U.S. Gov't Hearing: What's Canada Doing About Somali Bad Guys?

[The Bread Guy]

I guess one question I have from  the first story:  while government has a role to play, what should the role of other religious and cultural groups be re:  "tackling the ideology of extremists"?

A U.S. Congressional committee on terrorist recruitment of American Muslims turned its attention north on Wednesday, as a prominent Somali-Canadian leader testified that Ottawa had failed to tackle the ideology of extremists. Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, told U.S. lawmakers that the Canadian government was concentrating on detecting and arresting terror suspects while leaving their rhetoric unchallenged. “The strategy of Canadian officials as they confront this phenomenon in my community has been to view this serious matter only through the prism of law enforcement,” he said. “There has not been a parallel attempt to counter the toxic anti-Western narrative that creates a culture of victimhood in the minds of members of our community.” Mr. Hussen was the lead witness at controversial Committee on Homeland Security hearings in Washington probing radicalization within the American Muslim community. Testimony Wednesday focused on the Somali militant group Al-Shabab ....

Source:  National Post, 27 Jul 11

Terrorist recruiters are targeting young Canadian Somali women to take up arms, the head of the Canadian Somali Congress told U.S. politicians Wednesday. In testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, Ahmed Hussen suggested the reason might be increased police and security service attention over the recruitment of “dozens” of young Canadian Somali men from Ottawa and Toronto in recent years. “Lately, the recruiters have turned their attention to the facilitation of young Canadian Somali women into joining al-Shabab,” the radical Somali youth militia now fully integrated with al-Qaeda, Hussen said in a prepared statement. Much of the youth recruiting is believed to be through the Internet and an online mix of religious tracts, rap music, videos and recruiting pitches delivered in English. Visiting extremist clerics are another propaganda source ....

Source:  Ottawa Citizen, 27 Jul 11

You can read the Canadian witness' prepared statement here (PDF - also attached if link doesn't work) - more from the Committee here, here and here.

Previous Army.ca threads:

• CAN security reps: At least 20 "youths" recruited for Somali bad guys
• Officials worried group in Canada went to join Islamic radicals in Somalia"
• Young men vanish into Somalia, stirring fears of terrorist recruitment

 

[ModlrMike]

Two questions immediately come to mind:

Surely he's not proposing that the Government censor church leaders?

Is it not up to the community to counter the rhetoric delivered to their youth?