CLARKSON, GA — In this small town on the edge of Atlanta, the FBI and local law enforcement are looking out for an alarming kind of crime: radical Islamist terrorists potentially trying to recruit the town’s young Somali-Americans to fight a war in Africa.
There is terrorist recruitment taking place already in Minnesota, said Clarkston police chief Tony J. Scipio. That’s why his department and the FBI are looking for anything similar in the Somali-American community here in Clarkston.
In Minneapolis, as many as 20 young men have been reported missing from their homes since last fall. They are thought to have been lured into the ranks of al-Shabaab in Somalia. That group got a terrorist designation from the U.S. State Department, which ties it to al-Qaeda, bombings, assassinations and attacks on peacekeepers. A powerful faction fighting Somalia’s transitional government, al-Shabaab’s agenda is extremely strict Sharia law.
To fight potential recruiters, the Atlanta FBI has spent the last several months in what the agent-in-charge called an “outreach” program to Clarkston Somali-Americans, including mosque visits and community meetings.
Supervisory special agent Andrew Young said radical violent Islamist recruiters use the same strategy as a street gang recruiter, or even a little league coach.
“From what we know about recruiters, whether they’re Islamic, drug gangs or the coach, they’re looking for those kids who are looking for something deeper inside. To one it could be geopolitics. To one it could be a friendship. They’re all looking for something,” he explained.
And terror recruiters are quickly becoming adept at online tactics, noted Young.
“That’s what we see as a trend hitting home,” he said. “We see a lot more Internet recruiting being targeted to our youth.”
If young people go to Somalia, the FBI’s biggest worry is that they may return with dangerous souvenirs, like bomb-making or demolition skills and a radical anti-U.S. agenda.
Atlanta’s Somali-American community mushroomed after 1991 with arrivals of war refugees. Between 2000 and 2007 alone, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement sent some 3,000 Somalis to Atlanta.
Because so many suffered in the war, they’re unlikely to see much appeal in returning to war, say Somali-American leaders in Clarkston.
But the alleged Minneapolis recruits spent little or no time in war-ravaged Somalia or in refugee camps. That may make young people vulnerable to a dramatic, nationalistic appeal, according to one Georgia leader.
“If al-Shabaab says, ‘We’re fighting Ethiopians,’ then they’ll have sympathy,” declared Omar Shekhey, president of the Somali-American Community Center, a statewide umbrella group.
Somalia’s transitional government is supported in part by the army of Somalia’s number one enemy, Ethiopia. The two countries have fought two formal wars in 40 years.
Al-Shabaab has no sympathizers in Clarkston, Shekhey insisted, but suggested that the other side -– the transitional government –- is frustrating, ineffective and unpopular. He jumped to criticize the transitional government’s power-sharing formula that he says reduces some Somalis to half-citizens, or non-citizens because it fixes quotas for parliamentary seats by clan.
U.S. support for that interim government rouses ire in some, Shekhey said, especially young people who reject the costs of that U.S. strategy.
“They can be angry,” he said. “‘Why is the U.S. doing this?’ they ask.”
Sharmarke Yonis, of the Georgia Somali Community, a non-profit headquartered in Clarkston, says that anger doesn’t always translate into a violent act.
“We might have some people who have sympathy, but not anyone who will commit a hate crime,” he said.
There’s sympathy because every religion spawns radicals who commit hate crimes, such as a person who would bomb an abortion clinic in the name of Christianity, he suggested, but emphasized that he sees no danger in Atlanta.
“In Georgia, we don’t have many, just a few listening,” Yonis said. He believes the threat is bigger in Columbus, Ohio, or Minneapolis, where the Somali-American populations measure in the tens of thousands.
No Somali-Americans are reported missing in the Clarkston area. A four-month police and FBI joint operation of surveillance and confidential informants turned up nothing, according to the police chief.
But “the word ‘FBI’ scares people,” said Hussien Mohammed, the director of Sagal Radio, a Clarkston-based station that broadcasts in English plus four languages spoken in east Africa: Somali, Afaan-Oromo, Amharic and Swahili.
