Terror Watch in Somalia: No Signs of Success

Ray Walser / July 28, 2010

Two weeks have passed since al-Shabab, the African subsidiary of al-Qaeda, murdered over 70 innocents in Kampala. Former Bush Administration speechwriter Marc A. Thiessen makes a convincing case that the Obama Administration must keep a sharp eye on Somalia and Yemen as an emerging terror threat to the U.S. Thiessen recounts recent adverse developments, including the July 11 Uganda bombings and the arrest of a northern Virginia man, Zachary Adam Chesser, charged with seeking to join foreign fighters in Somalia.

Thiessen questions the Administration’s decision to order U.S. special operations agents to target and kill al-Shabab leader Saleh Ali Nabhan in September 2009 rather than try a capture of a potential intelligence gold mine. Overall, cracking down on terrorists and piracy safe-havens in Somalia is proving difficult for the Obama Administration. (more…)