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tv   America Tonight  Al Jazeera  September 24, 2013 4:00am-5:01am EDT

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>> al jazeera, i'm morgan radford. live pictures out of gwen yah where the death hol in nairobi mall has reached 68. more soldiers have been seen running around the perimeter. army is in control of the maul and owl hostages are free. at least one was a british woman. president obama is set to address the united nations general assembly this morning as leaders gather in new york city. at the top of his agenda is
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improving relations with iran, no one on one meetings scheduled with iranian president hassan rouhani. police in chicago have charged two men with a shooting that injured are several people. the two suspects are in their 20s and played a significant role in the shooting but investigators don't think neither men pulled the trigger. i'm morgan radford and i'll see you shortly. >> on america tonight. the vicious fighters that launched an attack on a mall in kenya and evidence they target young recruits in america. >> look at you, you have graduated university, you can't get a job. why, because your name is
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mohamed, you're a muslim. this is what the al qaeda guys are whispering to the ears to recruit these kids. >> also a leader in the fight against terrorism, why he is in prison in iran and why his family has chosen now to speak out. >> his face show everything, his face show he was under pressure. >> and the battle against climate change, could there be a solution in a very fine idea? good evening and thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen.
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this evening we begin with a look at the terror group that claims it launched a vicious attack on a mall in africa and signs that its reach may extend all the way to middle america. after three days of bloodshed, the siege now appears to be over but the radical group behind it which is known as al shabaab is increasingly coming into focus here. as president obama signaled today this was not just an northeastern a far away land. >> this i think underscores the degree to which all of us, as an international community, had to stand against it. the kind of senseless violence that these kinds of groups represent and the united states will continue to work with the entire continent of africa around the world to make sure that we are dismantling these objects of destruction. >> recruits in america are strong, kenyan foreign minister telling
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the pbs newshour tonight that two of three american teens were involved in attack. closely followed al shabaab's activities in the united states and he brings this report. >> al shabaab means the youth and to date, no sedatinged terrorist organization has been more successful in recruiting officers for overseas. since it emerged in 2006, al shabaab has interim government. the videos attempt to splay somalia's struggle as part of a joabled jihad movement. , al shabaab's videos are often created specifically for western audiences. sometimes with fighters speaking english or with english subtitles. >> we're calling all the brothers overseas, all the shabaab, wherever they are.
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to come and live the life of mujahade rvetionn. >> form he operatives from. >> this is a real disneyland. >> in 2008, al shabaab's videos drew attention, thanks a 26-year-old, abu monsowr a hadiki. >> are from killed just last week by his former credit specially effective in recrueltying young westerners to the cause. >> the only reason we're staying here away from our families, away from the cities, away from you know ice, candy bars, all these other things because we
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are waiting to meet with the enemy. >> since the recruitment videos started appearing online, more than 50 young men have disappeared in minneapolis and toronto, only to end up fighting alongside al shabaab. 26-year-old college student from minneapolis named sherwa ahmed who became the first suicide bomber. al shabaab increasingly unpopular in somalia, al shabaab members carry out am pew tairgses and beheadings, the group offered an appealing alternative to life in the west. in 2010, while filming a documentary? i met mo, one of the few
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westerners to return home after fighting alongside al shabaab. he baimed disillusioned, but he says many may still be susceptible. >> you can't get a job because your name is mohamed, you're a muslim. this is what the al qaeda members are whispering to recruit these kids. >> a frustrating chord who feel ostracized in the post9/11 west. of course joy one of the biggest fears is that american citizens over in east africa could use thairn training and launch attacks here. but so far there's no evidence of that either way. >> so far christoph, you have been closely following al shabaab to somalia yourself. do the young people who are getting
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recruited have any idea what they're getting into? >> mostly they don't. it looks exciting. it's like jihad with ak-47s. but they argue that somalia is the most dangerous place in the world, there is fighting almost everywhere. and they en end up little less than cannon fodder. >> reaching out to you, you were the most, arguably, closest journalist to him. >> he did so much of the recruitment but he discovered this wasn't something he wanted to be involved in anymore, and spoke out against the group, to his demise. he said if i die, al shabaab will make it look like, they want to recruit as many
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foreigners as possible and amri amriki was as visible as possible. they did kill him, it's going to be harder for them to recruit more westerners from overseas. >> as christoph points out, al shabaab brings its supporters from halfway around the world. professor adi sematar from the university of minnesota, we appreciate both of you being here, abdul, i want to begin with you and the kind of recruitment effort that is made by al shabaab among these young somalis, it's not just wrap videos, this is really cool you say, you're hearing more than that? >> like these recruiters, are actually targeting
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disenfranchised, who have flunked out of school, criminal record, can't get a job, they can't get financial aid per se. >> but it is not simply that, it is really that they are encouraging a mission. >> exactly. and their mission has a message of a better life, of religious justification. in a sense of national your duty to your country. >> that is might be hard for americans to follow this sort of thing. professor i want to talk to you for a minute about that motivation and what is happening here. do you ski recruitment taking place in the community there, in minneapolis and what is the longer term implication for the united states in this relationship? >> i think it's important to note, that there are a large number of young somalis who are dispossessed from this society and from the old country and that the united states government and the minnesota government need to attend to those issues.
