A failed suicide attack in Somalia, Kenya will host a conference

Diplomat

By Tajudin

In Local News

May 31st, 2015

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Al shabaab militants still represent a threat symbol for Somalia and East African countries

Beled-Hawo , Gedo region , Somalia ( Xinhua + DIPLOMAT.SO) – A Somali suicide bomber blew himself up at the southern border town with Kenya in an incident that left unknown number of casualties, authorities said on Friday.
Abdirahman Zeyli’i, a senior member with the moderate Islamist group Ahlu Sunnah wal Jamaah that controls Gedo region alongside Somali government, told journalists the bomber was targeting an officer but detonated before coming close to him.
“His (bomber) attempts to kill our officer by blowing himself up near him failed when the explosion went off before he could come close to him. He died instantly,” said Zeyli’i.
Zeyli’i said the suicide bomber used to be a school teacher in the area before he joined the militant group Al-Shabaab.
“We fled the scene when the explosion went off, but when we came back we found the bomber dead,” said local resident Nor Moalim.
No group by far claims responsibility for the explosion.
Kenya to host regional conference on extremism
Kenya will host a regional conference on countering violent extremism in June, officials said on Friday.
Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Karanja Kibicho told a media briefing in Nairobi that for the last four weeks, a team has been working towards the preparation of the meeting.
“So far, the government has dispatched invites to 25 African countries and another 16 countries across the world,” Kibicho said during a meeting with foreign envoys.
The forthcoming conference will be held at a time when the global community is facing multiple threats by violent extremists, many acting locally while thinking and gaining resources globally, that are a threat to international peace and security.
In February, the U.S. invited Kenya to attend a summit on countering violent extremism. Kenya was endorsed during the meeting to host the regional consultation in Africa on countering violent extremism.
Kibicho said the three-day event will generate an outcome document that will inform a high level summit that will be held on the sidelines 70th UN General Assembly in September.
He added that the meeting will also involve a technical session to look into ways to evolve strategies of how to implement the outcome of the conference.
Kibicho said people who join extremism groups and take advantage of the amnesty will be rehabilitated into the society.
A string of terror attacks in recent months have culminated with the evacuation of tourists following massacre that killed 148 people, including 142 students, in Garissa in northeast Kenya.
Known extremist terrorist group Al-Shabaab was responsible for the attack, and has been a cell of the Al-Qaida terror network since 2012.
Permanent Secretary for Interior Monica Juma said the meeting will also focus on topologies and drivers of violent extremism.
“We want to understand the local architecture of terror networks as well as the narratives that promote ideologies of violence extremism,” Juma said.
She said Kenya is an anchor state that has taken leadership in engaging the threat of terrorism, noting that the threat of terror is alive and present in Kenya.
She added that radicalization normally starts in safe places such the family and community settings, and the intelligence the government receives is that the recruitment to terror networks could occur in any part of the country.
“So we are keenly watching the whole country, but some regions are more vulnerable due to a variety of factors,” she the PS.
Juma said the government will soon roll out a sensitization program to inform the public on the signs of radicalization. “This will reduce panic and avoid knee jerk reactions that could do more harm and good.”
Juma said last year, Kenya was struggling with a situation where mosques had been taken over by radical Muslim preachers, but the threat of radicalization has now moved to other situations.
Kenya’s Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua said the country is experiencing a growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism due to a variety of factors.
“We share a border of approximately 700 kms with Somalia, where Al-Shabaab bases are located,” Kinyua said, noting that the Al- Shabaab is luring Kenyan youths and using their bases in Somalia to recruit, radicalize, train and plan terrorist attacks against Kenya and the region.
He said the current approaches pursued in countering violent extremism need to be supplemented by enhancing inclusive programs that involve independent researchers, civil society groups, and the private sector.
Kinyua, who is also the Head of Public Service, said the country’s vulnerability is accentuated by expanded democratic nature, which is exploited and appropriated by perpetrators of violent extremism.
“We are also witnessing the growing use of electronic medium to recruit, incite and even train candidates for extremism,” he said.NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) — Kenya will host a regional conference on countering violent extremism in June, officials said on Friday.
Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Karanja Kibicho told a media briefing in Nairobi that for the last four weeks, a team has been working towards the preparation of the meeting.
“So far, the government has dispatched invites to 25 African countries and another 16 countries across the world,” Kibicho said during a meeting with foreign envoys.
The forthcoming conference will be held at a time when the global community is facing multiple threats by violent extremists, many acting locally while thinking and gaining resources globally, that are a threat to international peace and security.
In February, the U.S. invited Kenya to attend a summit on countering violent extremism. Kenya was endorsed during the meeting to host the regional consultation in Africa on countering violent extremism.
Kibicho said the three-day event will generate an outcome document that will inform a high level summit that will be held on the sidelines 70th UN General Assembly in September.
He added that the meeting will also involve a technical session to look into ways to evolve strategies of how to implement the outcome of the conference.
Kibicho said people who join extremism groups and take advantage of the amnesty will be rehabilitated into the society.
A string of terror attacks in recent months have culminated with the evacuation of tourists following massacre that killed 148 people, including 142 students, in Garissa in northeast Kenya.
Known extremist terrorist group Al-Shabaab was responsible for the attack, and has been a cell of the Al-Qaida terror network since 2012.
Permanent Secretary for Interior Monica Juma said the meeting will also focus on topologies and drivers of violent extremism.
“We want to understand the local architecture of terror networks as well as the narratives that promote ideologies of violence extremism,” Juma said.
She said Kenya is an anchor state that has taken leadership in engaging the threat of terrorism, noting that the threat of terror is alive and present in Kenya.
She added that radicalization normally starts in safe places such the family and community settings, and the intelligence the government receives is that the recruitment to terror networks could occur in any part of the country.
“So we are keenly watching the whole country, but some regions are more vulnerable due to a variety of factors,” she the PS.
Juma said the government will soon roll out a sensitization program to inform the public on the signs of radicalization. “This will reduce panic and avoid knee jerk reactions that could do more harm and good.”
Juma said last year, Kenya was struggling with a situation where mosques had been taken over by radical Muslim preachers, but the threat of radicalization has now moved to other situations.
Kenya’s Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua said the country is experiencing a growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism due to a variety of factors.
“We share a border of approximately 700 kms with Somalia, where Al-Shabaab bases are located,” Kinyua said, noting that the Al- Shabaab is luring Kenyan youths and using their bases in Somalia to recruit, radicalize, train and plan terrorist attacks against Kenya and the region.
He said the current approaches pursued in countering violent extremism need to be supplemented by enhancing inclusive programs that involve independent researchers, civil society groups, and the private sector.
Kinyua, who is also the Head of Public Service, said the country’s vulnerability is accentuated by expanded democratic nature, which is exploited and appropriated by perpetrators of violent extremism.
“We are also witnessing the growing use of electronic medium to recruit, incite and even train candidates for extremism,” he said.
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http://diplomat.so/2015/05/31/a-failed-suicide-attack-in-somalia-kenya-will-host-a-conference/

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Muslim chaplain claims discrimination on United flight

CNN

By Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 0142 GMT (0842 HKT) May 31, 2015

Tahera Ahmad, who is Muslim, said she was discriminated against on a United Airlines flight. (Facebook profile picture)

Story highlights

• Tahera Ahmad says she was left in tears after being discriminated against
• Ahmad says fight attendant denied her an unopened can, saying the can possibly could be used it as weapon

(CNN)A simple request for an unopened can of Diet Coke on a United Airlines flight left Tahera Ahmad in tears.

