International Pedophile Ring in Thailand

Sentencing has been postponed in the case of a Canadian man facing up to 50 years in prison for his admitted role in an international pedophile ring he ran out of Thailand. No new date has been set in the case of John Wrenshall, who pleaded guilty to three counts including conspiring to engage in sex tourism and to producing and distributing child pornography. The 63-year-old, originally from Calgary, detailed graphic abuse of boys as young as four years old. Authorities discovered Wrenshall was running a brothel for pedophiles in Thailand after confiscating computers from Union City resident Wayne Corliss.

Mr. Corliss is serving a 20-year sentence after admitting he travelled to Thailand to have sex with at least two boys. Mr. Wrenshall pleaded guilty in May. News reports at the time said he was a former Boy Scout leader and church choir member in Calgary, and was previously convicted of sex-related charges involving young boys. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan said Mr. Wrenshall spent time in a Canadian prison and then left Canada and moved to the Thai capital Bangkok. Mr. Vartan said he was there from as early as January 2000 and lived there continuously until he was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in December 2008.

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Postcards from the Edge: Somalia

Somali Piracy: An Escalating Security Dilemma

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has grown exponentially in recent years. The growing trend, which is the result of a number of factors including the unstable political environment, the collapsed economy, and the presence of Islamic terror groups in Somalia. The research concludes that only a unified stance by the international community that addresses a two-part strategy can facilitate the eradication of Somali piracy. If the global actors involved do not enhance cooperation in the fight against piracy while simultaneously enacting measures to improve stability in Somalia, global commercial trade will continue to suffer from extortion, and Islamic radicalism in Somalia will continue to thrive and potentially overtake the country.

Birthed In Blood, Somali Terror Group Goes Global

In the summer of 2008, a battle raged about 300 miles south of Mogadishu. There, along the banks of the Jubba River, rival militias fought for control of a port city. After days of savage conflict, the victors danced in the bloodied streets. Four years earlier, the Islamist group Al-Shabaab, "the youth," had been just another obscure gang, thugs for hire in Somalia's civil war. Now, they were seasoned warriors, the conquerors of Kismayo.

Al-Shabaab hasn't looked back since. Today, the group aims to be a world-class terrorist outfit, recruiting fighters under the banner of religious holy war. They are more than just a local band of fanatics. They may be plotting the next 9/11. When you start to "connect the dots," (the phrase made famous by the 9/11 Commission), you find there are a lot of dots to connect Al-Shabaab is no home-grown terrorist boy's club. Various news sources report "foreign fighters" have joined their ranks, some in high-level leadership positions. That suggests that group has an international perspective and sees itself as part of the global Islamist campaign.

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