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The Nairobi Terror Attack: Icons and Images From the Terrorists' War On the Globe
Townhall.com ^ | September 25, 2013 | Austin Bay

Posted on 09/25/2013 8:50:17 AM PDT by Kaslin

resident Barack Obama declared in his 2013 inaugural speech that, "a decade of war is receding." However, al-Shabab's seizure of a Nairobi, Kenya shopping mall illustrates, in cold blood, that the terrorists' war on the civilized continues -- its savagery and political calculation undiminished.

American soldiers say the enemy always gets a vote. On Sept. 21, al-Shabab, al-Qaida's Somalia branch, voted by staging a militant Islamist terror spectacular, rife with icon targets and domination imagery of the ilk Osama bin Laden exploited.

Emulating tactics Pakistani Islamist terrorists employed in their November 2008 Mumbai, India assault, at least 15 heavily-armed terrorists entered Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall, and quickly slaughtered several dozen shoppers. The terrorists then seized live hostages, using them as human shields while erecting defensive barricades in tourist clothing boutiques. For four days gunfire and explosions shredded mall promenades and galleries -- three floors eventually collapsed -- as Kenyan security forces counter-attacked.

Store-to-store combat ended Sept. 24, with Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta, proclaiming victory. Security officials, however, remain wary. Police have arrested 11 terrorists in and around the mall, but suspect that accomplices remain at large. The terrorists murdered at least 61 civilians, including one of the president's nephews. The death toll may rise. Over 175 people were injured.

Six Kenyan security officers and six terrorists died in the battle, and it was indeed a battle -- another battle in a very long war, which is far from over.

Kenyans know war is not receding. President Kenyatta characterized the war as a continuing struggle. He said Kenya needs help fight terrorism, and he meant the militant Islamist apocalyptic terrorism of al-Shabab, al-Qaida and their global allies.

Walk through Nairobi, East Africa's international hub, and you will encounter people from Africa, India, Arabia, Europe and the Americas. Westgate is an international mall. Perhaps it is a World Trade Center writ small, but for militants it is an icon. When al-Shabab attacked Kampala, Uganda in July 2010, the terrorists bombed sports cafes where soccer fans were watching World Cup matches on TV. Militant Islamists loathe the current world, which is why they wage a global war against it.

Other east, central and west sub-Saharan African nations along the so-called Muslim-Christian fault line crossing the continent are as vulnerable as Kenya, perhaps more so. Fault zone is a better description, for there is no clean divide between the predominantly Muslim, Arabized north and predominantly Christian-animist Black African south. Muslim enclaves dot the East African coast, a legacy of Arab traders and, yes, Arab imperialists and slavers. East Africa's Arab slaving legacy is a historical trauma, which seems to escape the damnation narratives of Western academics invested in blaming the West for sub-Saharan Africa's ills.

The Sudan civil war (1983-2005) featured slave raids conducted by Islamic militias loyal to Sudan (Khartoum). The raiders enslaved Christian and animist Black Africans in what is now South Sudan. A Baltimore Sun 1996 investigation documented the crime. The raids also served as psychological object lessons, reminding non-Muslim Black Africans that, for a millennium, Arab Muslims wielded regional supremacy. The message was domination.

Al-Shabab's mall-terror team reportedly freed Muslim Kenyans, and then murdered non-Muslims. The terrorists asked their victims to name Muhammad's mother, Aminah. Shrug, and they kill you. Again, domination, not co-existence.

Al-Shabab spokesmen called the attack payback for Kenya's Somalia invasion two years ago. Missing from his statement, and those of his Western apologists, are the two decades of Somali militant border attacks and troublemaking in the Mombasa region. He didn't mention al-Qaida's August 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, killing 213 people.

As for Islamist Sudan's slow war on South Sudan, Muslim Chad's and Sudan's finagling in the Central African Republic, and the centuries of Arab slavers working the Horn of Africa and the Swahili Coast? Silence.

At least al-Shabab's propagandists didn't claim that a decade of war is receding. They know that's a crock.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: foreignaffairs; islam; jihad; kenya; terroristattack; wot
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To: radec

Earlier this week, a member of Al-Shabaab told Arab satellite network Al Jazeera that the attack was overdue, and that the mall was chosen for the attack because “it is a place where there are Jewish and American shops.”

