Omar Hammami, a native of Daphne,
Alabama, who was known as Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki, or "the American," died
in southern Somalia following several months on the run after a
falling-out with al-Shabab's top leader, the militants said.
Reports
of Hammami's death crop up every few months in Somalia, only for him to
resurface a short while later. But a U.S. terrorism expert who closely
follows the inner workings of al-Shabab says he thinks that the current
reports of the death are accurate.
..."Hammami brought a lot of unwelcome outside scrutiny on Shabab from the
international jihadist community[color emphasis added]. His story will likely be a case study
on what can go wrong when Westerners join jihadist movements," Berger
said.
**********
Notes with M.E.'s Comments
1) Hammami was once a prominent figure in Shabaab's
propaganda arm, having also served as a recruiter, financier, and military commander
. U.S. officials say al-Shabab ranlk include several hundred foreign fighters, including
several dozen Somali-Americans from Minnesota.
... Simply amazing! Who would have expected young Hammami to be so talented?
2) In 2010, US officials said they knew of
no other American
citizen who had risen as high as Hammami in Al-Shabaab. [ibid]
... and even the U.S. Government admitted this!
3) Al-Shabaab has lost overt most control of major town and cities in southern
and central Somalia, it still dominates many villages and rural areas.
[ibid]
... Al-Shabab does not appear to be winning its terrorism campaign in Somalia. Perhaps an embedded spy has been working with forces against them.
4) Al-Shabab and al-Qaida announced their formal merger in February 2012, but the
Somali militant group maintained a reputation as being hostile to
foreign fighters. [ibid]
... hostile to foreign fighters, with foreign fighters in its ranks? Wouldn't untrusting of foreign fighters be a more accurate description?
5) The US has kept Hammami on its list of global terrorists with ties to al Qaeda since July 2011. In November 2012, the
FBI added Hammami to its "Most Wanted Terrorist" list and in 2013 offered a
$5 million reward for information leading to his capture. [ibid]
... was the reward intended as evidence Hammami was not actually working with the U.S.? While we should probably never expect an official answer, this may be as close to transparency for a spy as it ever gets.
It also helps explain why a father might feign ignorance of his son's true principles, "whatever they were."
How did Hammami (a.k.a. Abu Mansour al Amriki) antagonize al-Shabab? Hammami accused al-Shabab's leaders of living extravagant lifestyles with the taxes fighters collect from Somali residents. Another Hammami grievance was that Somali militant leaders sideline foreign militants inside al-Shabab and are concerned only about fighting in Somalia, not globally. Shabaab's leaders believed Hammami a narcissistic self-promoter using high-profile media attention to sow dissent between the Somali group and foreign fighters.
Labels: $5 Million, Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki, Al-Shabaab, Alabama, British, Canada, FBI, Minnesota, Omar Shafik Hammami, reward, Sharia, Somalia
