By GENE JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Friday, October 09, 2009
The FBI in recent years has investigated money-transfer services and the importation of a mild stimulant called khat, traditionally used by Somalis, leading to feelings of mistrust in the local Somali community toward the agency.
But those issues are outweighed by a strong desire to keep Somali children in the U.S. from becoming radicalized, FBI director Robert Mueller said at a news conference in Seattle.
"The phenomenon of individuals, young individuals, going to Somalia fighting for Al Shabab and perhaps being killed in the course of that fighting is a much more substantive issue that brings us together as opposed to divides us," he said.
One bomber who took part in a twin suicide bombing at a peacekeepers base in Somalia last month was reportedly from Seattle, and up to 20 men from Minnesota are believed to have returned to Somalia to fight.
Three men - two from the Minneapolis area and one from Seattle - have pleaded guilty in federal court in Minneapolis to terror charges this year. At least three Minnesota men have died, including one whom authorities say carried out a suicide bombing.
Activists in the local Somali community agree that their relationship with the FBI is better than it has been, but some suspicion remains.
"There is a tremendous amount of fear in the community - that is absolutely true," Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the Seattle-based immigrant rights group OneAmerica. "The Somalis want to make sure they are clear in condemning terrorist acts, and they very much want to be helpful, but they're not sure what investigations are going to look like going forward. There's fear of people being targeted, there's fear of what some undercover informants might say."
FBI efforts at community outreach will take time, Jayapal said.
In the Minneapolis area, Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said he strongly disagreed with Mueller's characterization that good relations exist. He said Monday that ongoing surveillance and investigations made Somalis in the area, including himself, fearful.
"It's the fox guarding the chicken house and saying, 'Oh, I love them, I have a good relationship with them,'" he said.
Source: AP, Oct 09, 2009