Brits Paul Chandler Rachel Chandler Freed by Somali Pirates: Ransom Paid for Chandlers

Paul and Rachel Chandler, a British couple, have been released by Somali pirates who have held them in captivity "deep inland" for thirteen months, . The Chandler's were taken at gunpoint from their yacht on October 23, 2009 while sailing from Seychelles to Tanzania. Fox News said the couple appeared "well," but" tired." They were given cell phones once released. Information is scarce. Updates as available.

Paul and Rachel Chandler

AlJazeera English is saying a "significant amount of ransom money was paid."

Sources privy to the secret negotiations that led to the Chandlers' release have told Al Jazeera that $300,000 was paid to their captors - an amount far less than the millions of dollars the pirates initially demanded.

But the details of just who paid the ransom are sketchy. The British government has a long standing policy to not pay ransom to kidnappers.

Sources close to the case told Al Jazeera that the a money came from private donors and the Somali government, which has been involved in the negotiations to release them, and which is desperate for any positive news as it is rattled by daily fighting against al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Regardless of the source of the money, analysts believe that the captors lowered their ransom demand as the Chandlers became a security and financial liability.

"On the one hand, you had Al-Shabab fighters closing in on the captors, and on the other hand, the cost of securing and feeding the Chandlers was mounting," said Ali Omar Ahmed, a maritime security consultant.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook 

Non-Citizen Legal Residents May Get to Vote in Maine

The only way it gets more ridiculous is to let illegal residents vote. Is this legal anywhere? We must learn that "all politics are not local." When Abdirizad Daud votes Democrat as a non-citizen, his vote affects me and my family. Non-citizen voters must be barred. I don't care what taxes they pay. If they don't want to pay taxes, go home. Our vote is our voice and our "say." You should not have a voice if you are not a citizen.

In this FoxNews article, don't miss the part about one of Portland's largest non-citizen groups, the Somali's and the Al-Amin Halal Market. Read about Abdirizad Daud and his 9 children. After 20+ years in the U.S. his English is "limited," and he cannot afford to become a citizen. Besides that, Allah would have a hissy fit. Daud longs to become a Democrat.

Portland residents will vote Nov. 2 on a proposal to give legal residents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in local elections, joining places like San Francisco and Chicago that have already loosened the rules or are considering it.

Noncitizens hold down jobs, pay taxes, own businesses, volunteer in the community and serve in the military, and it's only fair they be allowed to vote, Rwaganje said.

"We have immigrants who are playing key roles in different issues of this country, but they don't get the right to vote," said Rwaganje, 40, who moved to the U.S. because of political strife in his native Congo and runs a nonprofit that offers financial advice to immigrants.

Opponents of the measure say immigrants already have an avenue to cast ballots -- by becoming citizens. Allowing noncitizens to vote dilutes the meaning of citizenship, they say, adding that it could lead to fraud and unfairly sway elections.

"My primary objection is I don't think it is right, I don't think it is just, I don't think it is fair," Portland resident Barbara Campbell Harvey said.

San Francisco also has a ballot question on Nov. 2nd to decide whether or not to let non-citizens vote. In the article linked above you'll learn of other cities already giving non-citizens the right to vote in some instances. But first think about this little ditty:

Democracy for all: Restoring Immigrant Voting Rights in the U.S.

About those Somali's. This is from Gates of Vienna June 2007. Nothing has changed since. Here's the proof.

Wherever there are Somalians, though, this practice [genital mutilation of girls] continues. If more MSM outlets in other places where Somalians settle are willing to do the public a service by grapically exposing this inhumane and cruel treatment of little girls, the custom may be eradicated...

Let’s see what the Minnesota MSM are willing to do for these little girls. Let’s see if Hillary talks about “the children” in her numerous trips through areas which contain large minorities who practice this barbarity. This is one custom that can’t be protected by the ethnographers who insist we leave indigenous people to follow their own customs.

Thanks to my friend David Lemon, news sleuther extraordinaire

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook
Content Scrapers: Until I can figure out what to do about your confiscation of my work for your own website, please be sure to give a link back as shown above.

Umm Talha Arrested: Zach Chesser New Charges: Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita Arrested

Umm Talha, the wife of Zachary Chesser, the Virginia man who threatened the creators of the TV show, "South Park" has been arrested. Also known as Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita, Umm Talha now has federal charges filed against her. Zach A. Chesser was charged yesterday with "one count of communicating threats and another count of soliciting crimes of violence. These new charges against Chesser join previous charges of adding material support to terrorists, and carry an additional penalty of 15 years in prison. See a video below.

Umm Talha (Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita)

Zach Chesser

This charming pair have an infant son who has been used as a pawn in this case. The mother, Nzabanita (Umm Talha) is from Uganda. From Rusty at The JawaReport's comprehensive coverage of this couple:

As a matter of fact, Umm Talhah always seemed even more radical to me than Zach. And smarter. The real brains of the outfit. So, her arrest is welcomed news.

The only sadness I feel is for her parents. When they found out their daughter wanted to go to Somalia with her husband, they hid her passport from her so she wouldn't go. Unfortunately the asshole husband, Zach, grabbed their grandchild and headed for Somalia anyway.

What kind of a monster intentionally takes a baby into a war zone? 

Chesser, 20, reportedly tried to join the Somalian terrorist group Al Shabab, and made two attempts to flee to Somalia. He has an alias of course: Abu Talhan Al-Amrikee. According to this story, Chessler has communicated directly with Anwar Awlaki "several times."

From WTOP.com:

Chesser's wife, Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita, was also charged Monday with one count of making a false statement, which carries a possible prison sentence of up to eight years. Her charge is related to her husband's case, but it was not clear how.

Zach Chesser - New Charges (video)
More from The Jawa Report
Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

John Gibson Minnesota Under Attack from Islam Somalis Sharia Law Video

I love John Gibson and totally miss seeing him on Fox. Watch this video, dated August 12, 2010 on Islam and Somalia in Minnesota. By the way, the first of two Muslim U.S. Congressmen, Keith Ellison in Minnesota's 5th District has a constitutional conservative vying to take back Minnesota's House seat. Read about Joel Demos and donate to him if you can. Remember, politics are no longer local. Keith Ellison's far-left vote affects me and my family in Tulsa, Oklahoma and you and your family somewhere in Kansas or in the heart of Texas. After the video visit Mustang at Social Sense for a companion video by Glenn Beck a number of years ago. The problem just drones on.

John Gibson on Islam, Somalis and Sharia Law in Minnesota (video)
 

Nate Henn Dies in Terrorist Bombing Uganda: Nate Henn Invisible Children

An American man, Nate Henn, has died in the Uganada terrorist bombing during a World Cup watch party. The bombers are believed to be members of Somalian al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-aligned organization. Three bombs went off within a 50 minute period killing 64, and maybe a dozen more.

Nate Henn

Mr. Henn, 25, was a resident of Delaware and a volunteer for Invisible Children, an organization trying to free "child soldiers" in African wars, and also trying to tell their stories through film.

The radical Islamist movement al-Shabab which has implemented sharia law across large swathes of Somalia, said today the attacks were revenge for the presence of Ugandan soldiers in the Somali capital. "We are not afraid to say that we are behind the Uganda attack," al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said in a phone interview from the Somali capital Mogadishu. "We have made the [Ugandan] government to feel the pain that they are causing us in Mogadishu."

 Al-Shabab says they are seeking revenge for Uganda's participation in peacekeeping missions in Somalia, and Ugandan officials quote Sheik Yusuf Sheik Issa, a Shabab commander saying "Uganda is a major infidel country supporting the so-called government of Somalia."

Henn was at the Kyandondo Rugby Club bombings along with 3,000 others, when the second or third of the three blasts exploded. Mr. Henn had been with Invisible Children for about 18 months, arriving in Uganda on July 3rd, 2010.

Despite being in Uganda for such a short time, Henn had won the admiration of his pupils, many of who had been abducted as children and enlisted in the rebel Ugandan group, the Lord's Resistance Army. 

"Our Ugandan students ... fell in love with Nate's wit, strength, character and steadfast friendship," the eulogy read. "They gave him the Acholi name 'Oteka,' which means 'The Strong One.'"

