The Path Forward

#news Fast Fact: Ilhan Omar's dad led de*th squads in Somalia for the oppressive regime that was overthrown, then fled claiming refugee status when his side lost power. I think now's a good time to remind everyone about who Omar's family is (as she claims weaponization of government for an investigation) #Somalia As Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) continues to launch attacks against President Donald Trump claiming he and members of his administration are 'N*zi's' 'fascists' and supporters of 'g*nocide', her family's history and deep connections to one of Africa's most notorious dictatorships is raising questions. #africa The regime k*lled from 200,000 to 500,000 civilians, according to United Nations investigations and human rights reports. The representative's father, Nur Omar Mohamed, rose to the rank of colonel in the Somali National Army under President Mohamed Siad Barre, whose regime unleashed widespread atrocities in the 1980s, including the systematic g*nocide of the Isaaq clan in what is now Somaliland. #Minnesota Mohamed held a senior military role during that g*nocidal era—and her family abruptly took off on a flight from Somalia after Barre's regime was toppled. These facts are now putting into question Omar's refugee status, with many saying her family should be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, rather than given refuge in the United States. Mohamed, who died in June 2020 at age 67, was remembered in Somalia as a brutal military officer who demanded the same ambitions from his children, including Omar. He received military training in the Soviet Union during the 1970s, a period when Barre's Marxist government aligned closely with Moscow. #moscow Mohamed climbed the ranks, becoming a colonel and commanding a regiment in the 1977-1978 Ogaden War, when Somalia tried to invade failed to invade Ethiopia's Ogaden region - where many Somalians lived. Fellow officer Yusuf Ismail Faraton, who served alongside him, later praised Mohamed's "significant role" in the invasion. #ChristinaAguayoNews ➡By the 1980s, Barre's rule - with a military led by Omar's dad, had devolved into one of Africa's most repressive, abusive and g*nocidal regimes, with the United Nations describing it as having "one of the worst human rights records" on the continent. ➡The regime targeted the Isaaq clan—(Mohamed's clan was Majeerteen, allies with Barre) through burning down villages along with the people in them, mass executions, kidnappings, and the razing of entire cities like Hargeisa. ➡About 50,000 to 200,000 Isaaq civilians were k*lled, with tens of thousands more displaced or t*rtured, according to human rights investigations. ➡Execution squads, often led by senior officers, (Like Omar's dad) carried out summary k*llings, including the 1989 Jazeera Beach massacre in Mogadishu, where Isaaq detainees were gunned down en masse. (Minneapolis is called little Mogadishu) ➡Mohamed's military career spanned through the exact end to the Barre regime period, from 1978 through 1991, when the people fought back, toppled Barre and plunged Somalia into civil war. As a colonel from a favored Darod sub-clan, he operated under Barre's command structure, which a 2025 Somaliland Chronicle investigation described as inherently complicit in the g*nocide's planning and execution. - Meaning Omar's dad allegedly planned and executed the genocide of civilians. The report argues that officers of his rank "would almost certainly have been involved" in disseminating propaganda that dehumanized Isaaq civilians, justifying their extermination as national policy. U.S. and international courts have held similar Barre-era colonels accountable, however Mohamed escaped, likely due to the chaos of Somalia's collapse and his exile. Omar's 2020 memoir, This Is What America Looks Like, portrays her father as an "educator" and moral guide who fled Somalia's "civil war" with his family, She didn't mention his g*enocidal military command during the regime's bloodiest years. The family spent four years in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp before securing U.S. asylum in 1995. Critics say this Omar is lying about her politically motivated escape, not from famine or violence, but from people angry and fighting back against the dictatorship he worked for that k*lled hundreds of thousands of people. "Our family was no longer welcome," Omar said in a 2016 profile Fact-checkers like Snopes say there are no "definitive sources" proving that Mohamed took part in the planning of the t*rture, kidnappings and k*llings of civilians in his military role. However, officials say senior officers in Barre's army weren't passive, they enforced a top-down campaign of clan annihilation / g*nocide. Mohammed and Omar have been silent when it comes to speaking out against the g*nocide of the Isaaq people and other clans, leading many to say their silence proves they were actively involved in the oppressive regime - especially given her vocal condemnations of other nations' human rights records. Timeline: 🔸️Mohamed trained in the USSR (mid-1970s), joined the Somali Army post-1977, led a regiment in the Ogaden War (1977-1978), and served through 1991 amid the Isaaq g*nocide (1987-1989 peak). 🔸️Barre's forces razed Hargeisa (90% destroyed), mined water sources, and executed civilians via firing squads. 🔸️U.N. reports confirm state-orchestrated g*nocide. Exiled after Barre's 1991 fall - U.S. asylum granted despite potential war criminal allegations in other cases, per immigration records. 🔸️Memoir focuses on father's teaching role and refugee hardships, downplaying military command during the g*nocidal era.