“They’re coming from a country that has no law. They’ve been beaten, abused, harassed by security forces in their country … Some have been taken away in the middle of the night. People fear the same here.”
Mohammed seemed conflicted about the level of FBI involvement.
“Too many visits from the FBI have been seen in our community,” he said, but later added, “It’s their job. It’s why we’re safe.”
He’s very adamant on one point, which is backed up by other Somali-Americans and law enforcement: “These people are very peaceful like any other community. They’ve been terrorized at home enough. They want to be Somali-Americans, not just Somalis.”
(Maggie Lee (www.bottleofink.com) is a freelance writer in Atlanta.)
Washington (DPA) – Physicians at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles worked for more than an hour to resuscitate pop icon Michael Jackson, according to his brother Jermaine Jackson in broadcast remarks Thursday.
The sudden death of the rock star on a hot Thursday afternoon triggered not only worldwide mourning but also an odd disconnect as he came back to life with his star power in nonstop broadcasts of file footage.
Paramedics answered an emergency call at Jackson’s rented mansion outside Los Angeles to find him unresponsive, officials said.
“It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest at his home,” an emotionally-wrought Jermaine told reporters. “Upon arriving at hospital at 1:14 pm, a team of doctors including emergency physicians and cardiologists attempted to resuscitate him for a period of more than one hour.”
The Los Angeles County coroner Fred Corral confirmed Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm (2126 GMT), but would not comment on the likely cause of his death.
A Los Angeles police official said that given the “high-profile nature” of the death, the case had been assigned to the robbery and homicide team. An autopsy would be carried out to determine the cause of death, with results to be released on Friday.
Fox News showed live images of the Los Angeles police helicopter delivering Jackson’s remains to the medical examiner’s office.
If cardiac arrest is confirmed, medical experts said there were a variety of possible causes, including a heart attack, an aneurism or a blood clot. One physician told CNN that the heart simply stops beating and only quivers in full cardiac arrest.
Jermaine, a one-time member of the Jackson 5 and Michael’s older brother, refused to take questions, ending his remarks to reporters with his own tribute: “We all will be with you Michael, always.”
ET that Jackson was transported from his residence in full cardiac arrest on Thursday. They say life-saving efforts were made by paramedics throughout transport to the hospital and efforts in the hospital emergency room continued on unsuccessfully.
Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The King of Pop, who will be forever immortalized for his world-famous, trademark dance moves and chart-topping success, was arguably one of the most popular recording artists of all time, his success peaking during the 1980s.
Jackson was born in Gary, IN on August 29, 1958. Before he became a solo artist, Jackson was the youngest member of the Jackson Five, the explosive ’60s band formed by his four older brothers — Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon Jackson — put Jackson on the path to stardom.
Jackson’s talent was brought to the attention of producer Quincy Jones, who cast him in the role of Scarecrow in ‘The Wiz’ (1978), a musical based on ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The film also featured Diana Ross and Richard Pryor. The rising pop star reunited with Jones in 1982 with the mega-hit album, Thriller. The title track, along with “Beat It,” “The Girl is Mine,” and “Billie Jean,” would make him an indelible icon of pop culture. The album garnered seven Grammy awards. His unmatchable musical talent was coupled with an intriguing idiosyncratic image that, in later years, overshadowed the singer’s own success. But the ’80s marked Jackson as a contemporary legend.
Jackson’s eccentric persona was perpetuated with the help of his one-gloved hand. In 1993, a mother accused Jackson of molesting her 13-year-old son during a visit. The case was eventually settled out of court for a reported $20 million. Still, America remained enamored with the pop star; a reported 62 million viewers tuned in to his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey. The later years of his career and personal life proved to be a tumultuous affair. The change was perhaps foreshadowed most significantly a year after he married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley. His album, HIStory, released in 1995, failed to become the success it was anticipated to be. His 2001 album, Invincible, which reportedly cost $30 million to produce, would suffer the same fate.
