Somalia Islamists should be stopped--Bashir Goth

[NASSIR]

Somalia Islamists Should Be Stopped

By Bashir Goth

December 23,2006

 

 

Somalia for Somalis! Let them run their country as they please. Easy words to say but difficult to accept when it means beheading people for not praying five times a day, chopping hands of those who steal to stay alive in a country where mere survival is a lifelong ambition; difficult to accept when women are shrouded and denied to breathe fresh air or go about their daily business to feed their children. Difficult to accept when the country's musical heritage is expunged as Satan's work, the cinema is banned and the watching of world sports is forbidden, thus depriving the youth of the only source of cultural interaction they have with the outside world.

 

Today we live in a global world where ideas travel faster than lightening and people and weapons cross borders with utmost ease; where human rights are universal; and where political upheavals in one country reverberate in far off countries. No country stands alone.

This is why the world cannot and should not ignore what the Islamist movement in Somalia does and says. Remember what happened when the world ignored Afghanistan under Taliban. When the world stood aside and watched as they destroyed the historical relics of the Buddha; when they trampled on human rights and herded women into dark rooms. We all have seen the enormous cost of such negligence. Sept. 11 was only the start.

 

This is why the Somali Islamists' calling for Jihad against Ethiopia and the United States cannot be ignored. Ethiopia is the only country that has correctly seen the danger coming from the rise of Islamism in Somalia. Some may explain Ethiopia's position as muscle flexing aimed at controlling its small neighbor's ports, the only strategic resources that Somalia owns; but Ethiopia's fear of the Islamist movement in Somalia has a historical precedent. The call for Jihad against Christendom, rekindles Ethiopia's old memories of the 16th century when Imam Ahmed Gran launched a jihad against Christian Ethiopia with the help of the Ottoman Empire.

 

The Imam's army marched through Ethiopia, looting and destroying churches including the Axumite Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion where Ethiopian emperors had been coronated for centuries; Axum, that old kingdom that ruled as far as Yemen and parts of today's Saudi Arabia. In another attempt to revive the legacy of the Imam, Somalia's former dictator Mohammed Siyad Barre also invaded Ethiopia in 1977. Economically drained by long droughts and civil war, the Ethiopian army crumbled before the Soviet trained Somali military while the whole Somali people sang Ololiyaay (burn, burn). It was only the Soviet's switching of sides when a socialist military junta rose to power in Addis Ababa that saved Ethiopia from a complete collapse.

 

It is against this background that the Ethiopians quake when they hear the call for Jihad. The radicals of the Islamic Courts have also made no secret of their agenda to export their brand of Islam to Ethiopia; reviving an old dream of the Somalis and neighboring Arab countries to remove what they see as a Christian bastion from the Muslim region while forgetting that Islam owes its existence to Ethiopia. It was Ethiopia where the first Muslim exiles took refuge and found home and justice. The walled town of Harar, with its 99 mosques, thrived for generations under the Ethiopian rule as the most important seat of Islamic learning in the Horn of Africa.

 

Some may dismiss the Somali Islamists' rhetoric of exporting their message to Africa and beyond as a political expediency or even a fantasy. But the world has seen the havoc and destruction that the fantasy of one man can cause. Hitler gave us WWII and the holocaust and Osama bin Laden has ignited a world war of unconventional nature. This is why the world should not take lightly the threats coming from another megalomaniac such as Colonel Hassan Dahir Aweys and his gun trotting jihadist brigades.

 

The question of whether Ethiopia should intervene is irrelevant. No sovereign country in the world would allow a hostile and ideologically driven regime to threaten its existence. Crushing the Islamist militia while it is still in a nebulous stage will be less costly for the Somali people, for Ethiopia, and indeed for the whole world than to let the Islamists march into Ethiopia and wreck havoc to a nation of 70 million and more than 80 ethnic groups. Letting Ethiopia crumble will not only create another Yugoslavia in the heart of Africa but will also deal a devastating blow to the economies of Djibouti, Somaliland and Somalia.

