Terror Free Somalia Foundation .. Education Minute
Al-Itihaad: al-Itihaad has a domestic agenda! All al-Itihad members in Somalia are al-Qaeda foot soldiers, recruiters and storekeepers for the parent company. They control close to 75% of the commercial activities of the region. They trade with each other; finance each other; collaborate with each other; and they spy on each other. Any member caught tracking off the guidelines of the organization is initially warned and financially severely punished for a period of time.
Sometimes they are altogether eliminated! In almost every town and village in Somalia, there is an al-Itihad cell and a hierarchy to follow. For international travel purposes, each member has a special internal identification in the form of an assigned number. Each cell has a cell leader, every region a leader, and a supreme leader for each country.
With this cohesiveness, discrimination against nonmembers is prevalent in Somalia and widely accepted and practiced by the group. And given their power of the purse, and abject poverty in the country, recruiting is a no-brainer for the organization.Prior to the civil war, al-Itihaad recruiting was limited mainly to Mogadishu. But, during the past ten years, as Somalis turned inward and each into his/her tribe and clan, the organization has expanded into villages and small towns. They built schools, mosques and organized charities. With this kind of base, previously never thought of and imagined by the al-Itihaad leadership, the organization sought help from foreign donors and al-Itihaad has never been the same...more.. http://terror freesomalia.blogspot.com/2 ... aweis.html
