UPDATE: Confirmed. Alternate spelling is Ibrahim Hassan Addou and he is an American citizen. Much more information in this post.
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I was reading through the headlines today to see if fighting has begun between our allies in Ethiopia and the jihadis of the Islamic Courts Union which now run most of Southern Somalia, when I came across something interesting.

The head of The Foreign Relations Department of the Islamic Courts Union, Ibrahim Hassan Addow, is an American citizen.

How bad is the Islamic Courts Union? Bad enough that we have dubbed them the 'African Taliban'. They wish to impose strict sharia law on the citizens of Somalia, just like the Afghani Taliban. They also have ties to al Qaeda, just like the Afghani Taliban. And just like the Afghani Taliban, they deny that they are extremists and that they have ties to terrorists.

So, who is Ibrahim Hassan Addow? I have no idea. In fact, I can find no information on him prior to his association with the jihadis now running much of Somalia. But he claims to be an American. UPDATE: Critical information found on Ibrahim Hassan Addou. He worked at American University in Washington, D.C., and now heads a university in Mogadishu.

Since the title "Professor" is often attached to his names in media reports, is it possible he taught at the University level in the United States? If so, is there any one out there who knows anything about him?

He seems to be the main spokesman for the ICU abroad and has participated in several international conferences aimed at bringing peace to Somalia. Perhaps he was chosen for this job because of his US citizenship and status as an educated man.

I'm thinking that he is probably a naturalized citizen--that is, that he immigrated to the United States and became a citizen at some point--not that he was born here. But, since the US has stated in no uncertain terms that the Islamic Courts Union of Somalia has ties to the global jihad and is harboring al Qaeda terrorists who bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, would that not make Ibrahim Addow a traitor?

On top of that it is the Islamic Courts Union themselves who claimed the warlords they were recently victorious over were backed by the US government then would this not make him a traitor times two? The organization he is the spokeman for claims it is fighting US backed forces!

I hope somebody somewhere is working on revoking his citizenship. Or brininging him back for a speedy trial followed by some Texas style justice.

Here we have a guy who is trying to put the happy face on a regime that murders people for watching soccer or for not praying or for converting to Christianity [insert any other number of 'crimes' here] and which has recently declared jihad against Ethiopia. Nice.

Oh, and since I was originally looking for whether or not the Somalians and Ethiopians were now officially at war, you might want to know that the answer is yes. The African Taliban claimed today that Ethiopian troops began to shell ICU held positions. They've also invited Muslims from around the world to join the jihad in Somalia.

Which contradicts all earlier statements made by the ICU that there were no foreign fighters in Somalia and there is no connection between the ICU and the global jihad.

UPDATE: As if on cue, the Islamists release a video called: Somalia, apostate hell. Hell for apostates they mean. Al Jazeera:

Somalia's Union of Islamic Courts has accused neighbouring Ethiopia of shelling a town about 630km north of the capital, Mogadishu.

In response, thousands of enraged Somalis gathered in the capital shouting “Down with America! Down with Ethiopia!”

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, an Islamic courts leader, told a crowd of more than 10,000 people: "Ethiopian soldiers have massed around Bandiradley and started firing missiles"....

Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siyad Indhaade, the national security chairman for the Islamic courts, said: "Our door of jihad is open for all Muslims around the world if the Security Council approves the deployment of foreign troops in Somalia.

"We call on the world to avoid a war that will affect the Horn of Africa."

Sheikh Fu'ad Mohammed Khalaf, the head of the Islamic courts' education department, said: "When the first shot is fired, all schools and universities will be closed and students and teachers will go to jihad."

"The US delegation will be received by our Foreign Relations Chief, Ibrahim Hassan Addow, who is himself an American citizen. Islamists would like to tell the United States in person of its opposition to a US-proposed UN Security Council resolution that would partially lift a 1992 arms embargo on Somalia and authorize regional peacekeepers," the sources quoted Muddey as saying. The lifting of the UN weapons embargo which is being spearheaded by US is a serious security risk, the Spokesman added.

There was no immediate reaction to the invitation from the US embassy in neighbouring Kenya which handles Washington's Somalia portfolio. But a positive response was unlikely as the United States accuses some Islamists of ties with al-Qaida and harbouring suspects in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the sources indicated.

Posted by: Rusty at 03:50 PM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
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