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they become exceptionally vulnerable, they don't feel they belong here and they don't feel they belong to anybody. that is sort of a vulnerable group. having said that i think it's also very important to underscore that the vast rnlgt moo omajority of the somalis have law abiding citizens and getting along with their lives and these are the people also who have given a bad wrap because of a -- rap because of a few bad apples, we were in cahoots with war lords, and for a long time we were oblivious to the damage that was bringing our reputation as a law-abiding country. we need to address that question. i think finally -- >> i think abdul is referring to this as well because these young people are being vulnerable to
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that in part, national affiliation with a group that intends to do harm. >> exact lir. and to go off of mr. samatar, is this group feel ostracized, a narrative that has been developed because of they think terrorism, they think piracy,. >> piracy is something we hear most in the you u.s. >> exactly. that trickles down to the youth and prevents them from taking positive activities here in the west. >> professor there are formal ties now, and how does that raise the issue in the united states, in the united states we understand al qaeda in a way that there has not been recognition of al shabaab. >> what is important here to
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believe is i don't believe for a minute those young people who are disillusioned who are trapped by al shabaab are going to come back here and do the dirty work that al shabaab has done in the horn of africa. our government has been incredibly alert to these matters, the person who was caught in the plane in detroit a few years back, that wasn't from -- from yemen. the country is very alert to that. i don't see these people coming back to do damage to our country and our people here. i think what the government needs to do very seriously is to look at itself in the mirror and sort of our own policies have supported war lords and the somali people in that country. i think the somali people are at war with al shabaab, how to put their country back together so they can become strong allies who can police their country and not allow young people to be
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lost in the process. >> and also for the u.s. government to reach out to the community. >> yes. it's very imperative for u.s. government and you know local and federal agencies to empower local partners for organization -- >> the local community in minnesota is quite strong and significant. >> yes, yes. when it comes the active engagement of these youth through programming, education, counseling mentoring, it is very slim. very few organization he that are taking on that challenge of engaging youth and shoag them it's not as -- showing them it is not as bad as you think. >> the point i want to make, in the united states minnesota is a large community of somalis. >> a very, very large community of somalis in minnesota. 8,000 somali
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s in one small area little mogadihsu. >> do you see this possible within u.s. policy and u.s. government outreach? >> i think it will be a tragic affair on the part of all government, that it takes some event yoadges in nairobi -- overseas in nairobi, and if that will change vulnerability in our people here in minneapolis i think it would be a great idea. for instance, there was a senator whom i met personally, his notions about terrorism were so bizarre in my opinion that he assumed and claimed that somali youth had been so disoriented. was so categorical. i told him, the vast majority of somali young men and women are law abiding.
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but the government both of the state of minnesota and the united states government needs oprovide the kind of services that will turn these young men into productive law abiding citizens. >> and not leave them vulnerable to these situations of any kind. thank you both for being with us here. >> with pleasure. >> ahead on america tonight images from the dark side. keeping an eye open chicago's crime wave.
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the most important money stories
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of the day might affect yourries savings, your job, or your retirement. whether it's bailouts or bond rates, this stuff gets complicated. but don't worry, i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real.
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the most important money stories of the day might affect yourries savings, your job, or your retirement. whether it's bailouts or bond rates, this stuff gets complicated. but don't worry, i'm here to take the fear out of finance. every night on my show i break down confusing financial speak and make it real.
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that's all i have an real money. victoria azarenko
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on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced
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kenya says it ceased control of a shopping mall from gunman and the death toll stands at 68. in doho with the world news from al jazeera and also in the program a u.n. report accuses israel of using force killing many palestinians in the west bank. iran's nuclear program is back on the agenda. the u.s. has the highest level talks in years and not exactly small change, the $4 c

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