SOMALIA AND OUR 'MODERATE' ARAB FRIENDS. Until December, 2006, the fundamentalist Islamic Courts Union (ICU) seemed poised to take over all of Somalia and impose a Taliban-like regime upon the country. It was widely reported at the time that al Qaeda was operatng in Somalia, assisting the ICU and with the expectation of establishing a safe haven. Al Zawahiri, the no. 2 man in al Qaeda, made numerous calls for all Muslims to join in a jihad in support of the ICU. A recently released report by the United Nations establishes that the training, arming and funding of the ICU was coming out of such 'moderate' Arab countries as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Other entities deeply involved in support of the ICU were Hezbollah, Syria, Lybia and Iran. As to the Iranians, they were reported to be attempting to barter with the ICU in return for plutonium.



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