The Islamist group attacked the mall – a place where innocent civilians shop – because “it is a place where tourists from across the world come to shop, where diplomats gather. It is a place where Kenya’s decision-makers go to relax and enjoy themselves,” said the spokesperson.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3071186/posts

So there it is from the horses mouth to the horses ass.


21 posted on 09/25/2013 2:42:21 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: radec; All

I happen to know what is sad...I’ll give you one guess...


22 posted on 09/25/2013 2:50:01 PM PDT by stevie_d_64 (It's not the color of one's skin that offends people...it's how thin it is.)
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To: Fred Nerks

A member of Al-Shabaab?

How do you know he is a member? lmao. Does he carry a membership card.

You’re being played. Look CLOSELY at all the photos. And think.


23 posted on 09/25/2013 2:53:46 PM PDT by radec
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To: stevie_d_64

ahhh...

unattended children in a shopping mall with mad gunmen on the loose?


24 posted on 09/25/2013 2:55:11 PM PDT by radec
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To: radec; All

And you claim that you have verified that they were staged, you cite “proof” (videos from an obvious nutcase) who may be yourself, of the kind most known for “Illuminati” and David Icke-videos.

You’re funny, but you’re outed.


25 posted on 09/25/2013 2:55:40 PM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (Obama: the bearded lady of the Muslim Brotherhood))
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To: radec; Admin Moderator

You are putrid maggot.


26 posted on 09/25/2013 2:59:28 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: Hardraade

Outed?

Again... I said they appeared staged.

And to be honest, you (all) haven’t countered that argument.

It’s clear you prefer to be a spoon-fed MSM dolt.

Enjoy.


27 posted on 09/25/2013 3:01:58 PM PDT by radec
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To: Fred Nerks

>You are putrid maggot.<

I’m trying to free you.

It’s true... no good deed goes unpunished.


28 posted on 09/25/2013 3:02:50 PM PDT by radec
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To: radec

The Australian architect and his eight month pregnant wife were amongst the dead.
TELL YOUR FILTHY PROPAGANDA TO THEIR GRIEVING PARENTS.


29 posted on 09/25/2013 3:14:34 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: radec; All

You have no argument, Cedarboy. Go roast your stomach :).

See if your psychosis can be cured.


30 posted on 09/25/2013 3:19:24 PM PDT by Hardraade (http://junipersec.wordpress.com (Obama: the bearded lady of the Muslim Brotherhood))
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Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: Hardraade

All done with your spoon-fed MSM BS already? Brian Williams tuck you in nice and tight?

Look...

I’m right.

You’re wrong.

I won.

You lost.... you have no counter argument.

I’m done here.


32 posted on 09/25/2013 3:29:50 PM PDT by radec
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To: radec
I’m done here.

Probably the only thing you've posted I agree with.

33 posted on 09/25/2013 3:38:38 PM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: Admin Moderator

Thank you


34 posted on 09/25/2013 3:49:38 PM PDT by kanawa
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To: radec; All

uhhhhh, hey Captain oblivious...

Did your source (BS) figure out that those unattended children might possibly have been separated in the confusion and mayhem from the attack from their parents or guardians???

I’m betting yer source never thought about that possibility...

And I’m betting your source is nothing more than a wannabe armchair/keyboard commando type basing their analysis on assumption and circumstancial conditions and not any evidence to support such opinion...

I’m just sitting here wondering when you and your “source” will say this never happened, or that somehow the U.S. is responsible for this attack...

The “matter of fact” and “boastful” tone to your responses is very telling about your irreverence to the facts that are still coming in and being evaluated by people wayyyyyyy, over yer head...

People like me tend to watch, make reasonable conclusions, and hope nothing like this happens here...

But I have a sneeky feeling you and your source don’t think that far ahead...

But hey, you think whatever you want to, its a free country, just make sure the hole you are digging for yourself is big enough for the both of you, but don’t dig it too deep...

Seek life and entertainment elsewhere...


35 posted on 09/26/2013 10:22:59 AM PDT by stevie_d_64 (It's not the color of one's skin that offends people...it's how thin it is.)
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