 

No doubt an Ethiopian invasion would trigger a wave of patriotism among the poor Somali masses whose emotions are inflamed by the Islamists' call for martyrdom, but to deny the Islamists to run over the Transitional Federal Government, TFG, will be the only way to prevent the jihadist fervor spilling to neighboring countries. The world also needs to strengthen the defenses of the democratically robust breakaway republic of Somaliland and extend generous economic support to it. The UN approved African Peacekeeping force should also be rapidly deployed to the peaceful and autonomous state of Puntland whose resistance to the Islamists will not last long without an external help.

 

The international community should impose travel and economic sanctions on the UIC until they accept to stop their military onslaught, allow the deployment of AU forces and agree to start serious negotiations with the government under the AU and UN auspices. The UN should also take action against countries supporting the Islamists with arms and cash.

It will be unforgivable to allow a second Taliban to thrive in such a strategic but isolated corner of the world and let it unleash another wave of Al Qaeda martyrs to further saturate the already poisoned atmosphere between Islam and the West. It will also be a dereliction of duty on the part of the international community to watch the Somali people deprived of their basic human rights and do nothing. Yes, by saying this I cannot help but recall the horrendous pictures of the Somalis dragging the dead bodies of the American soldiers in the streets of Mogadishu. A crime that one of the Islamist leaders, Colonel Mohammed Yusuf Indha Adde, had the audacity to brag about claiming to be one of the people who did this heinous action. He admitted this publicly while speaking to hundreds of people at the Mogadishu Sports Stadium.

 

But it is also worth remembering that sound-thinking Somalis watched with admiration as the United States Air Force delivered tons of relief supplies to more than 100,000 Somali refugees in camps cut-off by flooding in north-eastern Kenya, thus making the Islamists' call for jihad ring hollow.

 

Bashir Goth

E-Mail:bsogoth@yahoo.com

[NGONGE]

Heh. There he goes bringing Somaliland into it.

You've got to love Bashir's patriotism.

[NASSIR]

He presents his claim cogently and with enough support.

[NGONGE]

His claim is to the world and is hardly useful to any reading Somalis. He magnifies the threats of the Courts (beheading, oppression of women, etc) and downplays Ethiopia’s interference in Somalia. In fact, downplay is a soft word to use here, he actually seems to be in total support of such interference!

 

Of course, as ever, he eloquently presents his ideas but the almost all his ‘facts’ are suspect and could be easily challenged. Still, I really blame the Courts for this. Their silence on these issues is what allows Bashir and his ilk to claim ownership of the truth.

[Taliban]

Originally posted by Caamir:

He presents his claim cogently and with enough support.

He doesn't. For example, he claims:

 

"Easy words to say but difficult to accept when it means beheading people for not praying five times a day"

 

No Somali has been beheaded for not praying five times a day. It was a few weeks ago when FOX News reported this propaganda. No major Somali news site reported such propaganda. It's one thing for Goth to claim beheadings that occur on a regular pace, it's another thing to claim a propaganda as fait accompli.

 

He also claims:

 

"while forgetting that Islam owes its existence to Ethiopia"

 

Now, what kind of irrelevant claim is that? Allah's religion was saved by Ethiopia? Without Ethiopia, Islam would have ceased into existence?

 

How can one expect objectivity from a writer whose claims or allegations are based on propaganda or incidents (i.e. beheading) that have not occurred a single time?

 

BTW, Bashir Goth is a Somali who hails from Waqooyi Galbeed.

[Somali_Friend]

Taliban,

 

" Yonder lieth a country wherein no one is wronged: a land of righteousness. Depart thither and remain until it pleased the lord to open your way before you."

[Taliban]

Originally posted by Somali_Friend:

Taliban,

 

" Yonder lieth a country wherein no one is wronged: a land of righteousness. Depart thither and remain until it pleased the lord to open your way before you."