During the same year, in November, he married former nurse Debbie Rowe. She gave birth to Prince Michael Jackson I in 1997. Two years later Jackson and Rowe filed for divorce. In November 2003, more legal trouble emerged when a 12-year-old boy claimed that Jackson molested him at his Neverland Valley Ranch. A year later Jackson gave his DNA sample to authorities after police searched his estate for evidence.
In 2005, Jackson was tried and exonerated of child molestation, conspiracy and alcohol charges that could have sent him to prison for nearly 20 years.
Despite the tribulations in his personal life, Michael Jackson’s mark in history never faded. He has inspired young pop stars like Justin Timberlake and Usher, and his classic, instantly recognizable songs continue to be heard in dance clubs and households across the world.
Jackson is survived by his three children: Prince Michael Jackson I, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
By Andrew Blankstein, Phil Willon and Harriet Ryan | Los Angeles Times
Michael Jackson is rushed into hospital in Los Angeles [Photo: x17online.com]
Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.
Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told The Times that paramedics responded to a 911 call from the home. When they arrived, Jackson was not breathing. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda said.
Hundreds of reporters gathered at the hospital awaiting word on his condition. The sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be named, said family members rushed to Jackson’s bedside, where he was in a deep coma.
Paramedics were called to a home on the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard. Jackson rented the Bel-Air home — described as a French chateau built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater — for $100,000 a month.
The home is about a six-minute drive from UCLA Medical Center.
Jackson has three children — sons Prince Michael 7, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11.
The news comes as Jackson, 50, was attempting a comeback after years of tabloid headlines, most notably his trial and acquittal on child molestation charges.
In May, The Times reported that Jackson was living in a Bel-Air mansion and rehearsing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London’s O2 Arena. Jackson had won the backing of two billionaires to get the so-called King of Pop back on stage.
The concerts had been scheduled to kick off July 13.
Johnny Caswell, a principal at Centerstaging, the Burbank soundstage where Jackson rehearsed for his London concerts, watched many of the run-throughs and said he was “absolutely shocked” by the performer’s death.
Jackson, he said, was “very frail” but approached the rehearsals with boundless energy.
“He was working hard. Putting four days a week in here. Six hour a day. Working hard. Dancing,” Caswell said. “We’re in shock over here.”
The performer moved from the Burbank facility to the Forum at the beginning of June, Caswell said.
His backers envisioned the London shows as an audition for a career rebirth that could ultimately encompass a three-year world tour, a new album, movies, a Graceland-like museum, musical revues in Las Vegas and Macau, and even a Thriller casino.
Such a rebound could wipe out Jackson’s massive debt, estimated at $400 million.
Jackson needed a comeback to reverse the damage done by years of excessive spending and little work. He has not toured since 1997 or released a new album since 2001, but he has continued to live like a megastar.
To finance his opulent lifestyle, he borrowed heavily against his three main assets: his Neverland Ranch, his music catalog and a second catalog that includes the music of the Beatles that he co-owns with Sony Corp. By the time of his 2005 criminal trial, he was nearly $300 million in debt and, according to testimony, spending $30 million more annually than he was taking in.
Compounding his money difficulties were a revolving door of litigious advisors and hangers-on. Jackson has run through 11 managers since 1990, according to Frank DiLeo, his manager and friend of three decades.
(Times staff writers Richard Winton, Chris Lee Carla Hall, Ari B. Bloomekatz, Anna Gorman and Nicole Santa Cruz contributed to this report.)
Michael Jackson is rushed into hospital in Los Angeles [Photo: x17online.com]
(CBS) – Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Los Angeles Times. The entertainment Web site TMZ.com is also reporting his death.
Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center, reports KCBS in Los Angeles.
Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived.
Capt. Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a call at Jackson’s home around 12:26 p.m. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told The Los Angeles Times.
The emergency entrance at the UCLA Medical Center, which is near Jackson’s rented home, was roped off Thursday with police tape.
News trucks were gathered, helicopters flew overhead, and orange cones were laid out to redirect traffic.
“We have no statements as far as transporting Michael Jackson,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Devin Gales said.
