In the third controversial congressional hearing on Muslim extremism Wednesday, Chair Peter King pointed directly at Minneapolis connections to al-Shabaab as a threat to United States security, although no Minnesota Somali-Americans were invited to testify.

In his opening statement, King said al-Shabaab should not be viewed as a threat to only Somalia: ”With al-Shabaab’s large cadre of American jihadis and unquestionable ties to al-Qaeda, particularly its alliance with AQAP, we must face the reality that al-Shabaab is a growing threat to our homeland.”

More than 20 Somali-Americans from Minneapolis have been recruited to al-Shabaab in recent years, according to law enforcement. King pointed to a guilty plea by an al-Shabaab recruiter and a very public scuffle in the state’s largest mosque as evidence that “jihadi sympathizers” are active in the Minneapolis community.

No Somali-American Minneapolis residents were called to testify. The only speaker of Somali descent was Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, who said there has been contact between Minneapolis extremists and members of the community in Canada.

William Anders Folk, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, charted the rise of the al-Shabaab in the hearing. In response to a question from King, Folk said al-Shabaab could represent a similar threat to the United States as al-Qaeda. Folk said the best way to combat extremism is to teach Somali-Americans about their civil rights and law enforcement techniques.

King’s hearings have been controversial. An MPR piece on the earlier hearings described how the hearings alienated the local Somali community.

In a statement this afternoon, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said radicalization and terrorism threaten national security, but that the hearings were undermining hard-won trust between local Somali-Americans and law enforcement agencies.

“[B]y stereotyping the broader Somali community, we risk losing the trust of our strongest allies in the fight against violent extremism,” Ellison said. “Policymakers and law enforcement officials must work in partnership with Somali-Americans to combat terrorist organizations like al-Shabaab.”

Al-Shabab's logo

The threat of terrorism in the U.S. today is “less severe” but “more complex and more diverse than at any time over the past nine years,” according to a new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Preparedness Group, the new incarnation of the 9/11 Commission. The lead anecdote in its report, “Assessing the Terrorist Threat,” released Friday morning, is that of Burhan Hassan, who illustrates a new problem in the battle against terrorism: the increasing role of U.S. residents or citizens in planning and assisting in terrorist operations.

Along with a handful of other local Somali males, 17-year-old Burhan, as Abdi Aynte reported here in in December 2008, boarded a plane from Minneapolis on election day that had the ultimate destination of Somalia, where he’d been recruited to join Al-Shabab (“The Youth”), “an al-Qaeda ally that deliberately emulates its mentor organization — down to its reliance on training camps, a safe haven, the use of the Internet for propaganda purposes, and suicide attacks,” BPC’s report states. Two of the youths that left that day later went on to kill others in suicide attacks. And, the report says, they are not alone: youth radicalized and recruited by the group elsewhere in the country have committed similar acts.

The report finds that al-Qaeda isn’t capable of a 9/11-scaled attack that would inflict mass casualties, but threats of attacks on American soil persist. Last year was a “watershed” for domestic terrorist plots or attacks, with a “record total of 11 jihadist attacks, jihadist-inspired plots, or efforts by Americans to travel overseas to obtain terrorist training.” At least 43 American citizens or residents with ties to Sunni militant groups or ideologies were charged or convicted of terror-related crimes last year — a record since 9/11, according to the BPC.

The real threat of terror by Islamist extremists isn’t from al-Qaeda-directed attacks, the report finds (at the time of the 9/11 attack, al-Qaeda had only 200 “sworn members”). Like-minded individuals or groups planning attacks independently is where the real threat lies.