A Muslim chaplain and director of interfaith engagement at Northwestern University, Ahmad, 31, was traveling Friday from Chicago to Washington for a conference promoting dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian youth. She was wearing a headscarf, or hijab.

For hygienic reasons, she asked for an unopened can of soda, she said. The flight attendant told her that she could not give her one but then handed an unopened can of beer to a man seated nearby. Ahmad questioned the flight attendant.

"We are unauthorized to give unopened cans to people because they may use it as a weapon on the plane," she recalled the flight attendant telling her.

When Ahmad told the flight attendant she was being discriminated against, the attendant abruptly opened the beer can.

"It's so you don't use it as a weapon," Ahmad said she was told.

Shocked, Ahmad asked other passengers if they had seen what happened.

A man sitting across the aisle turned to her and yelled, "You Muslim, you need to shut the f--- up," she said.

"What?"

The man leaned over, looked her in the eyes and said: "Yes, you know you would use it as a weapon. So shut the f--- up," according to Ahmad.

"I felt the hate in his voice and his raging eyes," Ahmad wrote on Facebook while the plane was still in flight. "I can't help but cry ... because I thought people would defend me and say something. Some people just shook their heads in dismay."

After her Facebook post, people took to social media in support of Ahmad using the #unitedfortahera hashtag. Some pledged to boycott United.

Suhaib Webb, a prominent Muslim American imam, tweeted, "I'm asking all of you to let @united know that you are disgusted with this bigotry." He also tweeted a photo of a can of Diet Coke over #unitedfortahera.

In a statement, United spokesman Charles Hobart said the airline "strongly supports diversity and inclusion."

"We and our partners do not discriminate against our employees or customers," the statement said. "We are reaching out directly to Ms. Ahmad to get a better understanding of what occurred during the flight."

"We are also discussing the matter that Ms. Ahmad describes with Shuttle America, our regional partner that operated the flight. We look forward to speaking with Ms. Ahmad and hope to have the opportunity to welcome her back."

Ahmad, who has Premier frequent-flier status with United, said Saturday that she had not heard from the airline.

"I'm not doing this to go after United Airlines. This is about bigotry and racism and our country is going through a very difficult time right now. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others worked so hard ..." Ahmad said, breaking into tears.

"They strove so hard so that Americans would not mistreat each other on the basis of the color of their skin or religious or ethnic background but I guess we're still on that journey."

The flight attendant as well as the pilot later apologized, she said.

"She said she's working on her rude behavior and that the man (sitting across the aisle) should not have said anything," Ahmad recalled.

Ahmad was recognized at the White House last year "as a leading Muslim female in the United States" during Women's History Month, according to Northwestern University. She had previously attended a Ramadan dinner hosted by President Barack Obama.

In 2013, Ahmad sparked outrage among Islamic conservatives when she became the first woman to recite the Quran at the Islamic Society of North America convention in Washington, the nation's largest Muslim gathering, according to Northwestern.

Ahmad was born in India and grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois. She said she has been spat on and had her hijab ripped off in Islamophobic encounters after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

"This time I was being treated as a threat to everyone around me 30,000 feet above the ground and being told that I could use a can of Diet Coke as a weapon," she said. "And no one said anything."

The incident comes amid growing hostility toward Muslims living in the United States.

On Friday, protesters at a "Freedom of Speech" rally outside a Arizona mosque were met by counterprotesters. The two groups lined opposite sides of the street in front of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. They yelled at each other as a line of police officers kept them apart, CNN affiliate KNXV reported.

The Islamic center is the mosque once attended by Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, who drove from Arizona to a Dallas suburb to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest there. Both were killed by police early this month. Many Muslims consider demeaning depictions of Mohammed to be blasphemous and banned by Islamic law.

In Washington, activist and conservative blogger Pamela Geller of New York wanted to place ads showing cartoons of Mohammed in the capital's transit system. She hoped to display the winning cartoon from her group's contest in Texas -- the one where Simpson and Soofi were killed by police. The Washington Metro board voted to stop showing issue-oriented ads throughout its system.

Events such as this have some Muslims scared, said Imraan Siddiqi with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"Recently, the mosques here in Phoenix actually received threatening letters -- very specific threats, saying that we are going to massacre your congregations," he said.

In a national survey by the Pew Research Center in 2013, 42% of respondents said Islam was more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its believers. In addition, Muslim Americans are seen as facing more discrimination than other groups, including gays and lesbians, Hispanics, African Americans and women.

According to the survey, 45% of the respondents said Muslim Americans face "a lot" of discrimination, and 28% said Muslims are subject to some discrimination.

CNN's Carma Hassan, Sara Sidner, Ed Payne contributed to this story. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/30/us/united-flight-muslim-chaplain/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29

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12 girls leave Australia to join ISIL in search of ‘romantic life’

Press TV

Fri May 29, 2015 11:16PM

The file photo shows the women members of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group.

An Australian police officer says at least 12 women have left the country to join the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group, taken in by the lure of a “romantic life".
“We are seeing a trend of young females travelling over there,” said Tracy Linford, the police assistant commissioner in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, on Friday, adding, "I suspect there are more than 12, but these are the ones we have a good understanding of."
The officer, who also heads the country’s Security and Organized Crime Intelligence Unit, stated the women were lured by Takfiris’ propaganda on the social media which gives a "romantic" portrait of everyday life under the group’s reign of horror.
“There is a romantic view of life there… It doesn’t surprise me these young women can be romanticized by false truths coming through on social media,” she added.
According to Linford, the women were deceived to believe that “they have an important role to play in setting up" the ISIL.

Tracy Linford, the police assistant commissioner in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria

The Australian security official asserted that the women, who are aged between 18 and 29, may end up in sexual slavery under the ISIL’s rule.
"Our intelligence tells us these women are going over there to meet their partners, to marry somebody in an arranged marriage or be pushed into sexual servitude," she noted.
Around 100 Australians have joined the ranks of the ISIL in the Middle East so far and more than 150 of the country’s nationals are currently supporting Takfiri terrorists financially, according to the Australian government.
The Takfiri terrorist group, with members from several Western countries, controls swathes of land in Syria and Iraq, and has been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations and crucifixions, against all communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.
FNR/AS/MHB
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/05/29/413450/Australia-ISIL-Tracy-Linford-Victoria-Takfiri-terrorists

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warka gudoomiyaha guurtida oo qaadacay heshiiskii iyo xildhibano hambaly...

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“Xasan & Jawaari ayaa ka dambeeyey wixii shalay dhacay” Waxaa sidaa yiri…

