Western media on Somalia [Iraq all over again]....

[General Duke]

The lies or misreporting on the situation on the ground continues. The courts have said they will abide by the wishes of the peoeple. They have categoricly denaid any links to terror. Yet we get these unbalanced and at times biased reports...Here is one.

 

Somalia : Islamists declare war on 'infidels'

 

June 7, 2006, 1 hour, 54 minutes and 25 seconds ago.

 

By ANDnetwork .com

 

Islamic militia in Somalia's capital Mogadishu have declared war on "infidels" further hightening tensions in the country. Mogadishu has become the focus of recent fighting between Islamic militia and the US-backed warlord alliance leaving many in doubt as to whether peace will ever fully prevail in the country.

 

Islamic militia, who are controlling much of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, have declared war on "infidelsâ€, raising fears of new clashes between militia and the battered US-backed warlord alliance. The warning was issued on Wednesday.

 

With the opposing forces locked in a tense standoff outside the alliance's last remaining stronghold north of Mogadishu, elders from both sides appealed frantically for peace.

 

Islamic militia and members of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) however showed no signs of backing down from positions that have resulted in hundreds being killed in the last four months fighting.

 

Mogadishu's most senior Muslim cleric, Sheikh Nur Barud, called on Somalis to crush secular resistance to the imposition of Sharia law, and to reject warlord efforts to gain support by appealing to clan and tribal loyalties.

 

 

 

“All Somalis must defend the Islamic courts because this is not about inter-clan fighting, but about war with the infidels," he said in an address aired by local radio stations.

 

"We are against those who want to make this war appear like inter-clan fighting," Barud said.

 

 

 

"This fighting is between those who support Islam, and godless invaders and those who support them."

 

Barud referred to the ARPCT and the United States, which has provided financial and intelligence support to the warlords to track down Islamic extremists, including suspected Al Qaeda members.

 

On Tuesday US President George W Bush expressed concern over the fall of Mogadishu to Islamic forces a day earlier, and said that Washington would ensure that Somalia does not become a haven for terrorists.

[General Duke]

Keep out of Somalia, Islamist warns US

 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

 

07 June 2006 01:43

 

The leader of Islamist fighters controlling Somali capital Mogadishu warned the United States it would pay dearly for any intervention in the country, a pan-Arab paper reported on Wednesday.

 

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the chairperson of the Islamic courts that have battled warlords for four months, said the US would face a disaster similar to a botched 1993 intervention that left 18 US army officers and 300 Somalis dead.

 

"If US forces intervene directly against us in Mogadishu, then we are ready to teach them a lesson they will never forget and repeat their defeat in 1993," Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat.

 

He rebuffed US accusations that his group, which are militias affiliated with the country's 11 Islamic courts, may be linked to the al-Qaeda terror network.

 

"We are not terrorists and we have said hundreds of times that America's talk about terror in Somalia is fabricated for suspect political motives," he said.

 

"We have no link to those being pursued by America, which is the biggest terrorist nation in the world despite its calls for democracy and respect for noble human values."

 

On Monday, the Islamists declared victory over a US-backed warlord alliance and their control of the capital following four months of bloody battles.

 

US President George Bush said on Tuesday that he was "concerned" about unrest in Somalia and that the US would ensure that the country does not become a haven for al-Qaeda.

 

Washington has never publicly confirmed or denied its support for the alliance but US officials told Agence France-Presse they had given the warlords money and intelligence to help to rein in "creeping Talibanisation" in Somalia.

 

The Horn of Africa nation was plunged into anarchy with the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and analysts have long warned it could become a hotbed for radical Islam along the lines of Afghanistan.

 

Eighteen US army officers and almost 300 Somalis were killed in fighting in 1993 following a botched rescue attempt of a downed US helicopter in Mogadishu.

 

US troops left Somalia in March 1994 after arriving in December 1992 on a humanitarian mission. -- AFP