One such group is al-Shabab, which swore allegiance to Osama Bin Laden in 2009 and “has managed to plant al-Qaeda-like ideas into the heads of even its American recruits.” From the report:

Shirwa Ahmed, an ethnic Somali, graduated from high school in Minneapolis in 2003, then worked pushing passengers in wheelchairs at the Minneapolis airport. During this period Ahmed was radicalized; the exact mechanisms of that radicalization are still murky, but in late 2007 he traveled to Somalia. About a year later, on October 29, 2008, Ahmed drove a truck loaded with explosives toward a government compound in Puntland, northern Somalia, blowing himself up and killing about 20 people, including United Nations peacekeeping troops and international humanitarian assistance workers. The FBI matched Ahmed’s finger, recovered at the scene, to fingerprints already on file for him.44 Ahmed was the first American terrorist suicide attacker anywhere. It’s possible that 18-year-old Omar Mohamud of Seattle was the second. On September 17, 2009, two stolen U.N. vehicles loaded with bombs blew up at the Mogadishu airport, killing more than a dozen peacekeepers of the African Union. The FBI suspects that Mohamud was one of the bombers.

The report also notes, however, that would-be jihadists don’t fit a single ethnic profile:

[O]f the 57 Americans whose ethnicities are known who have been charged or convicted of Islamist terrorism crimes in the United States or elsewhere since January 2009, 21 percent (12) are Caucasian-Americans, 18 percent (10) are Arab-Americans, 14 percent (8) are South Asian-Americans, 9 percent (5) are African-Americans, 4 percent (2) are Hispanic-Americans and 2 percent (1) are Caribbean-American. The single largest bloc are Somali-Americans at 31 percent, a number that reflects the recent crackdown by federal authorities on support networks for Americans traveling to Somalia to fight with Shabab.

Read or download the 44-page report:

Final NSPG Threat Assessment Report Sept 2010 report w cover

Somali flag. Image: Wikipedia

The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed more details about today’s arrests of Minnesotans accused of aiding the Somlia-based terrorist organization al-Shabab. In a press release, the agency named two women charged with conspiracy to provide material support to the group (among other charges), 33-year-old Amina Farah Ali and 63-year-old Hawa Mohamed Hassan, both of Rochester. A July indictment unsealed today charges three U.S. citizens (Abdikadir Ali Abdi, 19; Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 21; and Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, 33) and two others (Farah Mohamed Beledi, 26; and Abdiweli Yassin Isse, 26) with “conspiring to and providing material support to al-Shabaab and conspiring to kill, maim, and injure persons abroad,” among other charges.

The five, along with five previously indicted Somalis in Minnesota, are charged with providing “financial support and personnel, including themselves as fighters, both to a conspiracy to kill abroad and to the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab.” The five newly named men are believed to have traveled to Somalia in 2008 and 2009.

Ali and Hassan, reportedly the first women charged with aiding the al-Shabab group, were actively fundraising in Minnesota. From the FBI’s release:

Ali, Hassan, and others allegedly raised money for these individuals by soliciting funds door-to-door in Somali communities in Minneapolis, Rochester, and other locations in the United States and Canada. In addition, the defendants allegedly raised money by direct appeal to individuals participating in teleconferences that featured speakers who encouraged donations to support al Shabaab. Ali also allegedly raised funds under the false pretense that such funds were for the poor and needy.The indictment alleges that Ali and others transferred funds to al Shabaab through the hawala money remittance system. Ali and others allegedly used false names to identify the recipients of the funds to conceal that the funds were being provided to al Shabaab. The indictment lists 12 money transfers allegedly directed to al Shabaab by Ali.

The indictment alleges several overt acts to carry out the fund-raising conspiracy. For example, on Oct. 26, 2008, Ali allegedly hosted a teleconference in which an unindicted co-conspirator told listeners that it was not the time to help the poor and needy in Somalia; rather the priority was to give to the mujahidin. Ali and Hassan allegedly recorded $2,100 in pledges at the conclusion of the teleconference. On Feb. 10, 2009, Ali allegedly conducted another fundraising teleconference in which she told listeners to “forget about the other charities” and focus on “the jihad.”

On July 14, 2009, the day after the FBI executed a search warrant at her home, Ali allegedly contacted an unindicted co-conspirator and said, “I was questioned by the enemy here…they took all my stuff and are investigating it…do not accept calls from anyone.” The indictment further alleges that when Hassan was questioned by agents in an investigation involving international terrorism, she made false statements.

Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon, Gov. Tim Pawlenty offered a short statement on the indictments:

“This is a stark reminder that the threat of terrorism is not limited to faraway places. We must remain aggressive and vigilant in combating terrorism both at home and abroad.”

Rep. Tim Walz, who represents the Rochester district where Ali and Hassan live, also offered a reaction:

“Terrorists around the world need to clearly understand that this country will never rest until their extremist ideology is eliminated whether it be in Somalia, Afghanistan or on the streets of Rochester. From my experience meeting with our special forces in the Horn of Africa and in meetings with the FBI held in my Rochester office, it is clear we need to remain vigilant and focused on defeating terrorism here and around the world.”

Al-Shabab's logo

Minnesotans of Somali descent are among 14 people charged with providing support for the terrorist organizaiton al-Shabab in Somalia. The AP reports two indictments unsealed this morning include names of five new people charged in an ongoing investigation, bringing the total number of individuals charged here to 19. Two Rochester residents were accused of fundraising for the group, which was designated a terrorist group by the government in 2008.

“Most of the people are U.S. citizens, with some supporting the terrorist organization from the United States and others traveling to Somalia to do so,” Pete Yost of the AP reports.

Local ties to al-Shabab (also spelled al-Shabaab) have been investigated here for nearly two years, with the case focusing on around 20 young men who disappeared, apparently to go fight in Somalia. The investigation has rattled the local Somali community and brought the attention of national and international press.

Update: The Star Tribune reports that the two Minnesota women arrested this morning are naturalized citizens named Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan:

According to a grand jury indictment unsealed in Washington D.C. Thursday, Hassan and Ali communicated by telephone with members of Al-Shabab in Somalia and then worked to raise money for the group here in Minnesota.

Advertising that their fundraising was to help the poor and needy in their homeland, the women used teleconferences to make direct appeals to others to provide financial support to Al-Shabab and its work to further jihad, or holy war, investigators said.

They then allegedly transmitted funds to Somalia using several money express companies here in Minnesota.

Update: Here’s the indictment:

35421426-Somali-Mn-Indict

At least one youth was killed when he tried to leave Al-Shabaab, an Islamist movement in Somalia. The New York Times took a fascinating look into the missing Somali-Minnesotan youth and the war in Somalia last week.

“We can’t have a knee-jerk emotional reaction,” Ellison told MPR. “We’ve got to have an intelligent reaction. If a young person says, ‘I have been lied to. I don’t like these people. I want to get away from them,’ we should help them do that, as long as we know that does not create a public safety issue for Minnesotans and Americans.”

Ellison had a message to Minnesotans who have joined Al-Shabaab.

“If you’ve learned the truth about these exploitative organizations like Shabaab, who are so dangerous, then abandon them and then help tell the truth about what these groups are really all about,” Ellison said.

Minneapolis residents protest in 2006 after Ethiopia's US-backed invasion of Somalia (Abdi Aynte)

The story of Somali youth who vanished from the Twin Cities, possibly to fight alongside jihadists in their home country, is transforming the normally passionate and sometimes pugilistic debates at Minneapolis coffee shops into quieter introspection. Now a recurring topic of conversation among Somalis is “reconstructing the community’s tainted image,” said Dahir Awaleh, a 47-year-old small-business owner who frequents the popular Starbucks on Minneapolis’ Riverside Avenue.

“In Minnesota, Somalis are increasingly associated with terrorists,” he lamented, sipping his coffee. “Businesses are raided. Friends and family members are being interrogated by law enforcement agencies. Mosques are under surveillance.”

On a recent Saturday afternoon — a day when the shop’s customers are almost entirely Somali — Awaleh’s remarks drew quick nods from the half dozen Somali men he sat with. They said that the unknown number of Somali youth who left the Twin Cities, among other places, to fight in Somalia, is casting the community in a negative light, thanks to alarmist individuals and sensational news media.

“Individuals anointed by the news media as leaders are capitalizing on this tragedy,” said Mukhtar Osman, an engineering student at the University of Minnesota, who was recently held at the airport for hours when he returned from a family visit in Sweden. “My detention is a direct impact of reckless remarks made by so-called community leaders who claim that Somali youth may strike U.S. targets if they return. There’s no shred of evidence for this.”