May 24, 2015 Xildhibaano ka tirsan Baarlamaanka Soomaaliya oo si yaabo kala duwan ula hadlay Warbaahinta, ayaa sheegay in madaxweynaha Soomaaliya uu isku dayayo inuu is hor istaag ku sameey mooshinka laga keenay xildhibaanada baarlamaanka Maamulka Jubbaland, uuna shalay baajiyay kullankii cod qaadista..
Xildhibaanadaan waxa ay sheegeen in sidoo kale Guddoomiyaha Baarlamaanka Federaalka uu gacan ku siinaayo Madaxtooyada sidii meesha looga saari lahaa mooshinkaan, waxaana ay ku goodiyeen Xildhibaanada inaysan arintaasi aqbali doonin.
Waxa ay ku waramayaan Xildhibaanadaan in Guddoonka Baarlamaanka shaqadiisa ay tahay inuu Xildhibaanada ku hogaamiyo wixii ay la yimaadaan, waxaana ay uga digeen, hadii uu joojin waayay ku garab siinta Madaxtooyada hakinta mooshinkaan in Guddoonka qudhiisa ay tallaabo ka qaadayaan.
“Arintaan mooshinkaan maalintii saddexaad dib loo dhigaayo Guddoonkana Madaxtooyada uu gacan ku siinaayo, waxaan u sheegayaa umadda Soomaaliyeed inaan arintaasi u dulqaadan doonin, wax waliba oo Baarlamaanka la horkeeno mooshinkaan ayaa ugu horeeyo, Guddoonka waxaan ka codsanaynaa inuu joojiyo faragelinta Madaxtooyada ka imaanaysa ee garabka uu siinaayo.” Ayeey u sheegeen Warbaahinta Xildhibaanadaan.
Hadalkooda waxa ay intaasi ku dareen “Guddoomiyaha anagaa dooranay wixii Baarlamaanka isku raaco ayuu nagu hogaaminayaa, hadii uu Guddoonka joojin waayo faragelinta uu arintaan ku haayo, isaga ayaan tallaabo ka qaadaynaa.”
Shalay ayeey aheyd markii la qal-qalgeliyay Xildhibaanada Baarlamaanka Soomaaliya oo is hor istaag lagu sameeyay, xilli ay doonayeen inay ku shiraan xarunta Golaha shacabka waxaana loo sheegay Xildhibaanada in Xarunta Golaha shacabka qaraxyo lagu aasay oo aysan suuragal aheyn inay ku shiraan, inkastoo ay dhaga adeeg ka muujiyeen arintaasi Xildhibaanada oo ay ku shireen aqalka Golaha shacabka.
Xubnaha Baarlamaanka ee mooshinka ka keenay Xildhibaanada Baarlamaanka Jubbaland, qaabka loo soo xulay ayaa ku adkeesanaayo in mooshinkooda cod loo qaadaayo oo aysan ka hari doonin.
 

 Halkan ka akhri: http://qarannews24.com/?p=13397

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May 23, 2015 Guddoomiyaha Baarlamaanka Soomaaliya Maxamed Sheikh Cismaan Jawaari ayaa sheegay in Ciidamo ka tirsan Nabad Sugidda Soomaaliya  ay Maanta Garaaceen Xildhibaano kamid ah Baarlamanaka kadib Buuq maanta ka dhashay Xarunta Golaha Shacabka.
Guddoomiye Jawaari ayaa Guddiga Amniga Baarlamaanka ka dalbaday in ay Deg Deg u baaraan  Arrinta ay Ciidamada Nabad Sugidda Soomaaliya maanta ay ku dhaqaaqeen.
Warar maanta laga helay Xarunta Baarlamaanka ayaa sheegaya in Ciidamada Nabad Sugidda Soomaaliya ay Baarlamaanka ku wargaliyeen in Xarunta  ay Qaraxyo ka Buuxaan islamarkaana aan kulanka uusan dhici karin.
Warar hoose oo ay heshay Warbaahinta ayaa sheegay in Qorshahaasi lagu doonayay in lagu baajiyo Mooshinka laga soo gudbiyay Baarlamaanka Jubbaland ee maanta loo Balansanaa in Cod loo qaado.

http://qarannews24.com/?p=13338

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Israeli F16’s Falling from the Skies over Yemen

Posted by Ian Greenhalgh on May 25, 2015

Two Israeli F16's, painted as Saudi, burning on the ground in Yemen, pilots "In the Wind"

… by  Gordon Duff, Jeff Smith, Ian Greenhalgh and Nahed al Husaini (“green-halsh”)

This week two F16s were shot down over Yemen.  When the wreckage was examined, both were found to be of types never supplied to an Arab nation, not Saudi Arabia, not anyone.  The only “buyer” in the region for that type of plane is Israel.
With two Israeli planes downed this week, fresh Saudi markings painted on them, and a strong confirmation of a tactical thermonuclear attack on a Yemeni airbase, a neutron bomb attack (NRR No Residual Radiation), the Yemen war is now clearly an Israeli war.

Yemeni air defense forces shot down a Saudi marked fighter jet in the northwestern province of Sana’a in Yemen as it was conducting airstrikes. This is the second F16 shot down this week – clearly the strength of the Yemeni air defences has been grossly underestimated. The Saudi F-16 fighter jet was shot down and subsequently crashed in the Bayt Khayran area of the district of Bani Harith in the northern part of Sana’a.

On May 11, Yemen’s Al-Masirah television reported that Ansarullah fighters brought down a Moroccan marked fighter jet violating the country’s airspace in the Noshour Valley in the northern province of Sa’ada. The aircraft shot down today had reportedly conducted a number of airstrikes against Yemen’s Al-Dailami airbase. Saudi jets have been carrying out military strikes against Yemen since March 26.
According to Yemeni media outlets, on Sunday Saudi fighter jets targeted a factory in the western Yemeni province of Al-Hudaydah, killing three civilians and injuring 19 others. The Saudi fighter jets also targeted residential areas, a military airbase and a police headquarters in the province in separate attacks.

Now we come to the interesting part – analysis of the wreckage shows these planes to be of unknown origin. While they carried Saudi paint jobs, we know that they cannot be Saudi aircraft and in fact are Israeli aircraft flown by Arabic speaking Israeli Air Force pilots, members of a special ‘Kamikaze’ unit that flies specially modified F16, ‘nuke carriers’ tasked for doomsday operations against Iran, Russia or Western Europe.

One of these aircraft was most likely responsible for dropping the neutron bomb on Yemen a few days ago. Yemeni media reports that two of the ‘rockets’ carried by the fighter jet remained unexploded and were found in the wreckage; these are most likely the Sidewinder missiles carried for defence against other aircraft. We do not know what other ordnance the aircraft was carrying.
The pilots of these two downed aircraft have not been found; no doubt extensive searches are being carried out – an Israeli pilot captured alive would be quite a coup for the Yemenis.
The aircraft was shot down by an updated BUK system supplied by Russia – Yemen is well-equipped with modern Russian weaponry including MiG-29s and advanced air-defence systems, a fact that has clearly been overlooked by the Saudis and their Israeli allies; they have grossly underestimated the capabilities of their enemy and as we have seen before, most notably in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah – Israel does not do so well when it’s victims are prepared and capable of fighting back; perhaps they thought they were bombing undefended civilians in Gaza?

Resident VT aviation expert Jeff Smith of Los Alamos National Labs has provided us with an analysis of this situation.

Jeff Smith Reports

__________________________

Photo analysis of the shot down F-16 in Yemen show that they are the early model; block A/B F-16 ground attack configuration version (it has the small or what is called the short tail) with Royal Saudi Air Force markings being newly painted on the air frame. All of the so-called Arab coalition aircraft are block C/D not A/B.
So this is probably one of the 50 surplus US F-16 A models given to Israel during the Clinton administration or it is a recently surplus ex-NATO aircraft either from Italy or Portugal. The only other option is that they were directly supplied from the US covertly. We need a serial no. or tail number to confirm which production block they came from.
I forgot it was carrying the 300 gal center line long range bolt on conformal drop tank with no air to air refueling capability or ECM equipment. This is why it was shot down. Too slow and no countermeasures. It was also using the older APG-66 radar. Riyadh or UAE to Yemen is only 600 miles.
However Israel to Yemen is 1200 miles. An F-16 with 3 drop tanks, 4x 1000 lb bombs and 2 sidewinder missiles for self defense is do-able from Israel. The very same distance and mission configuration as needed to hit Iran.

