Subject to Change

There are links and threads in the most surprising places.  Cited as dead over a year ago by officials in Somalia, it has now been revealed that an American-Somali who had lived in Toronto for several years while struggling to find his inner jihadist mission, had in fact survived the attack in Mogadishu.  He hadn't been identified because there was no body; it was surmised he had been killed.

Not so dead, however.  He soon re-appeared in a video, urging the United States, if they could, make a martyr of him.  Now, at the ripe old age of 28, Omar Hammami, a home-grown jihadi of Somali-American heritage has written his autobiography and posted it on the Internet, all 127 elucidating, self-congratulatory pages of it.

Although an American of Somali descent, he had been dissatisfied with his life in the United States.  He had come to the attention of the FBI, and decided to free himself from their scrutiny while he engaged in an inner struggle for jihad, destined to reach a conclusion as a violent jihadist, declaring war on the West.  In 2004 he crossed the U.S.-Canada border at Windsor.

His memoir, The Story of An American Jihadi, describes his entry to Canada and life in Toronto "like entering a new world".  Largely, he appeared to have been impressed with Canadian accented-English, with the prevalence of Tim Horton's outlets, and "fast-food joints all over the place and people speak from their nose". 

Toronto appears to have been a wonderful place to live, for this emerging terrorist: "When you enter the restaurant for the first time in your life you'll see that almost every dish is accompanied by coffee and a doughtnut!"  Guess it doesn't take much to impress such a surprisingly astute observer of the human condition let loose on the urban landscape.

The autobiographical love-in may prove useful, however, despite its juvenile commentary, on helping security officials in both Canada and the United States build a picture of the proceedings that lead to homegrown radicalization.  And that conclusion may be based largely on revelations that point to such individuals as being basically arrested in adolescence, dissatisfied with their lot in life, cleaving to a vision of victimhood, and revelling in pay-back violence.

Under-educated and hugely resentful, Hammami became a pizza-delivery man.  "I used to translate books on the weekdays and deliver pizza on the weekends.  It wasn't stressful at all", he wrote in his online published book, distributed by the SITE Intelligence group.  "I finally looked at my life and decided that I had to move on."

And that was when, it appears, he began seriously reading "Islamic books".  "I also started to feel my old emotions towards jihad once again."  Thinking he might take some practical steps to put his vision into action, he thought of going to Syria "and waiting for the jihad to spill over from Iraq".  He obviously missed his boat.  But perhaps not; from all accounts, violent jihadists are there, lurking in the background.

"I started seeing different Muslims in Toronto and checking out different masjid [mosques].  That is where I began reading black-listed books.  The fact that I was now living in a multicultural metropolis really helped my attempt of trying new things and melting down the artificial barriers.  I was happy for quite a while until I realized that even this is not enough.

"Obviously [Toronto] was never a pure Islamic society by any stretch of the imagination, but it served as a temporary haven for me while I digested new information and formed new plans for my future", he wrote.  He liked the Toronto Somali community, but not its "Western defects" that were so painful to observe as Somalis "imitating the kuffar in almost everything."

And then Toronto's loss was Africa's gain.  He flew to Egypt, and from Cairo, a skip-and-a-hop to another African country, when he landed in Mogadishu, where he was able to join Al Shabaab with distinction.  Spreading chaos and killing to their and his heart's content.  Hammami released recruit videos rapping about knocking "America down to her knees", fighting until "martyrdom or victory".

In the introduction to his autobiography his tag line appears: "Still alive and well (by May26, 2012).  But of course that is a condition that can and likely will be subject to change.