Osman’s assertion is backed up by law enforcement. Andrew Liepman, deputy director of intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center, recently told a Senate panel that his agency does “not have a credible body of reporting right now that leads us to believe that these American recruits are being trained and instructed to come back to the U.S. for terrorist acts.”

Self-radicalized?

Though much of the blame for the missing Somali youth has been directed at local mosques, there are signs that the youth, galvanized by the 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, may have radicalized themselves. Widely believed to be supported by the Bush administration, Ethiopia’s invasion “has attracted the rapt attention of Somali diaspora communities and heightened their nationalistic sentiments,” Liepman testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in March.

Extremist elements like al-Shabaab, a Somali group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., have exploited the bitter reaction to the Ethiopian invasion and compelled young, despondent Somali men to join their ranks.

As a result, some of the men may have sold assets or worked overtime to pay the airfare to Somalia. Sources close to one of the missing young men, Abdisalam, known as “Bullet-head,” said that he sold his car just a few weeks before he left last year. At least a handful of the vanished youth have had decent paying jobs.

Earlier this month, a young man who uses the pseudonym “Abu Muslim” and claims to be a 23-year-old from Minneapolis, told a local radio station in Somalia that no one had recruited him to fight. “I chose to join the cause of jihad in my country,” he said in broken Somali, a clear sign that he grew up in the diaspora.

Also this month, al-Shabaab released a sophisticated 31-minute propaganda video designed to appeal to diaspora Somalis. The star of the video is a Caucasian man who calls himself “Abu Mansoor,” the American. He commands an English-speaking unit of about two dozen men, thought to be Somalis bred in the West. A Somali member of the unit, whose face is obscured, says in an American accent that he never thought he’d be leaving the comfort of home to carry an AK-47 in defense of his country.

‘Under Siege’

Whether the missing youth radicalized and financed themselves, or whether they have been actively recruited by certain individuals within the community, the negative impact of the story can hardly be overstated.

Last week, FBI agents raided the Minneapolis offices of money transfer business — a key lifeline for millions of Somalis who depend on monthly remittances from loved ones in the diaspora. Though the offices were not closed, the episode was another blow to a community shaken by fear, confusion and uncertainty.

Special agent E.K. Wilson of the Minneapolis FBI said the raids were part of an ongoing investigation, though he wouldn’t confirm or deny if they were related to the vanished youth.

That uncertainty surrounding the subject of the investigation is bedeviling the community. Returning to Somalia for any reason — marriage, traditional medical treatments or a just to visit family — is cause for intense scrutiny.

“Even people who tried to take vacation from their jobs were asked by their superiors if they were going to Somalia for jihad,” said Abdi Sheikh-Osman, an adjunct professor of law at the University of Minnesota. “Somalis fled a country where the government was the principal enemy. Now they face a similar situation. The community is effectively under siege.”

Back at the Starbucks, many in the crowd said they know countless friends and family members who have been interviewed by the FBI. They also said the news of a grand jury being convened to investigate the matter, while a welcome step, has increased anxiety among them.

Al-Shabaab in trouble?

Ethiopia’s withdrawal from Somalia late last year, a crucial recruiting tool for al-Shabaab, has probably hurt its bottom line, experts said. Left with a popular Islamist as the president of the nascent Government of National Unity and an unfriendly clannish society, al-Shabaab will inevitably see its membership dwindle, experts believe.

“The shabaab is already in trouble, thanks to the Ethiopian withdrawal,” wrote Ken Menkhause, a Somalia scholar at Davidson College in North Carolina. “It also runs the risk of having its most powerful ideological card — Somali nationalist, anti-foreigner sentiments — turned against it, as domestic adversaries accuse it of being a puppet of foreign jihadists bringing more trouble to the country.”

If such scenario bears fruit, the story of the vanished Somali youth may have reached its climax.

Abdi Aynte, a former fellow at the Minnesota Independent, is Washington correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service.