Several Ugandan students were with Henn at the time of the explosion. It is not known if any died in the attack.

Six members of a church group from Pennsylvania, were wounded in the blast in the Ethiopian restaurant. One of the wounded was 16-year-old  American Emily Kerstetter. Three Ugandan members of the group were killed.

Mr. Henn was an alum of University of Delaware.

American Omar Hammami is Abu Mansour al-Amriki: Omar Hammami is Abu Mansoor al-Amriki

Omar Hammami is an America member of al-Qaeda with the adopted name of Abu Mansour (Mansoor) al-Amriki. The Daphne, Alabama native, with a southern belle mom and Syrian dad, is indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of providing material support for terrorists. Update 8-3-10. There is increased interest int his article today, including visitors from Saudi Arabia. Read a follow-up article which includes Samir Kahn.

Omar Hammami is Abu Mansour al-Amriki

Hammami-al-Amriki is believed to be in Somalia. Al-Amriki's father, Shafik Hammami, is a follower of Islam and has had his own dust-ups with the press. His mother Debra, and Shafik can be seen here in a photo with Omar's older sister, Dena. Shafik Hammami came to the US from Damascus, Syria in 1972 to pursue his civil engineering degree at the University of South Alabama. Mrs. Hammami is a school teacher. Daphne, Alabama is on the Mobile Bay.

An article in the New York Times today portrays Hammami as a popular, and cool, all-American boy: president of his sophomore class, dating the most popular blonde in the school, class clown, "gifted student,"..."remarkable charisma," but a FOXNews report from September 2009 when the indictment was handed down, tells another story. If the NYT article is true, Omar Hammami made a drastic turn toward extremist Islam within one year:

Cynthia McMeans, who taught Omar Hammami in an international studies class and a Model United Nations program, said the teenager affected a Middle Eastern accent almost overnight during his junior year at Daphne High School.

As a teenager, Hammami had turned from the Baptist beliefs of his mother to the Muslim religion his father practiced, McMeans said, and in the spring of 2001, he expressed sympathy toward hard-line Islamic regimes.

"He was just starting on that path, when he was in the 11th grade," McMeans said. "It wasn't the religion part of it that was scary, it was supporting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and the Taliban and the Sharia law."...

 He had a lot of potential and was smart. He could've done anything," McMeans said. "It doesn't surprise me that Omar isn't just a regular terrorist -- he's infamous. It's sad but it's not surprising.

The NYT article printed one of Hammami's 7th grade poems:

My reality is a bore, I wish, I want, I need the wall to fall and the monster to let me pass, the leash to snap, the chains to break...I've got a taste of glory, the ticket, but where is my train?

Hammami was baptised in his mother's Baptist church. Friends recall him saying that he was a believer, but his third trip to Syria when just before beginning his sophomore year, found him in "profound spiritual struggle." His "girlfriend," Lauren Stevenson, said the "cohesiveness of [Islamic] brotherhood" drew him in.

For a while, Hammami seemed to be two people. He would smoke a cigarette and then feel guilty. He treasured his Friday-night routine -- the football game and the meal at Waffle House -- but started pulling away from his friends to go to the mosque. Soon he was praying at school. "It took a lot to become the 'weirdo guy who prays in the library,' " Hammami later wrote.

Mike Faulk, a journalist, had an intense run-in with Hammami in Ms. McMeans classroom:

Omar Hammami was raised in the Plantation Hills subdivision in Daphne, and McMeans said the teen had a Southern accent when he first started her class.

As the lessons progressed, he became more dedicated to Islam, praying daily at the school, McMeans said, and he revealed radical political views.

One day, Hammami attacked another student who teased him for speaking Arabic in class, according to McMeans and the classmate, Mike Faulk.

"His calm face turned sour and before I had even noticed it he was on his feet and running around desks toward me," Faulk wrote in a blog post. "I stayed in my seat just staring at him having no idea what he was about to do. Then he put his hands around my throat, clamped down as tight as he could so that no air was coming in or out and just stared me right in the eyes."

Faulk, who now works as a journalist, told the Press-Register on Saturday that he also noticed signs that Hammami was sympathetic to al-Qaida.

