Thank you for your comments but I would not compare Robert Spencer to the likes of Keith Vaz the washing machine salesman -
Keith Vaz rent boy scandal continues as cops assess if offences were committed
I don’t believe in shooting the messenger just because I don’t like the message.
I said that I found those videos to be both interesting and informative.
For instance, is he not correct about Mogadishu?
Following the outbreak of the
civil war in the early 1990s, Islamism appeared to be largely confined to the radical
Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya group. In 1992, Colonel
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed marshalled forces to successfully expel an Islamist extremist group linked to the outfit, which had laid siege to
Bosaso, a prominent port city and the commercial capital of the northeastern part of the country.
[24] The turn of the 21st century saw an increasing prevalence of puritanical Sunnism, including in the form of
Muwahhidism and
Salafism.
Islam in Somalia - Wikipedia
He is definitely correct about Saudi Arabia and its influence.
Islam is divisive.
He's not correct about Somalia.
The conflict, civil unrest and fragility that had a catastrophic effect on Somalia from 1992-2000s was mostly because of rivalry between warlords from different clans/ sub-clans. They were battling for territory, power or honour. The other reason was outside interference. The group al itihad al islamiya had very little followers in the 90s and even in early 2000s. Abdullahi Yusuf became the dominant force in Puntland(1992), while there was conflict and power struggles in other regions. And this is what was referred to in your quote.
Abdulahi Yusuf gained a reputation as a ruthless operator, a warlord who jailed and sometimes killed opponents. An associate of him said "You're either with the colonel or you are an enemy."
He lost power there for a year before making a comeback,and in 2004 Yusuf emerged as president, with UN backing, of what was called the Transitional Federal Government. He was not chose by the Somali population because he was known as a corrupt warlord in the past.
He appealed from help from other African countries and the international community.
He failed to gain authority and failed to act as a unifying figure. There was a rise in violence and much infighting within his own administration.
The Islamist movement claimed and promised to get rid of corruption,tribalism. They promised to unify Somalia.They took control of much of south and central Somalia. Abdulahi Yusuf reacted by calling in Ethiopian military intervention, which was effective in the beginning . But the memories of previous Somali-Ethiopian wars increased his unpopularity.
In Somalia, he was viewed as someone who brought Somalia's enemy into Somali territory to fight his own people. Instead of sorting out the political problems in a peaceful manner.
The Ethiopian troops did not achieve peace, since the Islamists went on to stage an insurgency with the help of Eritrea. Some of the insurgents(al shabab) later aligned themselves with Alqaeda.
The international community became disillusioned with Yusuf and his habit of going for military solutions instead of negotiation. They finally came to see(a bit late) that he was too much of a warlord and not enough of a politician.
So the rise of extremists groups like al-shabab or even piracy isn't because Islam isn't peaceful. It's due to the absence of an effective central government,lack of unity and corruption.