Saudi painted F16 A, Israeli jet shot down in Yemen

From Press TV:
Yemeni army has shot down a Saudi warplane northeast of the northern city of Sa’ada, as Al Saud regime continues its aerial attacks against its southern neighbor unabated.According to Yemen’s al-Masirah television, the Saudi plane was downed in Kataf district of the province.
Earlier in the day, another Saudi F-16 fighter jet was downed in the Bayt Khayran area of the district of Bani Harith in the north of the northwestern province of Sana’a. The fighter jet had reportedly conducted a number of airstrikes against Yemen’s al-Dailami air base.
Saudi jets have been carrying out military strikes against Yemen since March 26. On May 11, Ansarullah fighters brought down a Moroccan fighter jet violating the country’s airspace in the Noshour Valley in the northern province of Sa’ada.

---

Appendix I
A few hours later, the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen (2015–present) began. The Yemeni Air Force did not completely join the Houthi rebels, as most of the personnel refused to take orders from their former enemy. Also the maintenance of the air-frames was mostly halted since the ousting of the Saleh regime in 2012^[15][16] and thus, at the beginning of 2015, the situation of the Air Force seemed chaotic with most of the personnel deserted and air-frames lacking maintenance, effectively preventing the Yemeni Air Force to enter in the fight, remaining grounded during the Saudi-led intervention.^[17]
During the opening strikes in March 2015, it appeared that the Coalition strikes did not hit the main combat assets of the Yemeni Air Force, with limited attacks on the runways, secondary airport structures and logistics air-frames, even in face of fighter jets parked in the open. During the initial strikes at al-Dailami airbase, pictures of the single CN-235-300M, one Beechcraft Super King Air, one AB-412 and one UH-1H destroyed or damaged on the ground emerged.

It is not clear if the Saudi coalition decided to spare the military aircraft in the opening hours and then this decision changed, or the initial strikes failed to hit the military planes which were subsequently hit by the following strikes.^[18][19] Other sources reported that the initial strikes also targeted a number of Su-22s and F-5 jet fighters.^[20]

Indeed, in the following few days, the coalition strikes started targeting the structures and air-frames to a more severe extent. On 15 April 2015, a Saudi debriefing showed the Arab coalition strikers destroying two Su-22 and one F-5 jet fighters while they were sitting on the tarmac.
The F-5 looked covered by a net, while the Su-22s were parked in the open.^[21][22] Another picture showing the wrecks of two Su-22 and one F-5 jets emerged on 30 April 2015.^[23] On 4 May 2015, evidence of a Yemeni Il-76TD at Sana’a International Airport engulfed in flames emerged.^[24] The fate of the Yemeni MiG-29 fleet remains unknown while the assessment on the actual number of other air-frames destroyed is difficult to establish

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/05/25/additional-confirmation-of-yemen-nuclear-attack/

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The shadowy centre helping former al-Shabab members quit

Andrew Harding Africa correspondent

• 24 May 2015
• From the section Africa

Eighty former militants are housed in the camp

In a small, heavily guarded compound on the bullet-riddled outskirts of Baidoa, a secretive team is working to undermine Somalia's Islamist militant group, al-Shabab, from the inside.

"We can't just solve this militarily," said Aden Mohamed Hussein, ushering me past the soldiers at the gate.
"So far so good... We hope for a domino effect."
Mr Hussein runs a new "disengagement" programme for surrendering al-Shabab members at the camp here in Baidoa, an hour's helicopter ride northwest of the capital Mogadishu, towards the Ethiopian border.
Al-Shabab no longer controls the town or, we're assured, the surrounding countryside. But attacks are still frequent and our time inside the compound is strictly limited.
Such are the alleged sensitivities surrounding what goes on behind the high stone walls, that the international organisation in charge has asked not to be named.

The same goes for all the former al-Shabab members, 80 in total, who are currently being housed here.
I can reveal that the German government is funding the programme.
Britain is supporting another, similar camp in Mogadishu, which remains entirely off-limits for journalists.
"These are the lower risk cases. Not the assassins or the explosive experts," said Mr Hussein.

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Media caption BBC News team goes inside the compound rehabilitating former al-Shabab members

Given the thousands of al-Shabab militants still thought to be active, I asked him if the programme wasn't just a drop in the ocean.
"Absolutely not. If we can accelerate and do more of this kind of work I believe we can overcome [al-Shabab].
"We hope the people here can spread the word, that they have been welcomed, that there's no need to die in the bush," he said.
The first thing you notice inside the compound is the noise.
A loud generator is powering a welding kit, as two men hammer at a steel girder.
Three men are shovelling gravel into a barrow as more prepare to make breezeblocks. And in the far corner, five women are working at a row of pedal-powered sewing machines while beside them four men are busy dismantling a car engine.
"No-one forced me to join al-Shabab. They were telling everyone to come and fight for Islam. So I joined up," said Mohammed, 30, a short, earnest man who used to be a shopkeeper in Buur Hakaba, in the Bay region of Somalia.
Five years ago, Mohammed became a tax collector for al-Shabab, who controlled the town.
"I was trusted, and I knew maths," he explained.
"We collected money from trucks bringing goods from Mogadishu. We took $6m (£3.8 million) a month," he said with a hint of pride.

The heavily-guarded camp is found on the outskirts of Baidoa

"Even after the government retook the area, we were still collecting $2.4m a month for al-Shabab," he said.
This observation - even if it is unconfirmed, and quite possibly exaggerated - speaks volumes about the failures of Somalia's new authorities to fill the vacuum left behind as territory is captured from the militants.
"It was the atrocities that made me use my head, and get out. I saw that these people were terrorists.
"Al-Shabab terrorised their own community - forcing people to give more money than they can afford. It was all about money - not religion. Then I heard the government was granting amnesties to people who leave, so I took advantage of that," Mohammed said.
"Al-Shabab can be destroyed. But I'm not seeing any signs of that yet. They're still collecting money in two areas I know of right now.
"Still, this [camp] is one of the solutions. We're being reintegrated here and given money to start businesses. No-one wants to stay in the bush and earn nothing. It's hot and bad there," he said.
Mr Hussein, the project coordinator, said some of the newer arrivals at the camp had openly admitted they had surrendered more out of curiosity than conviction.

Mohammed told us he worked as a tax collector for al-Shabab

"Some of them will even tell you 'we are ambassadors - we've been sent [by others in al-Shabab] and if you treat us good then everyone will come'.
"Right now, even the ones who are in the centre are calling their old colleagues to say 'hey - we have protection here,' because others fear that when they come they will be killed. And I believe many, many, of them will come. So we are going to demand a larger space here," he said.
Hanat, 25, says he joined al-Shabab in 2006. He was unemployed and bored, but quickly discovered that his new bosses would not let him leave.
"In 2010 they took us to Mogadishu. We didn't have enough ammunition, not enough training - we were fighting a hide-and-seek war," he said, describing the intense urban warfare that raged in the capital against African Union and Somali government forces.
But then Hanat made a phone call that changed everything.
"My brother had been abroad, training in Uganda with the Somali national army.

Residents are taught new skills to aid their rehabilitation

"When I joined al-Shabab I was told to switch off my phone, so I had no communication with my family, but later, in Mogadishu, I switched it back on and tried calling my brother.
"He told me he was on the front line. Right there. Opposite me. I decided that if I fired another shot it would be my brother who would die. And if he shoots - he'll kill me.
"We spoke just once on the phone. It was a very long conversation. He told me the government had more ammunition and better training, and I didn't want to die.
"So I changed my mind about what I was doing, escaped from Mogadishu, and when the government took control of Baidoa, I came here.
"I called a government official and told him I'd been with al-Shabab but had decided to leave. Then they welcomed me here," he said.
Across the courtyard, beside a tent packed with bunk beds, one of the handful of women in the camp came over to talk to me.

