[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Shiny happy jihadis holding hands

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Shiny happy jihadis holding hands
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1159109633.shtml


   The New York Times reports on Mogadishu: [1]"Islamists Calm Somali
   Capital With Restraint":

     MOGADISHU, Somalia, Sept. 23 â As the sun begins to sink over this
     broken city, work crews swing their axes over their shoulders and
     head home.

     Young couples take to the waterfront, mingling openly in the salty
     breeze. Thousands of children flock to soccer fields in the city
     center, with a backdrop of beautifully crumbled ruins from battles
     now over.

     It is hard to imagine that this is Mogadishu, the same Mogadishu of
     âBlack Hawk Down,â and clan against clan and 15 years of anarchy.
     But over the past three months, the Islamists in control here have
     defied international expectations â in many ways. Not only have
     they pacified one of the most dangerous cities in the world, they
     also seem to have moderated their message...

     ..."The world was so quick to label us," said Ibrahim Hassan Addou,
     the foreign minister for the Islamic administration in Mogadishu.
     "All we are asking is to be judged on our deeds."

     The United States continues to assert that the Islamists are
     sheltering Al Qaeda terrorists. The suicide attack against the
     United Nations-backed transitional government in Baidoa on Monday
     only reinforced that suspicion, though the Islamists deny any
     involvement.

   Well, they would say that, wouldn't they?

     In fact, people were selling bread, biscuits and watermelon right
     in front of the Islamic forcesâ headquarters during the noon prayer
     earlier this week. The teenage militia members standing guard
     regressed to the boys that they were, giggling over giant slices of
     watermelon and spitting seeds at each other, the juice running down
     their chins and dripping onto their guns.

     "Nobody knows where weâre headed," said Ahmed Mohammed Ali,
     chairman of a Mogadishu human rights organization. But, he added,
     the Islamists âpacified this place and brought the clans together.â

     "Whatever you think about them," he said, "you canât overlook
     that."

   In their efforts to paint a smiley face on extremism and military
   aggression, the New York Times appears to have missed [2]this story,
   reported by the Somali [3]Garowe Online, [4]"Jihad registration office
   to open in Mogadishu"

     Islamic Courts officials told hundreds of supporters at a rally in
     Mogadishu that an office would be opened for would-be fighters to
     register.

     The Islamist officials, who were speaking to supporters at Friday's
     anti-foreign peacekeepers rally in Mogadishu, said the office would
     be used to register fighters for a jihad against foreign troops.

   What part of jihad does the NYT fail to understand? All of it.

References

   1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/africa/24somalia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
   2. http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/013270.php
   3. http://www.garoweonline.com/
   4. http://www.garoweonline.com/stories/publish/article_5128.shtml