Greed is the middle name for many leaders in the world. No one decides to become a leader simply due to the desire of changing the system this is just an initial act for the sake of votes. Every leader that constructs itself for the position of authority has a personal agenda even Gandhi the worldly known champion of humanity. He was addicted to the power of control. The building of a leader takes intelligence, creativity and a lot of cover up. The final transformation of a leader is filled with morality and a near perfect image.

Envision having a president that practices polygamy and that has public ties with a terror group.  All these things are true for the latest President of Somalia; Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. He was part of the men that established the Islamic Court Union (ICU). This court consists of all men gathered together for the purpose of killing. These men vow to use the ancient Islamic law of punishment which is more described as an eye for an eye law. It is a law that can permit the limb dismemberment of thieves and tongue removal of liars. This is a law which a poor country such as Somalia cannot afford to practice. It is a law mainly used in Saudi Arabia, a wealthy country that can afford the medical bills of the punished.

In order to reach the mass media members of the Islamic Courts Union dubbed themselves Al-Shabab (The Youth) and claimed they had ties with the world known terrorist group Al-Qaida (The Base). The attention the world media gave to these individuals was enough for many young vibrant Somali men to join from the United States and Europe. A lot of these young men were never to be seen again and if luck was on their side they came back without an arm or a leg and maybe both such as the story of Ismail Khalif.  After realizing Al-Shabab’s true agenda, he refused to join this militia group and for that his arm and leg were cut off.  Al Shabab is merely a group of gangs and do not even come close to the terror level of Al-Qaida. The Islamic Courts was born in early 2000 it was created by a group of men mostly young men pushed into a life of killing by the more than a decade long civil war. These men hide behind religion to justify the killing of innocent people in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia.

The hypocrisy of Mr. Ahmed is well documented when he was the leader of Islamic Courts Union he strongly opposed intervention.  In an Al-Jazeera interview he stated that intervention would take away the culture and religion of the Somali people.  He fled to Kenya after the African Union soldiers defeated Al-Shabab from city to city. Today, he has switched his position for a man who would never shake a woman’s hand for religious purposes; He did not mind shaking the hand of the United States’ Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton as she labeled him the best hope for Somalia

The Obama administration supports this man’s position of power.  In a press conference held in Kenya with Mr. Ahmed, Hilary Clinton stated “We believe his government is the best hope we have.” During the soviet war in the early 80s the United States supported a man by the name of Osama Bin Laden to defeat the Soviets power over a small country with a funny sounding name called Afghanistan. 20 years later Mr. Laden is the prime suspect of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States that took the lives of 2,973 people.

The United States is supporting Mr. Ahmed due to their strong belief that he will fight and demolish Al-Shabab, a group in which he was part of. The United States is clearly gambling with the future and fate of this country. The United States also supported the president prior to Mr. Ahmed by the name of Abdullahi Yusuf.  With the financial help and backing of the United States, Mr. Yusuf pushed for an intervention using the African Union soldiers. He manipulated the fears of the United States by claiming that Al-Qaida and possibly Bin Laden was living in Mogadishu which is a claim that has never been proven. The intervention has merely increased the death toll and further destruction of the city.  Imagine a people from a corrupt war torn country, a nation that is used and abused by every other country in the world.  These people have endured 19 years of suffering and endless broken promises. They are looking for any form of hope for the rebuilding of their country and the most powerful country in the world, the United States believe that Mr. Ahmed is the best hope for Somalia.

Like many African countries, Somalia lacks grassroots movement from the youth and the communities living there.  Somalia is a group thinking society therefore people follow the thinking of clan leaders without questioning the path.   Somalia is one of the only countries where everyone shares the same language, religion and even ethnicity yet the love for clans has become the country’s biggest disease and down fall.   Somalia does not need intervention what Somalia needs is nationalism from its citizens.  Sadly, clans have become the people’s biggest femme fatal. What happens now?

The civil war between the clans has killed millions leaving countless others scared putting the country in this bottomless pit.  This is because the people in the country are too busy dividing the cities into clan territories rather than standing against the United States financial support of this problematic leader.  Suicide bombers in Mogadishu are so prevalent that it is no longer news in the world media.  Somalia has become a place where other countries can afford to gamble with citizens and the environment. According to an article from the American University published under the Ted Case Studies stated by most reports, several tons of waste, mostly processed industrial waste, had already been dumped in Somalia. This report was done in early 1990 so it’s anyone’s guess how much that number has increased. This illegal dumping of waste in the Somali nation has left a lot of people to assume that this is how the Somali “Pirates” was initially created. They were the watchdogs of the Somali Ocean but this is anyone’s assumption?

Al-shabab is not the only problems Somali citizens must deal with. The Somali nation must find a way to rehabilitate the generation that were born in the war, who has now gone from victim to killers. All they have known is war and death.  So they are easily manipulated into national terrorist organizations such as this.  The type of leader Somalia needs is a nationalist with solutions not a leader that is part of the problem. Stories continue to pour out of Somalia. Abdul-Kadir Ali a recent arrival from Somalia remembers a school built by Al-Shabab members for the purpose of influencing young offspring to do monstrous acts.  They recruit young children ranging from the age of six to 10 for the purpose of brainwashing them to become suicide bombers.  How can the United States support a man that was part of a group that has brought nothing but terror to the Somali nation? This is anyone’s guess but it all goes back to greed.

**Yasmine Farah is a Freelance writer with a degree from UMass Amherst. She can be reached by email at **

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