They described their routine in a training camp, “They woke before dawn to pray and study the Koran. They engaged in rigorous training, running obstacle courses and learning to make bombs. As foreign recruits, they received special treatment. […] The men seemed to revel in their new identity as fighters.”
 
The political landscape changed with their time there, as Ethiopian troops pulled out and a new Somalia president took over who rerouted the movement toward a political movement that was more aligned with the Shabaab’s values. The article states that, “Some of them wondered who they were fighting,” one friend said.

“During one call, the friend asked Mohamoud Hassan, the engineering student, what it was like to kill people. He told of getting “an adrenaline rush,” the friend recalled, and joked that he and his friends compared “body counts.”

This is a summary of the New York Times Article on, To read the whole article, click here.