Thursday, May 12, 2011

American jihadist to U.S.: "Bin Laden's death only makes us stronger"

by Jim Kouri

American-born terrorist, Abu Mansur Al Ameriki, a member of the Somali al-Qaeda affiliate group Al Shabaab, said at a meeting yesterday in Mogadishu that the death of Osama Bin Laden will not weaken Jihad against the United States and Israel, but rather it has strengthened them.

Al Ameriki, born Omar Shafik Hammami, said that the Mujahedeen are committed to launch more attacks in retaliation for the killing of bin Laden. The radical Islamists consider the United States "the big Satan" and the Jewish state of Israel "the little Satan," as part of their international propaganda campaign.

The meeting was named by Al Shabaab "We are all Osama" and it was held in Afgoye, a small town on the outskirts of the Somali capital.

Osama bin Laden's killing by U.S. Navy SEALs in an operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 1, surprised Americans and their allies but shocked supporters of radical Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda, Al Shabaab, Islamic Jihad and other violent organizations.

Those attending the meeting repeatedly referred to Sheikh Osama Bin Laden as the Knight of Jihad. While speaking Somali, Hammami warned that al Qaeda's war against the United States and its allies will continue and will not end until there is an Islamic victory..

The 25-year old Omar Shafik Hammami,  known by the pseudonym Abu Mansur Al Amriki, is an American member of the Somali Islamist terror group. He grew up in Daphne, Alabama, suburb of Mobile and he graduated from Daphne High School. Hammami's father was a Syrian-born Muslim who immigrated to the United States legally. His mother was American-born who was a member of a Southern Baptist Church.

Hammami dropped out of college in 2002, and in 2004 he moved to Toronto, where he met and married a Somali woman who was a citizen of Canada. In 2005, they moved to Egypt, his wife gave birth to a daughter.

Through an Internet web site and bulletin board, Hammami met a fellow American jihadist, Daniel Maldonado, who had also left the U.S. and moved to Egypt. Eventually the two men secretly made plans to leave for Somalia. Without telling his family, Hammami traveled to Somalia where he joined Al Shabaab. 

Also yesterday, Yemen's al-Qaeda leader practically echoed the sentiments spreading throughout Somalia. In a tirade posted on a radical Islamic web site, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Nasir al-Wahishi wrote that the torch of jihad is brighter after bin Laden's death at the hands of infidels.

Al-Wahishi stated that Americans should not believe their own leaders that the matter was over with the death of the leader who inspired the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"Do not think of the battle superficially. What is coming is greater and worse, and what is awaiting you is more intense and harmful. We promise Allah that we will remain firm in the covenant and that we will continue the march, and that the death of the sheikh will only increase our persistence to fight the Jews and the Americans in order to take revenge," the Yemen-based fugitive wrote according to U.S. intelligence officials who are monitoring the Internet..

According to an intelligence source -- who spoke with the Law Enforcement Examiner on the condition of anonymity -- the U.S. counterterrorists had warned the White House and lawmakers that Yemen's growing Islamic militancy could pose a threat to the world, adding that it has the potential to become al-Qaeda's newest staging ground along with Somalia.

Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, and he's a columnist for Examiner.com.  In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. 

He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations.  He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.   Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer and columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.   Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.