Jackson had planned to hit the stage at the O2 Arena in London for 50 concerts this summer. Tickets for the series, which kicks off on July 8, sold out in a matter of hours on March 13. By the time the shows end in February 2010, more than 1 million people will have seen Jackson perform.
Jackson, 50, has been in the public eye for more than 40 years.
With his unforgettable catchy Jackson Five tunes and incredible stage presence, the public has been infatuated with the shining child star turned awkward adult, who reached international superstardom. As soon as Jackson glided across the stage with his signature moonwalk dance, it was all over from there – fans were immediately hooked.
His album “Thriller,” released in 1982, was a chart-topper that set the bar for pop music.
In recent years, however, the pop icon has become more of a recluse and somewhat of a lost soul.
Headlines about Jackson were no longer about his music; instead there were stories of plastic surgery and strange behavior. He dangled his baby from a balcony and most damaging to his image was his 2005 trial for child molestation.
Update | 6:37 p.m. The Associated Press is reporting that Mr. Jackson is dead.
Reaction | 6:37 p.m. Television news images showed large crowds gathering outside the UCLA Medical Center. “People are already showing up in costume, believe it or not,” said a Fox News correspondent, Trace Gallagher, comparing it to the circus he witnessed during a trial involving Mr. Jackson.
More Reports | 6:29 p.m. “A lot will be said about Michael Jackson as we learn more about this story,” Brian Williams said on the “NBC Nightly News.”
“He was incredibly talented, a child star who was an adult with deep troubles and physical and mental health issues.”
The reports of Mr. Jackson’s death ricocheted around the world with remarkable speed. The news led Friday morning newscasts in Japan.
CBS and ABC are also reporting the news, standing on their own reporting now.
L.A. Times Reports Jackson Is Dead | 6:24 p.m. The newspaper cited “city and law enforcement sources.” The networks and CNN are also broadcasting the news, citing the Times story.
Reports: Jackson in a Coma | 6:15 p.m. Several news organizations including the Los Angeles Times reported that Mr. Jackson “is in a coma.” The newspaper attributed the news to one law enforcement source. CNN is also citing “multiple sources” as saying that Mr. Jackson is in a coma.
Update | 6:11 p.m. LOS ANGELES – An unconscious Michael Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center on Thursday afternoon by paramedics who performed C.P.R., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Early reports indicated cardiac arrest, but a hospital spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. Mr. Jackson, 50, has been renting a mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood, a short distance from the hospital, and rehearsing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London.
Joe Jackson told to E! News, an entertainment Web site and cable channel, that the singer’s family was scrambling to determine his condition. “I am in Las Vegas, but yes, people in Los Angeles called me and are with Michael and tell me he was taken to the hospital,” Mr. Jackson told E! News. “His mother is on her way to the hospital now to check in on him.”
Mr. Jackson is scheduled to perform in a series of concerts in at the O2 arena London, beginning next month and continuing into 2010. The shows have been widely seen in the music industry as an important possible comeback for him, with the potential to earn him up to $50 million, according to some reports. But there has also been worry and speculation that Mr. Jackson, who is 50, was not physically ready for such an arduous run of concerts, and Mr. Jackson’s postponement of the first of those shows from July 8 to July 12 fueled new rounds of gossip about his health.
Even though Mr. Jackson has sold millions of albums around the world — “Thriller,” from 1982, has been certified 28 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America — his eccentric lifestyle took a severe financial toll. In 1987 Mr. Jackson paid about $17 million for a 2,600-acre ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., 125 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Calling it Neverland, he outfitted the property with amusement-park rides, a zoo and a 50-seat theater, at a cost of $35 million, according to reports, and the ranch became his sanctum.
But Neverland, and Mr. Jackson’s lifestyle, were expensive to maintain. A forensic accountant who testified at Mr. Jackson’s molestation trial in 2005 said that Mr. Jackson’s annual budget in 1999 included $7.5 million for personal expenses and $5 million to maintain Neverland. By at least the late 1990s, he began to take out huge loans to support himself and pay debts. In 1998 he took out a loan for $140 million from Bank of America, which two years later was upped to $200 million. Further loans of hundreds of millions followed.