The men learn how to assemble car engines

Unlike most of the men, 20-year-old Fatoumah had not joined al-Shabab willingly.
"I remember the day they kidnapped me. I was coming from school, and they forced me into their car.
"They tortured me, and starved me. Then they raped me. Eventually I had to submit - that was the only way I could save myself," she said.
"The torture lasted for eight months. They did bad things to me. Then they made me marry an Emir - a commander - of the group. One of my three children is his. The other two are from a different fighter.
"My first husband died. Then I was made to marry another. They were merciless. I was with al-Shabab for three years. There were other women with me - some foreign.
"I served the fighters food and water. When they went to war I had to provide first aid. We went into battle with them and even fought along side them.
"One day we were in a convoy going to fight and there was an ambush by Amisom (African Union forces). When I got wounded in my side they abandoned me.

Fatoumah said she was kidnapped, tortured, and raped by al-Shabab members

"I went to hide in the bush. Later some people found me and gave me traditional medicine to heal my wound, then they took me by camel to a safer area," she said.
Eventually Fatoumah was brought to the camp in Baidoa - partly for her own protection.
"I was part of them - and they didn't want me to leave. Whoever tries to leave must be killed.
"So they sent several people to kill me, including someone with a suicide vest - he blew himself up when he met me. That's why I have this scar on my head," she said, pointing to a line on her forehead.
The Baidoa camp serves many roles.
It offers former combatants a chance to retrain, and also to confront what they've done - a new programme called "Tree of Peace (or more literally, Acacia of Peace) is developing a Somali-led process of truth and reconciliation for communities ripped apart by the conflict.
But for many of those living here, the camp is above all a sanctuary - a guarded compound where people like Fatumah are relatively safe from al-Shabab.
Useful, no doubt. But the question looms - how long will people have to stay here before they feel safe to return home?

Somalia - Failed State

• Al-Shabab: A defector's story
• Mogadishu's Lido beach: Sun, surf and... grenades?
• Somalia outrage at remittance bans
• Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?

Somaliland, The independent state

Self and Self: Whys and Wherefores

BBC News Somalia Under the shadow of al Shabab 2

The Qur'an: The Eternal Living Miracle of God ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Jidhdil Ciidanka Booliska Somaliland Wajaale Ugu Geysteen Haween

Editing yourelf: An Agency Editor Tells Her Fitness Story

Kylee Wall ©2015 CreativeCOW.net. All rights reserved.

Katie Toomey transformed herself with hard work and a few lifestyle changes.


Sixty hour work weeks. Revisions that come in at 5PM and have to be finished by morning. Demanding clients. Getting to work and leaving for the day without seeing the sun. Sound familiar?

As an editor in the advertising world, most of Katie Toomey's work days are just like this. Putting in an average of 50 hours a week on commercial projects with quick turn-arounds, her post production lifestyle is familiar to just about everyone in the industry, and it's often cited as the main challenge for anyone trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle in post. But in the face of a relentless and unpredictable schedule that was sending her into depression, Katie set a goal to become a healthier, stronger person. And she's lost 40 inches and 80 pounds in the process.



50 hours a week on commercial projects with quick turn-arounds were no help to staying fit.


Getting up early to prepare meals, and strength training after work every day no matter what: sound less familiar?

Growing up, Katie was an active, healthy kid that participated in endless sports and gym classes. But like it tends to, college hit her like a ton of bricks. Once she declared her major as post production, it was all over – her diet and activity level shifted dramatically as her lifestyle became wrapped around long, late nights spent on editing projects for school. Sitting for long hours in the computer labs, stressing out, sleeping little and eating junk became the new normal. "I was existing on caffeine, cigarettes, and vending machine fare. My metabolism hated me."



Growing up, Katie was an active, healthy kid.


This lifestyle carried over into starting life as a freelance editor and deeply affected her work and mental well-being. Once she decided enough was enough – about five years ago – she looked to her fitness guru sister for advice and guidance, and began to set new habits.

She started small: no soda, no cigarettes. She incorporated a high intensity interval training routine she found on the internet to her day. She began to track and adjust her eating habits. She started standing at her edit desk.

Now almost 5 years later – years that involved three jobs, a move across state lines and major surgery on top of that crazy post schedule – she feels healthier and happier than she has in years. "I promised myself not to let schedules and stress make me skip meals or stop caring about myself. Too much stress with no outlet, little sleep, and not eating enough of the right things were my triple threats."

Everyone's wellness story is different, and Katie is quick to point out that what worked for her may not work the same for others. But the basic ideas of how Katie went about changing her life – learning balance, eating better, moving more and finding a support system – are universal, and especially relevant as we continue to highlight the importance of fitness in post.

Why did you decide you needed to get healthier? Was it a single moment, something you'd been thinking about, or did it just kind of start to happen?



Why did you decide you needed to get healthier?


Katie Toomey: I was tired of feeling and looking like crap. When you feel terrible from waking up until going to sleep, it affects everything else in your life. Nothing fit right. I got out of breath faster. "How did these pants suddenly shrink!?" Going upstairs wasn't a subconscious action, it took effort. I thought, "Who the heck is this person in the mirror" and I would look away. I was just so tired. And I dreaded seeing pictures of myself.

I kept pushing unpleasant thoughts out of my head. I had a lot going on in my personal life that was pushing me towards full tilt depression. I was on guard all the time, and I didn't like feeling that way. I needed some way to get out all those nerves and worries. Life goes on, overweight or not, so I tried not to let it stop me from doing things I wanted. Life is already stressful enough without beating yourself up about things you can't change right this second, I thought. It was easier to think that than to face it.

I decided it had to stop. I couldn't go on like this. I genuinely felt like if things got worse that I might lose hope of ever feeling good again. I was already at my lowest, fed up and annoyed with myself. How could I let this go for so long?

How did you get started? Was it difficult to get everything you needed?

When I got started, it was nearing the holidays and I'd gone to visit family. My twin sister is someone that I can practically tell everything about anything to without worries. So I 'fessed up how truly bad I'd been feeling. The initial thing about change is first you only have to admit needing it. No one is going to sit you down and make you say it. Lucky for me, she turned out to be my biggest supporter and an intensely vast source of knowledge for me about food intake and workouts in the coming years. That girl has researched so much about different macros and methods to nutrition and many forms of fitness, and while she's not a certified expert, she's just as passionate a person who wanted to get healthier and has successfully done so! That's all it takes. Team up with someone on a similar path as you with a buddy system. It helps. A lot.

What was unexpected about this as you were just learning how to be healthier?

It's more about what you're eating than merely working out. They say abs are made in the kitchen? Where is that recipe!? GIVE ME IT. I can work out plenty and not get anywhere near ideal results unless I also changed my eating habits.

Alternately, someone could change how they eat and never work out really, but still lose a lot of weight. It works different for everyone, but the key idea I wanted was to change how I took care of myself. I wanted to drop fat but in its place gain muscle tone too. I didn't want to end up just "thin" and I'm sure that added more time to my results, but it was worth it for my goals. I see new areas of tone showing through. I can feel myself stronger. I'm not a bodybuilder by any means. You don't have to be to want this and do it.

What were some of the challenges?

Some things were really hard. Eating breakfast, for one thing! By far, that was the toughest thing for someone who didn't want to even think about food for at least a coffee mug or two worth's time. For that matter, eating different foods and eating better in general. It's so much easier to grab a pack of chips or go out to eat and hurry up and get back to work. Lots of opportunities to be tempted by things you didn't even really want. And drinking way more water than I'd been drinking before. I got myself a little gallon water jug I carried around everywhere to get used to enough water every day.

There was a time where I felt every bite had to be accounted for when I was trying to delve into macros or figuring out various combinations of protein/fat/carbs. I started using the MyFitnessPal app on my phone, a challenge to use daily at first. Thankfully, a lot of things can be scanned now via barcode and come right up. Soon, it turns into second nature after you save meals and usual breakfasts and such for easier input.

And of course, working out shouldn't feel easy. Every time I wanted to stop, I swore to myself that any of this happening now was less pain than when I used to wake up feeling slow, sad, or tired on a daily basis. I'd be so sore that the thought of sitting down or the sight of stairs had me feeling defeated! You can find ways to cope with it. Lots of epsom salt baths, massaging techniques, Tiger Balm, anything to relieve your muscles will help. You have to be careful and be smart about your limits.



Lots of epsom salt baths, massaging techniques, Tiger Balm, anything to relieve your muscles will help.


Feeling sore is at least a good sign you worked things out, but DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is no joke. And keeping all of this up when I changed jobs and moved from Indiana to North Carolina a couple of years ago was hard.

Another odd challenge was that I had a collapsed lung requiring surgery last year. My biggest fear was actually that I would gain a bunch of weight during recovery. I thought all my hard work was going down a tube. I was in the hospital for weeks and recovery for over two months. And in hindsight, do you know how ridiculous that worry was? I actually lost weight. That fear was so strong and worrisome to me, it was intense.

How did your fitness and health routine change over time? Why did you alter it?

My food intake and workouts and how I documented things changed a lot. They're always evolving little by little throughout the year. For exercise, I began doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) because a lot of the routines require just you and a mat. And even if they are using some kind of equipment, you can modify using a book filled backpack for a sandbag or jugs of water for weights until you get some. I liked the idea of working out intensely for a shorter amount of time and getting it over with. The idea of hour plus long cardio sessions made me want to hide.

My sister suggested I look into doing "Zuzka Light's ZWow HIIT" routines. I would use a timer keep track of rounds. Then I picked up doing "Blogilates" on the side to mix things up. Eventually, I got a recumbent bike and started biking for about 20 to 30 minutes of moderate state cardio. Sometimes I even went over that, not paying attention while working.

After doing that awhile, weight training came up in conversation. I decided I wanted to give it a shot. I began using "Strong Lifts" as a general guide how to teach myself to lift the right amount for the right number of reps.

It's great if you can get past the bro-talk, that is. I liked that it cut you off by 12 reps and moved onto more weight. For anyone a little apprehensive about lifting weights, I saw to try not to feel intimidated and always make sure to practice the technique with no weight added first. To any ladies, have no fear – lifting is not going to suddenly make you bulk out all crazy-like.



To any ladies, have no fear – lifting is not going to suddenly make you bulk out all crazy-like.


For my food intake, my goal was to start eating every 2 to 3 hours with smaller meals. I aimed for 5 meals every 3 hours: 1 portion of protein + 2 portions vegetables OR 1 portion protein + 1 vegetable/fruit. For protein I ate things like salmon, tuna, eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, soy, or low-fat yogurt. With healthy fats and carbs that aren't fruit or veggies, I needed to "earn" them. Your body probably isn't as stubborn as mine, and I'm not about to go off-the-wall insane with no carbs ever type diets. I didn't want to "diet" anyway.

I did mess this up once early on. I was doing HIIT like a madwoman and not eating any carbs. It was terrible, the worst thing I ever did. I felt absolutely wiped and was so frustrated and cranky. And I didn't get the results I wanted. I was working out hardcore and not feeding myself right and it was a vicious circle that made me want to give up. I was forcing myself to work out when I felt super low energy, and I was using workouts to like punish myself into working even harder. All it did was make me feel bad and later worse about my progress.

I also stopped using MyFitnessPal to record down every last carrot or grape or bit of mustard I ate. I got a bit fanatical at one point trying hard to eat more but control calories down to the last fat, protein or carb. I learned sometimes I do need to go through a tracking period when I feel things have gotten off course a bit, but that I can actually mostly rely on myself now to 'play with fire' in how I eat and experiment that way.

These days, I'm not so restricted and eat a much bigger range. Carbs aren't my enemy. Neither are fats. I can have a few cookies, I just have to know when to turn down pasta for lunch. I don't feel obligated any longer to go out to lunch a lot or eat for somebody's sake, but if someone comes around with a special treat, I understand 'it's cool man, you can have that cupcake, just be smart the rest of the day.'

Telling yourself something is forbidden I found to be a mentally unhealthy way to go about things. I naturally don't want to eat some of the same things I used to, but I'll be damned if Doritos don't still taste as good as they ever did to me.

How did you incorporate all this into a lifestyle as an editor? Preparing meals and incorporating fitness into your actual editing life?

Taking into account the hectic and unpredictable schedules we tend to be on, it's not easy. Some days feel like a breeze while other days trip you up. I get up earlier every day before work for food prep. I have changed how I handle working out. If you can get up and go straight into running or lifting, good for you. But for me, it wasn't something I could keep up. I was half asleep and drooling, I'm no morning person. I choose to do mine after work, towards the earlier evening because this is something I can consistently do.

I rotate between standing up and using a stability ball as for my time spent in the work edit cave. Standing gives me more freedom to move about, balance on legs, twist my limbs around. I can notice a bit sooner when I've been in one spot too long. I turn around and lean on the stand-up desk to loosen up my shoulders and back. My shoulders turn into mountainous rocks from stress so I need to stretch them out a lot. I have even done little intervals of pushups or quick exercises while waiting on renders.






I realized I had more time throughout the week than I thought. What is 15 to 30 minutes, really? I used to feel a bit short of time after I'd get home from work. I'd rush to change and workout, shower, make dinner and it would suddenly be 10PM. But had I sat there gaming or watching a show and repeatedly did this every night, I wouldn't feel as good as I often do by having worked out instead.

Usually when I have my day off to heal up from weight training, I may lightly bike or I may enjoy the night off. It feels more relaxing and renewing when it's not guilt-laden, because I know I earned it.

You have to make the time to feed yourself decent, work out, and take breaks. You have the power to do it even if you force it to be part of your day. It's annoying at first to have to work to do so, but you get used to it and soon it becomes part of your day like everything else. The world and others will find any reason you're too busy to do it. Maybe even yourself.

How did you measure your progress?

My sister got me to realize that the scale is just that: a measure of your weight. It didn't mean the end of the world if I didn't lose this week. Sometimes you lose water weight, sometimes you gain it. It doesn't really take into account converting fat into muscle. I had to be patient and trust how my clothes felt and how I felt each week.

She also suggested using measurements with a tape measure of my arms, bust, waist, thighs, and calves. I did this every month for a long time to have what felt like viable results of how things were rearranging. It was encouraging, for the most part. So you take your first measurements, get it over with – yes it sucks – and then you can move on.

You see yourself every day, so you may not notice the changes! I was pretty hard on myself, so I feel like I was less keen to notice.

But gradually, weeks pass into months, and soon enough I noticed things getting looser and fitting better. Things like looking at your face and seeing more definition in places that were round. I still have squishy cheeks, but goodbye double chin! It's not like you wake up exactly 30 days from now and suddenly you went from size 16 to size 2! It's more like, oh hey, that smaller shirt is going to be put on every week or two to see how it feels. Can I Hercules my entire grocery trip up 3 flights of stairs to the apartment, including the 30 pound tub of kitty litter? Let's find out!






That sort of test of fitness is far more important than a silly number on the scale. I can fill a bag or box up with clothes that no longer fit because they're too big! The downside is I need to buy new pants that actually fit.

