NOV 4 2014 PROGRAM: Combating Against Radicalization and Home Grown Terrorists
In 2007 Somali youth started going to Somalia to join Al Shabab, a terror organization which is an offshoot of Al Qaedia. Some of them were killed in combat and suicide bombings, while a handful returned and persecuted. Now another wave of radicalized American youth are going to Syria to join ISIS, another terror organization.
Minnesota is one of several states in the country with an ongoing large active terror investigation. How this investigation is handled will determine the outcome of the war on terror. In part this is a war on ideology, a war on ideas. Thus far, the propaganda machine of terror organization seems to be effective in luring American youth to the ideas of Jihadist and inspiring some of them to be a lone wolf here in the United States.
Omar Jamal is CEO of American Friends of Somalia, Inc., a Former Diplomat at the UN, and Former Executive Director of Somali Justice Advocacy Center.