Careful with the party

The Western official with long ties to Somalia told me that he believed Sharif had, indeed, been naive about Al Qaeda. "I like him" he said. Their first encounter was on New Year's Eve, 2004, in Mogadishu. After hearing an Islamic Courts radio braodcast to the effect that "anyone celebrating New Year's Eve should be executed", he had gone to ask Sharif about it. He replied by saying "It's Christ's birthday, isn't it?"