My progress rate could be totally different from anyone else's. That's the easiest thing to mistake and hardest to grasp. Everyone's body is different. What works for this person may not be the best route for another.

Do you think your mental wellness has improved over time as well? Is it all connected to fitness for you?

My mental wellness has improved loads! I needed a way to get out my stress and nerves, and this does it. You'll be too tired or sore to sit there nitpicking a situation or worrying about how you will get something done. It won't stop it entirely, but you can't look at it the same way you do with working out. Does it mean I never worry or get stressed? No way. I just deal with it better on the whole.

You can still be unsatisfied with parts of your life, but it tends to help me knowing that hey, I did my best today by eating this and doing my workout. The fitness has by far been the biggest improvement for my mental well-being. They say you can get a positive boost of endorphins or whatever, "runner's high" they call it. Exercise like weight training makes me feel like I accomplished something good for myself, even if nothing else went right that day. How you feel is all that matters.

You told me you've struggled with being positive about your body for a long time, and I think a lot of people in this industry feel similarly, especially because they're so sedentary and feel locked into a schedule that doesn't allow them the time they need. What have you done for yourself to try to make yourself feel better about your body? Has it worked?

My main struggle throughout has been accepting myself for who I am at any given time, not pining over wishing what I was or wanted to be. I can tell you long before I was overweight, I was pretty underweight – both are equally troublesome. I have seen two sides of the spectrum, and at the least, I can say I understand what it's like. Your weight doesn't have to define your worth as a person. It's just a thing, something you're going through. It doesn't mean you should be unworthy of friends, love, and good times. It doesn't mean it's okay for strangers to tell you to eat a hamburger, or to stop eating them.

I actually started working out at home in a sports bra and gym shorts, and I made myself get used to how my body looked as of that day, not how I dreamt it would. I had to get comfortable with also not wearing giant baggy clothes or hoodies when I went out. It's important to wear clothes that fit. You will quickly notice yourself out of line this way. It keeps you accountable.

Am I cured of my problems with body positivity? Not yet. That's really the truth. It's really hard to ignore all the various ways society tries to make you feel like you should look, for both men and women! We really are all very different, and I understand that about myself better. I just have to keep working at it.

What kind of advice would you give someone who really wants to be healthier and in shape, but feels like they can't deal with the hours or lifestyle of editing while also pursuing any exercise or good eating habits?

My sister told me on day one, "just keep moving." Doesn't matter if you have to modify it to what feels like the silliest version of the actual exercise. It's okay, so don't find yourself quitting for this excuse. There are many many excuses, "I'm too hot" or "it's getting late" or "ow, my butt is on fire when I do squats" That's muscle building, that's moving, and it's a good thing! Learning not to fib to yourself to 'take it easy' when really you're just uncomfortable or a bit tired from the effort is important. Learning the difference between what is over-doing it and what are probably excuses you say internally that are trying to sabotage yourself is essential. Knowing when the perfect storm of disruptive bad things happened one day to put off the workout vs. injuring yourself because you're sick or overtired is required. You can still eat decently for yourself that day. You don't have to throw it all away because of one little thing.



Friends and family can help


You can either stay the way you are or change. You're going to have to fight hard, and there's going to be some bad days where you think all of it's for nothing and not working. Our jobs in this industry can keep us there 16 hours or eat up an entire weekend before you know it. There may not be the healthiest food around. Vending machines suddenly come to life with sparkles and everything inside there says "EAT MEEE, EAT ME NOW" when you're stuck unexpectedly at work when 7PM rolls around.

Sometimes I can't get to my workout that evening, and I'd be freaking out internally. Instead of considering myself screwed for the week, I'd just pick it back up the next day. I stay flexible best I can, but it doesn't mean I like it! In an ideal situation, I would have a more balanced life where I can count on a certain time slot for working out and preparing food for myself.

These days I actually want to work out. I still have days I would rather be doing something else. Those are the days I push myself a little more because I need to. I can't give in to that inner voice telling me to put it off until tomorrow. This lifestyle change has done more for me than I gave it credit for, and it's become my stable routine in an otherwise hard to predict lifestyle.

I have succeeded where I thought I couldn't, and the victory isn't just me. It's friends, family, and other people who unexpectedly rally for you on your worst days. My twin sister was the person I could call up bawling my eyes out, exhausted, frustrated about how I would never get where I wanted. I had wonderful friends I could I go to, and that's something.

What was the most important thing you did that made this a success for you?

Considered it an on-going edit of myself.

The story doesn't end. You don't need to fast forward as much as you wish. If you keep at it, you're going to get there. Straight up persistence and determination will see you through. I know that my way isn't the only way, and I love hearing from others what they're doing to change things up. Doesn't matter if you're counting points for food or your steps or whatever method works for you. The fact that you're attempting to eat healthy and move is inspiring.

I'm still getting there. I knew it was going have its struggles. I had no idea how much some days would be a fight with myself. I still struggle to this day managing time, prepping food, and finding the will to choose to make time for workouts. It's an on-going work in progress. No deadlines here.



Katie, a self-edited woman!

Read more:: https://library.creativecow.net/wall_kylee/Fitness-Post_Katie-Toomey/1

The Dark Side of Ayahuasca

By Kelly Hearn  Mar 2013

Every day, hundreds of tourists arrive in Iquitos, Peru, seeking spiritual catharsis or just to trip their heads off. But increasingly often their trip becomes a nightmare, and some of them don't go home at all.

Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-dark-side-of-ayahuasca-20130215#ixzz3aqpc5K1X
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Credit: Joshua Paul

