Mother of US-born militant confronts al-Shabaab threat: ‘It’s in God’s hands’
Matt Williams, Guardian, Jan 19 2013
Debra Hammami is hoping for a miracle to save her son from the al-Qaida-linked Somali militants he left his hometown in Alabama to fight alongside. “It’s in God’s hands,” she said Friday, on the eve of a deadline set by al-Shabaab for their former adherent’s surrender or death. The threat comes after a public falling-out between 28-year-old Omar Hammami and the leaders of the terrorist group. Having already lost her son to extremist ideology, his family back in the town of Daphne, Alabama, may now face the prospect of never seeing him alive again. Omar Hammami, whom the FBI has named as one of its most-wanted terrorists, joined al-Shabaab in Somalia in late 2006. Since then his family in the US have had no direct contact with him. But they, as well as the US authorities, have been able to track his rise and subsequent falling-out with al-Shabaab through his appearance in recruitment videos and his own online outbursts. The US-born fighter become a major leader in the Islamist group, and is said to have helped organise a deadly 2008 attack which left some 20 people dead in Somalia. Among those who took part in that assault was Shirwa Ahmed, a 26-year-old from Minneapolis, who became the first known USAian suicide bomber in the process. By the time of that co-ordinated attack, Omar Hammami was already a rising star in al-Shabaab’s ranks. Computer savvy and charismatic, he had helped the terrorist organisation recruit other US-born Islamists, it is claimed. In Oct 2007, under the nom de guerre Abu Mansur al-Amriki, he gave an interview to al-Jazeera in which he implored other US Muslims to join him in Somalia. But his high profile seems to have led to a rift with other Somali fighters, especially after he used his online presence to air grievances against other al-Shabaab members. In a series of online videos and Twitter postings from an account purportedly owned by Omar Hammami, he has accused the Islamist group’s leaders of corruption, murder and ignoring global jihad in favour of internal Somali struggles. He also attacks them for living a lavish lifestyle at the expense of other fighters. One Tweet from the abumamerican account, thought to be updated by Omar Hammami or one of his associates, said:
War booty is eaten by the top dogs, but the guys who won it are jailed for touching it. A gun, bullets, some beans is their lot.
He has also accused al-Shabaab leaders of operating assassins to kill fellow fighters within the group. Many of his grievances were aired in an online video he posted in March, during which he expressed fears for his life. He was publicly slapped down by al-Shabaab in a statement released last month, in which they accused him of a “narcissistic pursuit of fame.” They added that they were morally obligated to put out his “obstinacy.” The spat has culminated in an apparent demand that Omar Hammami surrender to his former comrades, or be killed. A Jan 4 post on his apparent Twitter feed read:
Shabab make off announcement in front of amriki: drop ur weapon b4 15 days or be killed. Its on.
That deadline will pass on Saturday. Watching on in anguish from some 8,500 miles away are Omar’s parents, Debra and Shafik Hammami. Growing up in Daphne, a town of some 22,000 people situated on a Gulf of Mexico inlet, Omar showed no signs of his future life as a militant fighter. A hard-working and intelligent pupil, he was voted president of his sophomore class and was in the local high school’s gifted students programme. Having been originally brought up as Southern Baptist, the religion of his mother, he had already turned to Islam, the religion of his father. But whereas his father followed the mainstream beliefs of the religion, Omar turned to extremism. He left Daphne for Toronto, before then going to Egypt and finally Somalia. Despite the lack of contact, Hammami’s mother refuses to accept that he has turned his back on the family. Speaking from her home in Alabama, Debra explained that she still talks to him at home as if he is still there and can hear her. But the threat from al-Shabaab has put in jeopardy any chance she has of seeing her son alive again. His parents have turned to prayer, his father at the local mosque, his mother at the town’s church. Debra doesn’t expect her son to hand himself in to authorities; he is wanted back in the US on terrorism charges. She told the Guardian:
The last time I saw my son was in 2006, in Egypt. We now follow him via the internet, Twitter and newspaper reports. He was just so full of life. Always into something, very smart in school, always wanting to be the first to hand in his term paper, very popular. He was just a normal kid. But at around the age of 16 or 17 he started to change. I did not notice anything radical. He just wanted to get deeper and deeper into religion. I never give up hope. Even if I make 100 years old, I’ll still be waiting for him. We do not agree with his philosophy. But we still love him as the son we had, we still love him. I would like to see him be able to leave Somalia if possible, go somewhere and just be safe. It’s in God’s hands. We are just praying that God can perform a miracle.
Experts suggest that his chances of survival may be slim. Clint Watts, formerly an offiver at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center and now at the Homeland Security Policy Institute and the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that even if al-Shabaab’s death threat isn’t carried out on Saturday, it will be pursued by the ruthless al-Qaida-linked cell. Watts said:
He’s always going to be looking over his shoulder in Somalia. They’re not going to forget and eventually they’re going to come after him. I think he still ends up being killed in the long run.
Niqnaq 