Hammami scored in the 93rd percentile on his A.C.T.'s. He skipped his senior year in high school and enrolled at the University of South Alabama, where he became president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA)

Remember when the 6th Century Bamyan Buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban in central Afghanistan? Hammami defended the Taliban in McMeans classroom.

McMeans said Hammami called her shortly after the attacks [9/11/01], concerned about the media attention he received.

"You do a big disservice to all the Muslims and all the Arabic people around here if you spout off some kind of crazy jihadist stuff," McMeans recalled telling him. "You should be very careful about what you say."

Sheik Abu Mansour (Mansoor) al-Amriki is known as "The American," and is considered a high-ranking official of al-Shabab.

He is currently in Somalia, training new recruits to al-Shabab - many of them American boys of Somali descent....

He is the star of al-Shabab's most recent recruitment video - a highly sophisticated video that employs hip-hop and looks more like an extreme version of "Survivor" - his face exposed for the first time. (He has appeared on al-Jazeera, but with his face obscured.) The boys are all obscured, but they, too, are clearly American, the Sheikh acknowledging their sudden lack of American comforts: "The only reason we are staying here, away from families, cities, ice, candy bars," he says, "is because we're waiting to meet the enemy."

See that recruiting video below: "...land by land, war by war, only gonna make our black flag soar"

See another video of Abu Mansour al-Amriki chiding Barack Obama for sending greetings to Muslims! For anyone believing the Koran does not advocate jihad, listen to Amriki's message.

See this article where it is reported Hammami found his Islamic mentors had been "hiding many parts of the religion that have a direct relationship to jihad and politics...." The same report says that Hammami aka al-Amriki married a Somali woman living in Toronto, Canada.

Within a matter of weeks, he persuaded her to socialize with only women and to wear the abaya, a cloaklike garment.

They married in March 2005. Hammami and his pregnant wife settled in Alexandria, Egypt along with converted friends in Toronto. In Alexandria, he became convinced that "jihad" was an obligation. He joined Shabaab in late 2006. Throughout, he kept in touch with his sister, Dena, by email. By 2008, he was a leader on the battlefield.

Debra Hammami, his mother, said she was "shocked" that this is the path her son has taken. She never spoke of al-Qaeda to her son, she said. Obviously, a completely delusional mother. Shafik Hammami is a civil engineer with the Alabama Department of Transportation and a former president of the Islamic Society of Mobile.

Omar Hammami - Abu Mansour (Mansoor) al-Amriki (video) 
If you watched the video, you heard an al-Qaeda expert say that some of the young American Somalis shown could possibly return to the US to recruit or attack. Six thousand Somali refugees are coming to the US under a humanitarian refugee program. We are assured that any links to terrorism are being investigated. Such assurances do little to make me feel more comfortable.

USA Takes 6000 Somali Refugees from Uganda

This is shocking. We've been through this Somali Humanitarian Refugee situation before, many times, and it did not turn out well for America. Nevertheless, we're doing it again.

I was browsing at Refugee Resettlement Watch, and found an article about this new batch of Somali's coming to America in September.

According to The New Vision, a Uganda website, we are taking 5,800 Somali refugees from Nakivale Refugee Camp. It appears the UN worked this bit of magic. A reason for bringing them to the US was provided by the United Nations:

Explaining the reason of resettling Somalis to the US, Katura said Somali refugees have failed to integrate with other refugee groups living in Nakivale and with the local communities because of their unique language and culture.

So, Somali's displaced to Uganda after warring in their own country, cannot communicate with other African nations, of which Somalia is one. They also do not like other cultures. They all speak a different language - but will get along much better in the US where it is already proven they do not assimilate and learn only rudimentary English, if that.

The United States resettles refugees largely according to country of origin as well as the urgency of the situation.

Even though the US remains the world’s largest country of resettlement, its refugee admissions have been steadily declining over the last decade, particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks. The number of refugees admitted went down from 132,000 in 1992 to about 28,000 in 2003.

Resettlement patterns in American states are generally dominated by certain ethnic communities. Many Somali and Ethiopian refugees have been resettled in Minnesota.

