The article Somalia Food Giveaway in Al Qaeda's Name Raises Questions and Criticism really sent me on a rollercoaster as far as my initial reactions throughout the reading are concerned. The article seemed to start with a certain view, switch to another in the middle, and finally end on a largely negative note. It really opened my eyes to the true corruption occurring in Somalia and how deeply forces desire to dominate helpless individuals.
As the article began I was somewhat happy with what I was reading, for it seemed that positive steps were being taken to tackle the occurring famine by those who I never would’ve thought to complete such actions, Al Qaeda. However, my view quickly shifted when Abu Abdulla Almuhajir was depicted as completely white with an American accent. This struck confusion in the situation for me since Abu Abdulla Almuhajir was still surrounded by masked gunmen, yet he was American.
The two areas of the article that dented my thoughts the most was the estimated 750,000 future deaths within the next few months and the inscription on the bags of grain that stated ''Al Qaeda campaign on behalf of Martyr Bin Laden. Charity relief for those affected by the drought”.
The final sentences of the article by Gettleman put out an awesome example as to the reasoning for Al Qaeda’s sudden actions. They can be summarized through a statement from the transitional government's information minister, Abdulkadir, who believes that ''They want to take advantage of the hungry people, in order to get child recruits”. This was the sentence that really drew me right back to the beginning of seeing how ruthless Al Qaeda and Shabab really are.
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