The collateral for the loans was Mr. Jackson’s 50 percent share in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a portfolio of thousands of songs, including more than 100 by the Beatles that are considered some of the most valuable properties in music. In 1985 Mr. Jackson paid $47.5 million for ATV, which included the Beatles songs — a move that estranged him from Paul McCartney — and 10 years later Mr. Jackson sold 50 percent of his interest to Sony for $90 million, creating a joint venture, Sony/ATV. Estimates of the value of the catalog exceed $1 billion.
A member of the pop group The Jackson 5 as a child, Mr. Jackson was a pint-size musical dynamo. He under the aegis of Joe Jackson, spent years in talent shows and performing in seedy Midwestern clubs his dictatorial and ambitious father. Joe Jackson and Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, were the singer’s twin mentors during his early career.
Mr. Jackson eventually broke with his father and the Jackson 5, a move toward creative and financial independence marked by his collaborations with Quincy Jones on a trio of albums. The most memorable of those is 1982’s “Thriller,” which eventually racked up sales of 51 million copies globally, according to the Guinness World Records, making it the best-selling album in history.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department told CNN that rescuers were called to Mr. Jackson’s home at 12:21 p.m. Pacific. “When paramedics went on the scene, they treated the patient, then they immediately transported the patient to UCLA,” the spokesman told CNN. Mr. Jackson’s home is located only a few minutes from the hospital center.
Cable news channels almost immediately started showing paparazzi shots from TMZ, X17Online.com and Hollywood.TV of Mr. Jackson’s entourage arriving at the hospital. By mid-afternoon, television news helicopters were hovering above the medical center.
Entertainment news Web sites including EOnline.com and PerezHilton.com appeared to be loading more slowly than usual, or not loading at all, an indication of the intense interest in Mr. Jackson’s hospitalization.
Michael Jackson is rushed into hospital in Los Angeles [Photo: x17online.com]
Media reports have said the star, 50, was taken to hospital in Los Angeles, California, after he was found not breathing following a suspected heart attack in his Bel Air home earlier.
Celebrity website TMZ said 911 operators received an emergency call about 12.12pm local time (5.12am AEST).
“We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back,” the website reported.
Jackson is believed to have gone into cardiac arrest and paramedics performed CPR on him en route to UCLA hospital.
The website quoted family members as saying the Thriller singer was in “really bad shape.”
“We just got off the phone with Joe Jackson, Michael’s dad, who says ‘he is not doing well.” the website had earlier reported.
Jackson was reportedly planning a comeback and was living in Los Angeles while rehearsing a series of 50 sold-out shows in London, the LATimes has reported.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics had rushed to the singer’s $100,00-a-month rented home near Sunset Boulevard to find him not breathing, according to the newspaper.
Michael has three children, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson II.
___________________________
Biography Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. Referred to as the “King of Pop” in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums have become some of the world’s best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).
In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and Thriller—credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool—helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as “Black or White” and “Scream” made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV in the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.
Jackson has donated and raised millions of dollars for beneficial causes through his foundation, charity singles and support of 39 charities. Other aspects of his personal life, including his changing appearance and behavior, generated significant controversy, damaging his public image. Though he was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993, the criminal investigation was closed due to lack of evidence and Jackson was not charged. The singer has experienced health concerns since the early 1990s and conflicting reports regarding the state of his finances since the late 1990s. Jackson married twice and fathered three children, all of which caused further controversy. In 2005, Jackson was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges.
One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records—including one for “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time”—13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and the sales of over 750 million albums worldwide. Cited as one of the world’s most famous men, Jackson’s highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, has made him a part of popular culture for almost four decades.
Washington (DPA) – Physicians at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles worked for more than an hour to resuscitate pop icon Michael Jackson, according to his brother Jermaine Jackson in broadcast remarks Thursday.
(The New York Times)