Sudan: Land of Jihad and Goat Lovin'

Sudan has a large Muslim population. Bin Laden used Sudan as a base of operations once upon a time back when President Clinton was in office. The government of Sudan tried to turn Osama over to the US, but Clinton refused to take him out of fear that his constituency would chastise him for "illegally" taking custody of a terrorist.

Sudan is known to have some radical mosque sheiks, who preach jihad and recruit jihadis. On my first trip to Iraq, one of the first foreign jihadis I met was from Sudan. We called him "Sammy from Sudan". Sammy was recruited out of a town near Khartoum, and subsequently flew to Syria with some of his buddies. The jihadis went on a bus trip to the border of Iraq and then were taken to Fallujah by the Fedayeen Saddam. When we captured Sammy, he was with a group of other foreigners who were waiting to get into combat. The Fedayeen told them to stay put and wait until they returned. The Fedayeen split and didn't come back for their foreign brothers. When I talked to Sammy, he had a bunch of papers in his possession describing suicide bombing. Sammy from Sudan was supposed to be a martyr. That was my first meeting with someone from Sudan.

Now, courtesy of Bullseye from the American Drumslinger blog, I bring you more good news from Sudan.

Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

This story is not bullshit; look at the link above. Best wishes to the new couple. May you have a great life together. At least you are a lover, not a fighter.