 This commentary from Resettlement Watch:

Can you believe it?  We are in the worst recession since the Great Depression; refugee agencies are scrambling everywhere to take care of the refugees they have.  Just yesterday the Department of State released the news that they are doubling the per head payment (from taxpayers) for each refugee entering the US. 

You'll also find contact at the information to express your displeasure to Homeland Security and the Secretary of State at the above link.

Two more important posts on Somali's at Resettlement Watch.

Resettlement Agencies umping for joy at news of more taxpayer money coming their way

Diversity is strength alert! Manchester Somalis one big happy family (Not)!


Related and Background:
Somalis Bring Latent Tuberculosis to Tyson Foods in Emporia Kansas

The Somali's Only Documented Act of Assimilation

Somalia Suicide Bomber Dressed as a Woman Kills 13

The following story is of a med school graduation in Mogadishu at the Shamo Hotel. A suicide bomber, dressed as a woman, detonated his vest and killed the country's Ministers of Health, Education and Higher Education, nine medical students and a physician. Many more were wounded. As Holger says below, these people are not human.

by Holger at Holger Awakens

Chances are 99.9999% that this attack was conducted by al-Shabaab, which is the notorious arm of al Qaeda in Somalia - an attack that saw three major government ministers killed while they were attending a medical school graduation.

Somalia Suicide Bomber kills 13

Fitting isn't it? Imagine a graduation ceremony where students have slaved away for years to take their doctors' degrees and tend to the sick and injured of one of the world's most poor countries....and on this day, al Qaeda's servants in Somalia blow up the event. That is terror, folks. That is also the definition of cowardice. I should also mention that the suicide bomber dressed himself up as a woman. Yeah, al Qaeda's a bunch of real macho warriors, aren't they?

Here's some of the story from The Long War Journal:

Three government ministers and two reporters are among 19 Somalis who were killed in a Shabaab suicide attack in the capital of Mogadishu.

The suicide bomber, who was disguised as a woman, detonated his vest in the midst of a graduation for Somali medical students from Banadir University. The ceremony was being held at the Shamo Hotel, one of a handful of locations still under government control in Mogadishu. [See video below for scenes from the attack].

The ministers of health, education, and higher education, along with two reporters from Shabelle and Al Arabia, nine medical students, and a well-known doctor were killed in the blast. Scores more were wounded, including the sports minister.

I rarely put up posts about Somalia as I consider it a complete lost cause but occasionally, it's a good reminder of the extent to which the islamists will resort.

These aren't humans. These are programmed messengers of Satan.

By the way, why don't all of you keep your eyes peeled for reactions across the world from muslim leaders and activists denouncing this attack. Please put into comments here all of the reactions of outrage you find from muslims in other countries - if we need more room in comments for all of the examples, I'll make more room.

Think we'll need it?

Somalia Beheadings: Lose your Muslim Faith, Lose your Head

Seven people in Somalia were beheaded recently for "abandoning the Muslim faith and spying for the government." The murderers are described as "militants," and women and children, as always in Muslim countries, are bearing the brunt of the cruelty.

Somalia

This new wave of attacks are against a new government:

Western diplomats say the current transitional government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, which came to power in February, offers Somalia the best hope in years for political stability.

A spokesman for the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council says the militants are trying to overthrow the transition government, they are holding trials, stoning, decapitating, amputating limbs, and using human shields. Aid Workers and journalists are "being directly targeted."

Liberty Sun U.S. Flagged Ship: Pirates Attacked Liberty Sun off Somalia

A second U.S.-Flagged ship with twenty Americans serving as crew was attacked by Somali pirates today. The Liberty Sun was fired-upon with rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons. The hijacking attempt failed but the ship received significant damage. None of the Liberty Sun personnel are reported injured.

Somali Pirates

The U.S.S. Bainbridge, which was involved in freeing Captain Richard Phillips from the Maersk Alabama a few days ago, received an emergency call and rushed to the area, but the attack has been thwarted by the time of the Bainbridge arrival. The U.S. ship was enroute to Mombasa, Kenya from Houston, TX carrying famine-relief supplies for African nations.The Liberty Sun is owned and operated by the Liberty Maritime Corporation of Lake Success, NY. Photo credit: Reuters