NEW TERROR THREAT - AT 7:22 P.M. ET:  Somalia is emerging as a major terrorist threat.  We know there are Somali groups in the United States, centered in Minneapolis, from which young men have suddenly gone missing.  It is believed by law enforcement that they've gone back to Somalia for jihadist training:

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- An Al Qaeda-linked militant group waging war against Somalia's fragile government is becoming an increasing threat to Western ally Kenya and could potentially destabilize the region with dire consequences for global security, officials and analysts warn.

Kenya is President Obama's father's native country.  There might be some interest at the White House.

Al-Shabaab, one of the strongest Islamic militias battling for control of Mogadishu, has gained ground in recent weeks, according to officials, and has started to flex its muscles beyond Somalia's border with terror strikes, kidnappings and recruitment drives.

They warn that unless the world takes action the group, which wants to impose an extreme type of Islamic sharia law, could extend its grip across parts of East Africa to gain control of a region that flanks busy shipping routes already plagued by Somali pirates.

Remember the pirates?  America is snoozing.

And, say experts, the group is being backed by foreign fighters -- some said to have links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network -- a situation that draws direct comparisons with the group's influence in pre-9/11 Afghanistan.

COMMENT:  The terror threat continues.  Even the new secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, is using the word "terror," after it had been officially retired in one of those left-wing secret ceremonies in which, presumably, the term was expunged from Webster's using a gallon of Wite-Out.

But the Wite House, or White House, doesn't seem unduly alarmed.  How does holy terror compare to Professor Gates's arrest in Cambridge?

August 1, 2009