Bashir Goth | Somalia/UAE - "Peace and Islam" was the rallying cry of the Somali Islamists three months ago. Now these same people are capturing more land, invading towns, and slaughtering wounded combatants in their hospital beds. What happened?
When the Islamists routed the notorious warlords who kept the country hostage for over 15 years, Somalis all over the world saw Islamists as saviors. Even skeptics like me who don't like wrapping political agendas in religious rhetoric joined the chorus of adulation. If they acted as they talked, I said, they could be the first Islamists to win the Nobel peace. In an attempt to understand their motives, I was one of the first journalists to interview the Islamists' leading spin-doctor, Sheikh Sherif Sheikh Ahmed.
"Land is not our priority. Our priority is the people's peace, dignity and that they could live in liberty, that they could decide their own fate.... Our priority is not land; the people are important to us," is what he told me when I asked him whether they planned to reach the whole country and control the nation.
Five months later, the Islamists captured yet more land, invaded villages, towns, and farmlands, and even killed wounded combatants while they lay in hospitals. Tens of thousands of people who fled their onslaught have crossed the border to Kenya.
Initial euphoria over the degree of peace that the Islamists brought has been replaced by horror. The Mullah's greed for power and land, along with the draconian rules the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) terrorize people.
When I asked Sheikh Sherif months ago whether the Islamists would impose strict clothing regulations on women, he responded: "People are Muslims...no one forces them now to do anything. It is a personal obligation and the person has to adhere to it by his own."
Since then Sheikh Sherif has been eclipsed by the hard-line, former colonel-turned cleric, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. Under him, the Islamists then shocked the Somali people by imposing strict dress guidelines on women, banning music, long hair, concerts, the cinema and home videos, singing in weddings and even women going to the beach.
The Islamists initial reconciliatory moves and agreement to strike a peace deal with the internationally recognized but beleaguered Transitional Federal Government (TFG) turned out to be time buying tactics. With America suspecting them of harboring terrorists and with members of their leadership on America's international wanted list, the UIC had to prove to the world that it wanted peace.
Dressed like Arabs, speaking fluent Arabic and touting Islam as their battle cry, the Islamists didn't find it difficult to win support from the Arab world. Egypt and Sudan came to their side during the first round of peace talks with the TFG in Khartoum. Soon their emissaries appeared in Arab capitals. Naturally the TFG asked that the talks be shifted to Nairobi, rejecting Khartoum as neutral venue.
The Islamists again manipulated Arab sentiment, calling the faithful for a jihad against an Ethiopian invasion and accusing Somalia's government of inviting Ethiopian forces. Sheikh Sherif himself was photographed wearing military fatigues and brandishing an AK-47. So much for being a promoter of peace and Islam. The UIC, however, denies that they received similar external support from Eritrea. They moved their martyr-seeking militias towards the TFG bastions. Kismayo, the second largest and most vigorous port in the South of Somalia fell after a bitter battle. The government base of Baidoa is also besieged.
Contrary to their promise of peace and Islam, the Mullahs are pushing Somalia to a more devastating war in which erstwhile neighboring enemies will settle scores by proxy. Somalia will be the casualty.
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Comments (10)
wdbtg2l7feq97thqm http://www.185505.com/445298.html zn0om3u8b3jzl
August 4, 2007 8:33 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on August 4, 2007 20:33
wdbtg2l7feq97thqm [URL=http://www.651324.com/971878.html] jlmi34ops1am [/URL] zn0om3u8b3jzl
August 4, 2007 8:33 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on August 4, 2007 20:33
wdbtg2l7feq97thqm 1zni8t2b5xz3ujv1 [URL=http://www.651324.com/971878.html] jlmi34ops1am [/URL] zn0om3u8b3jzl
August 4, 2007 8:33 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on August 4, 2007 20:33
fff
December 29, 2006 10:10 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on December 29, 2006 22:10
The peace that this character Bashir Goth wrote about Somalia and the Union of Islamic Courts is laughable at best.
Get your facts right man. You are either a blatant lier trying to misslead or you are extremely ignorant.
November 15, 2006 1:41 AM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on November 15, 2006 01:41
Bashir goth is trying to please his pay masters by informing the world with fiction and not facts.the one to be blamed is the one who gave him a chance to write
November 14, 2006 2:39 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on November 14, 2006 14:39
Yes I agree with Mohamed Hussein that the PINR articles that Dr. Michael Weinstein writes on Somalia are a much better analysis than Goth who is not providing a reasoned analysis but rather emotional biased writings. If the Washington Post really wanted a Somali intellectual who write about Somalia from a Somali perspective they should have contacted Somalis who can reflect Somali views rather than parroting cheap imitiation of Western columnist. Professor Abdi Ismail of University of Minnesota would have definitely provided a better analysis than Goth.
Listening to exiled charlatans who tell them what they want to hear and who have their own ax to grind is what got the US into the Iraqi quagmire and will definitely lead them to a Somali one. The Washington Post was a part of the propaganda that led to the Iraq war I hope they would not repeat that sad performance.
November 14, 2006 2:23 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on November 14, 2006 14:23
Bashir Goth wrote: "Kismayo, the second largest and most vigorous port in the South of Somalia fell after a bitter battle." The Washington Post, reuters, AP, BBC all reported that the Islamic Courts took control of Kismayo without a single shot being fired. Colonel Barre Hiraale who was the chairman of the Jubba Valley Alliance that controlled Kismayo fled with his troops without fighting because as a military man he knew the odds were against him. His deputy and half of his alliance not only refused to defend the city but they pledged allegiance to the Islamic courts.
This is yet another issue that makes Somalis very suspicious of your writing after your support on these pages for homosexual marriages.
For all who are interested in a well written, well informed, and good analysis on the situation in Somalia I would advice you to read Dr. Michael Weinstein's analysis on Somalia at www.pinr.org
November 14, 2006 2:05 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on November 14, 2006 14:05
I think you should as a journalist focus on reporting facts instead of fiction,
1) The Islamists did not kill the wounded men and are seeking the killers to bring them to justice. If they are captured and proven guilty then they will be punished for the crimes.
2) The city of kismanyo did not fall after a bitter battle but fell without a single shot being fired (check your facts).
3) Its not the UIC which has committed a crime against Ethiopia but Ethiopia which has invaded Somalia, the UIC did not threaten anyone or act against anyone external to Somalia. Despite this the United States and Ethiopia have acted against it.
The next time you wish to publish please check your facts its not the Muslims attacking you and yours, you are attacking us.
AAli
November 14, 2006 12:46 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on November 14, 2006 12:46
Mullah as a term is never used in Arab speaking countries. Never.
Not only this usage is inaccurate, Mullah carries a different weight among different religious communities as the link below explains:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullah
"In the Sunni world, the concept of "cleric" is of limited usefulness, as authority in the religious system is relatively decentralized."
Western "experts" use the "Mullah" broadly and recklessly. If anything, this serves as a reminder that it is an indication of bigotry and widespread sweeping generalization about Muslims.
I was surprised that Mr. Goth embraced with open arms this type of generalization.
As to manipulating Arab sentiment, Mr. Goth needs to be more specific. The Arab regimes he mentions are in no way representative of Arab sentiment.
November 14, 2006 12:00 PM | Report Offensive Comment
Posted on November 14, 2006 12:00