Your understanding of Islam is impaired. What you have quoted doesn't and cannot apply to the current Ethiopian regime. For more than 15 years, the Ethiopian regime has been funding, arming and collaborating with various Somali secular warlords, for the scope of fragmenting and weakening Somalis. Because of those Ethiopian funding and arming, thousands of innocent Somalis lost their lives, got handicapped, displaced, exiled from their country, etc.

 

The Negash of the era of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) didn't take part of aiding the enemies of Muslims, interfering with the internal affairs of Muslims or making life difficult for Muslims. The Negash and administration of that era is totally different from the current Ethiopian administration.

 

The ICU and the global Islamic insurgency's jihad is against the current Ethiopian regime. This regime must be uprooted because it poses a clear and present danger to Islam and Muslims.

[Somali_Friend]

Taliban,

 

"If for nothing else, ICU should be punished for making Islam as mcdonalds and cocacola comercial with actors fashioned in arab and pakistani garb. We did not become moslems and kept being moslems through the millenia by allowing imposters and fly by night "Mahdis" to play with our religion"

 

A shiek from Afar state, ethiopia

[Taliban]

Originally posted by Somali_Friend:

Taliban,

 

"If for nothing else, ICU should be punished for making Islam as mcdonalds and cocacola comercial with actors fashioned in arab and pakistani garb. We did not become moslems and kept being moslems through the millenia by allowing imposters and fly by night "Mahdis" to play with our religion"

 

A shiek from Afar state, ethiopia

The Afari sheikh got it wrong. Anyone who thinks Islam can be harmed doesn't understand Islam. Islam is a religion protected by Allah, and Muslims are required to defend it. No amount of badmouthing and smearing Islam will harm it. Those who badmouth or smear it only harm themselves. Despite 911 and all the negative propaganda against Islam and Muslims, more and more converts are embracing Islam.

[Jabhad]

Predictable War Propoganda

 

In an earlier post titled “Meles’s Next Card” , it was predicted that Meles will go as far as to claim the presence of “Jihadists” in Ethiopia in order to manipulate the War on Terror for his gain:

 

“Meles will soon begin to make claims of "Muslim fanatics" or "Jihadists" within Ethiopia's Muslim populace to scare all Ethiopians. He will also take advantage of the intolerant elements within the country to create a climate of suspicion and hostility between the the two religious communities”.

 

AFP just ran a story in which Elias Redman, vice president of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC) is quoted as saying:

 

"There is a small minority [of Islamic fundamentalists] in Ethiopia, not more than 500 fanatics, but trained in Somalia and very active.."

 

Meles and EPRDF are ridiculously predictable.

 

Elias Redman-by the way-was a member of the commission set up to investigate the post elections violence that occurred in 2005. Ethiopian Muslims (especially those overseas) were horrified when Associated Press quoted him with regard to the 193 unarmed civilians killed in Addis Ababa by the security forces:

 

"I consider the motives of the protesters was to overthrow the government. I therefore fully support the action taken by the police."

 

Elias has shown himself repeatedly to be a staunch EPRDF supporter and spokesman much like the infamous Bereket Simon, and any opinions he expresses should be seen in that light.

 

What EPRDF is now doing is planting the seeds of xenophobia and paranoia against Ethiopian Muslims to divide Ethiopians along religious lines in order to blunt their opposition to the government. The ever irresponsible Meles is also putting Ethiopian Muslims (especially Somalis from the ******) in a precarious situation by drawing suspicious towards them by intolerant elements within the country (including within the opposition).

 

In addition, just like Meles used Bereket Simon's deplorable allegations that the opposition activists are "interhawwe" to justify killing, maiming or jailing them, Meles will use Elias Redman's fiction of "Islamic fundamentalists" to kill, maim or jail any Muslim opposition supporters.

