Somali Militants Say Obama Is Worth 10 Camels

10 of these.<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&searchterm=camel+cartoon&search_group=&orient=&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&commercial_ok=&color=&show_color_wheel=1#id=104010464&src=93f34211dba5a50fc26f78a5a89fd026-2-89">Julien Tromeur</a>/Shutterstock

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Al-Shabaab—the population-terrorizing Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group in Somalia that has carried out deadly bombings in Uganda and elsewhere—has an odd sense of humor. As BBC News reported on Monday:

After the US put bounties on the heads of al-Shabab commanders, senior militant official Fuad Muhammad Khalaf announced: “Whoever reveals the hideout of the idiot Obama will be rewarded with 10 camels, and whoever reveals the hideout of the old woman Hillary Clinton will be rewarded 10 chickens and 10 roosters,” he said after Friday prayers.

The bounty is the terror group’s sardonic comeback to the US government offering $7 million last week for information leading to Ahmed Abdi aw-Mohamud Godane, an al-Shabaab co-founder and faction commander. The State Department has recently been hard at work backing at a UN-supervised peace plan for Somalia. The East African nation is the site of a rapidly expanded US-led drone war against AQ affiliates, and the Obama administration also has a habit of killing the country’s pirates.

Typically, a male brown camel can be worth up to $7,000; females are worth up to $20,000. That means Al-Shabaab’s mock offer for information on the president’s “hideout” equals between $70,000 and $200,000—which is $6,800,000 less than what the United States is currently offering for one al-Shabaab leader. (Just for a frame of reference, an Australian insurance firm put Barack Obama’s worth at $51,000 in crocodile attack insurance back in November.)

Here are a few other things you can get for $200K:

As for the bounty on Secretary Clinton’s head, MyPetChicken.com puts the price of a hen at up to $25. A rooster will cost you roughly $3.00. That comes to a grand total of $280 for information leading to the capture of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

$280 will get you one new ProForm 280 CSX upright exercise bike from Best Buy—with $55.02 in change.

LET’S TALK ABOUT OPTIMISM FOR A CHANGE

Democracy and journalism are in crisis mode—and have been for a while. So how about doing something different?

Mother Jones did. We just merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, bringing the radio show Reveal, the documentary film team CIR Studios, and Mother Jones together as one bigger, bolder investigative journalism nonprofit.

And this is the first time we’re asking you to support the new organization we’re building. In “Less Dreading, More Doing,” we lay it all out for you: why we merged, how we’re stronger together, why we’re optimistic about the work ahead, and why we need to raise the First $500,000 in online donations by June 22.

It won’t be easy. There are many exciting new things to share with you, but spoiler: Wiggle room in our budget is not among them. We can’t afford missing these goals. We need this to be a big one. Falling flat would be utterly devastating right now.

A First $500,000 donation of $500, $50, or $5 would mean the world to us—a signal that you believe in the power of independent investigative reporting like we do. And whether you can pitch in or not, we have a free Strengthen Journalism sticker for you so you can help us spread the word and make the most of this huge moment.

payment methods

LET’S TALK ABOUT OPTIMISM FOR A CHANGE

Democracy and journalism are in crisis mode—and have been for a while. So how about doing something different?

Mother Jones did. We just merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting, bringing the radio show Reveal, the documentary film team CIR Studios, and Mother Jones together as one bigger, bolder investigative journalism nonprofit.

And this is the first time we’re asking you to support the new organization we’re building. In “Less Dreading, More Doing,” we lay it all out for you: why we merged, how we’re stronger together, why we’re optimistic about the work ahead, and why we need to raise the First $500,000 in online donations by June 22.

It won’t be easy. There are many exciting new things to share with you, but spoiler: Wiggle room in our budget is not among them. We can’t afford missing these goals. We need this to be a big one. Falling flat would be utterly devastating right now.

A First $500,000 donation of $500, $50, or $5 would mean the world to us—a signal that you believe in the power of independent investigative reporting like we do. And whether you can pitch in or not, we have a free Strengthen Journalism sticker for you so you can help us spread the word and make the most of this huge moment.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate