A UN report asserts that the Islamic Courts have been receiving money and weapons from several Moslem countries, including Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the core of the Islamic Courts fighting force consists of about a thousand Islamic militants, many of them Al Qaeda members. These gunmen are often Somalis who had gone off to fight for Islamic terrorism in other countries. But now that the Islamic Courts has plenty of cash, they were able to hire these experienced fighters, and get them to return to Somalia.
All the more reason we should conduct a more overt military operation in the region to knock the jihadis back on their heels so we can get back to winning hearts and minds.