 

As an attack on Muslims is never complete without the predictable diatribe against Saudi Arabia and Wahabism, Elias Redman also has this to add in his interview:

 

"These people are extremist Wahhabis supported by Saudi Arabia, and they want to teach us their reading of Islam..."

 

Elias Redman also deliberately misconstrues and exaggerates the threat of the United Islamic Courts to Ethiopia:

 

"These Islamists in Somalia are trying to change the religion of the world, which is against the Holy Koran, like al Qaeda," he said. "They want to convert the whole of East Africa. Now they are starting in Ethiopia from Somalia."

 

Thus one can see how the pro-war propaganda of Meles Zenewi and his spokesman Elias Redman, the vice chairman of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC), neatly converges with views of the right wing international Christian media as well as intolerant elements in the Ethiopia.

 

The UIC's have never hidden their political agenda. They are extreme Somali nationalists who are using Islamism as a tool to pursue the old and failed vision of a greater Somalia that includes the ******. The UIC has no grand plan for changing the religion of Ethiopia and even if they did, it is ludicrous to claim that they are a threat in that regard. It is Meles who invaded Somalia first and is interfering in the country's internal affairs to gain western support for his unpopular government. It is EPRDF's tyrannical rule replete with gross human rights abuses and failed economic policies that is a threat to Ethiopians.

 

Finally Elias is quoted as saying:

 

"Here, we were Muslims before the Mecca people, before the Medina people," he said. "We have the original books, and we are sharing the original Islam. They cannot tell us what Islam is."

 

In an amazing display of arrogance, Meles and Elias are even using Ethioipa's illustrious history as the Haven of the first Hijra as part of EPRDF's war propoganda!

 

Can anyone doubt that Meles will say or do anything to keep himself in power at the expense of peace and democracy in Ethiopia?

 

Posted by Zenobia at 9:51 AM 1 comments Links to this post

 

http://ewenetethiopia.blogspot.com/index.html

 

 

Resenting Ethiopian Muslims

 

One of the disturbing tendencies of some Ethiopian Christians when they write about Islam in Ethiopia is how they attack Ethiopian Muslims by making pretentious arguments against “Wahabism”. Read a typical discourse against Wahabism and it becomes abundantly clear that the author is really not so much concerned about Wahabism but the fact that many Ethiopian Muslims have become more visibly devout, are building mosques, are adhering to personal Islamic laws and are showing more pride in their Islamic heritage. This is something that many Ethiopian Christians can 't seem to accept.

 

http://www.ethiopianmuslims.net/Islam_in_Ethiopia/attack&on$Islam&Muslims.htm

[N.O.R.F]

Somali journalism is dead!

[N.O.R.F]

This guy is probably in the best position to expose Ethiopia and its ways towards Somalia. But he is another lost soul!

 

I hope Mr. Raageh does a piece of his own this week.

[N.O.R.F]

dp

[Somali_Friend]

Taliban,

 

"Here, we were Muslims before the Mecca people, before the Medina people," he said. "We have the original books, and we are sharing the original Islam. They cannot tell us what Islam is."

Elias Redman, vice president of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (EIASC)

 

If you call fake Jihad on us led and called by imposters, be prepared to listen what comes as an echo. You will not like it, but it only comes from people through thick and thin have kept their faith and culture without giving in to the sectarians of petrodollar or the fake "Mahdis", cheaters and thieves.

 

You think you are angry, because the people of somalia told you this is fake Jihad, be prepared for ethiopian moslems anger now at playing with religion.

The punishment is severe, but we have confidence in our brethern in Somalia who will ignore you and if you don't get the message they will punish you first.

[OLOL]

Bashir Goth, out-of-the-closet Somali homosexual can say whatever. Just like his partners in crime, Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi, the two-lesbian islamo-phobia mouthpieces, he is pleasing his bosses in the west and wants to promote western decadance in Islamic Somalia.