Kyle Nolan spent the summer of 2011 talking up a documentary called 'Stepping Into the Fire,' about the mind-expanding potential of ayahuasca. The film tells the story of a hard-driving derivatives trader and ex-Marine named Roberto Velez, who, in his words, turned his back on the "greed, power, and vice" of Wall Street after taking ayahuasca with a Peruvian shaman. The film is a slick promotion for the hallucinogenic tea that's widely embraced as a spirit cure, and for the Shimbre Shamanic Center, the ayahuasca lodge Velez built for his guru, a potbellied medicine man called Master Mancoluto. The film's message is that we Westerners have lost our way and that the ayahuasca brew (which is illegal in the United States because it contains the psychedelic compound DMT) can set us straight.
Last August, 18-year-old Nolan left his California home and boarded a plane to the Amazon for a 10-day, $1,200 stay at Shimbre in Peru's Amazon basin with Mancoluto – who is pitched in Shimbre's promotional materials as a man to help ayahuasca recruits "open their minds to deeper realities, develop their intuitive capabilities, and unlock untapped potential." But when Nolan – who was neither "flaky" nor "unreliable," says his father, Sean – didn't show up on his return flight home, his mother, Ingeborg Oswald, and his triplet sister, Marion, went to Peru to find him. Initially, Mancoluto, whose real name is José Pineda Vargas, told them Kyle had packed his bags and walked off without a word. The shaman even joined Oswald on television pleading for help in finding her son, but the police in Peru remained suspicious. Under pressure, Mancoluto admitted that Nolan had died after an ayahuasca session and that his body had been buried at the edge of the property. The official cause of death has not yet been determined.
Pilgrims like Nolan are flocking to the Amazon in search of ayahuasca, either to expand their spiritual horizons or to cure alcoholism, depression, and even cancer, but what many of them find is a nightmare. Still, the airport in Iquitos is buzzing with ayahuasca tourism. Vans from shamanic lodges pick up psychedelic pilgrims from around the world, while taxi drivers peddle access to Indian medicine men. "It reminds me of how they sell cocaine and marijuana in Amsterdam," one local said. "Here, it's shamans and ayahuasca."
Devotees talk about ayahuasca's cathartic and life-changing power, but there is a dark side to the tourism boom as well. With money rolling in and lodges popping up across Peru's sprawling Amazon, a new breed of shaman has emerged – and not all of them can be trusted with the powerful drug. Deaths like Nolan's are uncommon, but reports of molestation, rape, and negligence at the hands of predatory and inept shamans are not. In the past few years alone, a young German woman was allegedly raped and beaten by two men who had administered ayahuasca to her, two French citizens died while staying at ayahuasca lodges, and stories persist about unwanted sexual advances and people losing their marbles after being given overly potent doses. The age of ayahuasca as purely a medicinal, consciousness-raising pursuit seems like a quaint and distant past.A powerful psychedelic, DMT is a natural compound found throughout the plant kingdom and in mammals (including humans). Scientists don't know why it's so prevalent in the world, but studies suggest a role in natural dreaming. DMT doesn't work if swallowed alone, thanks to an enzyme in the gastrointestinal system that breaks it down. In a feat of prehistoric chemistry, Amazonian shamans fixed that by boiling two plants together – the ayahuasca vine and a DMT-containing shrub called chacruna – which shuts down the enzyme and allows the DMT to slip through the gut into the bloodstream.
Ayahuasca almost always induces vomiting before the hallucinogenic odyssey begins. It can be both horrifying and strangely blissful. One devotee described an ayahuasca trip as "psychotherapy on steroids." But for all the root's spiritual and therapeutic benefits, the ayahuasca boom is as wild and unmanageable as the jungle itself. One unofficial stat floating around Iquitos says the number of arriving pilgrims has grown fivefold in two years. Roger Rumrrill, a journalist who has written 25 books on the Amazon region, including several on shamanism, told me there's "a corresponding boom in charlatans – in fake shamans, who are targeting foreigners."
Few experts blame the concoction itself. Alan Shoemaker, who organizes an annual shamanism conference in Iquitos, says, "Ayahuasca is one of the sacred power plants and is completely nonaddictive, has been used for literally thousands of years for healing and divination purposes . . . and dying from overdose is virtually impossible."
Still, no one monitors the medicine men, their claims, or their credentials. No one is making sure they screen patients for, say, heart problems, although ayahuasca is known to boost pulse rates and blood pressure. (When French citizen Celine René Margarite Briset died from a heart attack after taking ayahuasca in the Amazonian city of Yurimaguas in 2011, it was reported she had a preexisting heart condition.) And though many prospective ayahuasca-takers – people likely to have been prescribed antidepressants – struggle with addiction and depression, few shamans know or care to ask about antidepressants like Prozac, which can be deadly when mixed with ayahuasca. Reports suggested that a clash of meds killed 39-year-old Frenchman Fabrice Champion, who died a few months after Briset in an Iquitos-based lodge called Espiritu de Anaconda (which had already experienced one death and has since changed its name to Anaconda Cosmica). No one has been charged in either case.
Nor is anyone monitoring the growing number of lodges offering to train foreigners to make and serve the potentially deadly brew. Rumrrill scoffs at the idea. "People study for years to become a shaman," he said. "You can't become one in a few weeks....It's a public health threat." Disciples of ayahuasca insist that a shaman's job is to control the movements of evil spirits in and out of the passengers, which in layman's terms means keeping people from losing their shit. An Argentine tourist at the same lodge where Briset died reportedly stabbed himself in the chest after drinking too much of the tea. I met a passenger whose face was covered in thick scabs I assumed were symptoms of an illness for which he was being treated. It turns out he'd scraped the skin off himself during an understatedly "rough night with the medicine." Because of ayahuasca's power to plow through the psyche, many lodges screen patients for bipolar disorders or schizophrenia. But one local tour guide told me about a seeker who failed to disclose that he was schizophrenic. He drank ayahuasca and was later arrested – naked and crazed – in a public plaza. Critics worry that apprentice programs are churning out ayahuasqueros who are incapable of handling such cases.
Common are stories of female tourists who, under ayahuasca's stupor, have faced sexual predators posing as healers. A nurse from Seattle says she booked a stay at a lodge run by a gringo shaman two hours outside Iquitos. When she slipped into ayahuasca's trademark "state of hyper-suggestibility," things got weird. "He placed his hands on my breast and groin and was talking a lot of shit to me," she recalls. "I couldn't talk. I was very weak." She said she couldn't confront the shaman. During the next session, he became verbally abusive. Fearing he might hurt her, she snuck off to the river, a tributary of the Amazon, late that night and swam away. She was lucky. In 2010, a 23-year-old German woman traveled to a tiny village called Barrio Florida for three nights of ayahuasca ceremonies. She ended up raped and brutally beaten by a "shaman" and his accomplice, who were both arrested. Last November, a Slovakian woman filed charges against a shaman, claiming she'd been raped during a ceremony at a lodge in Peru.
Even more troubling than ayahuasca is toé, a "witchcraft plant" that's a member of the nightshade family. Also called Brugmansia, or angel's trumpet, toé is known for its hallucinogenic powers. Skilled shamans use it in tiny amounts, but around Iquitos, people say irresponsible shamans dose foreigners with it to give them the Disneyland light shows they've come to expect. But there are downsides, to say the least. "Toé," warns one reputable Iquitos lodge, "is potentially very dangerous, and excessive use can cause permanent mental impairment. Deaths are not uncommon from miscalculated dosages." I heard horror stories. One ayahuasca tourist said, "Toé is a heavy, dark plant that's associated with witchcraft for a reason: You can't say no. Toé makes you go crazy. Some master shamans use it in small quantities, but it takes years to work with the plants. There's nothing good to come out of it."
Another visitor, an engineer from Washington, D.C., blames toé for his recent ayahuasca misadventure. He learned about ayahuasca on the internet and booked a multinight stay at one of the region's most popular lodges. By the second night, he felt something was amiss. "When the shaman passed me the cup that night, he said, 'We're going to put you back together.' I knew something was wrong. It was unbelievably strong." The man says it hit him like a wave. "All around me, people started moaning. Then the yells and screaming started. Soon, I realized that medics were coming in and out of the hut, attending to people, trying to calm them down." He angrily told me he was sure, based on hearing the bad trips of others who'd been given the substance, they had given him toé. "Ayahuasca," he says, "should come with a warning label."
Kyle's father, Sean, suspects toé may have played a part in his son's death, but he says he's still raising the money he needs to get a California coroner to release the autopsy report. Mancoluto couldn't be reached for comment, but his former benefactor, the securities trader Roberto Velez, now regrets his involvement with Mancoluto. "The man was evil and dangerous," he says, "and the whole world needs to know so that no one ever seeks him again." Some of Mancoluto's former patients believe his brews included toé and have taken to the internet, claiming his practices were haphazard. (He allegedly sat in a tower overseeing his patients telepathically as they staggered through the forest.) One blog reports seeing a client "wandering out of the jungle, onto the road, talking to people who weren't there, waving down cars, smoking imaginary cigarettes, and his eyes actually changed color, all of which indicated a high quantity of Brugmansia in Mancoluto's brew."
Shoemaker says that even though the majority of ayahuasca trips are positive and safe, things have gotten out of hand. "Misdosing with toé doesn't make you a witch," he says. "It makes you a criminal." Velez, whose inspirational ayahuasca story was the focus of the film that sparked Kyle Nolan's interest, is no longer an advocate. "It's of life-and-death importance," he warns, "that people don't get involved with shamans they don't know. I don't know if anyone should trust a stranger with their soul."

Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-dark-side-of-ayahuasca-20130215#ixzz3aqpMfXsq
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