This is an introductory small excerpt of a very long article titled "VIVA KADAFFI " written by Robert Sterling on Disinformation Guide to secrets and lies publication " Everything you know is a wrong ". The article talks about the demonization of third world leaders who don't agree with policies of capitalist and western government. I just posted the part the deals with Aideed and US/UN confrontation in 1993. ----------------------------------------------- On October 3, 1993, the US military faced its most violent combat firefight since the Vietnam War. On that day, eighteen members of the US army were killed in Somalia and 84 were wounded, in a battle with supporters of General Mohamed Farah Aideed, a warlord who was the main target of the US forces. Soon after, the US slinked out of the African country, humiliated by the experience. That what was called a peacekeeping mission – the US operation was known as “Operation Restore Hope†– could have caused such misfortune for US troops created both confusion and mass outrage from the public and pundits. The anger was fueled by pictures of the corpse of a naked American soldier being dragged through the Mogadishu streets by a cheering mob. How dare these ungrateful people perform such a monstrous act on soldiers there solely for humanitarian reasons? (The result of “Operation Restore Hope†justified to many the apathetic disregard in the western world toward the genocide that occurred in Rwanda the following year.) The blame – Rush Limbaugh and his mouth-foaming reactionary clones often repeated – was laid at the feet of foolish bumpkin Bill Clinton, whose liberalism had put American soldiers at risk over a nation-building operation that left them defenseless. The reality was much different. In the first place, the operation – which was, incidentally, conceived by George Bush I – included US Army Rangers and Delta Force, both elite-trained commando units. All told, Bush had sent 25,000 troops into the country, hardly poor, oppressed brigade. Furthermore, whatever the legitimate purpose of the original UN operation in the area were – to assure the delivery of food and medicine to a country in the internal turmoil thanks to a bloody civil war- they were obsolete by the time the US military forces came in. in perfect Orwellian logic, the American “peacekeeping†operation involved commando raids on the nation to rid of it of Aideed. The supposed outlaw menace who was blamed for the whole tragedy. (Summarizing the utter hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the conservative spin on the Somalia operation are the writings of pundit Charles Krauthammer. His first article on the subject, in October 9, 1992, edition of the Washington Post, was titled “Trusteeship for Somalia: An old – colonial idea – whose time has come again. “In it, he argued that it would be best if the US took over the Somali government since those backward Africans obviously couldn’t govern themselves. The opinion was both blatantly racist and evasive of the true causes of civil war in the country. Krauthammer later became one of the harshest critics of the Clinton Administration’s actions in Somalia.) The results speak for themselves, but fortunately for the military-industrial complex, the true results were rarely spoken. A perfect example of the slanted discussion of the events was offered in a 1995 New Yorker article. The author William Finnegan, described the raid that killed US commandos as “disastrousâ€, it was mentioned, almost as an aside, that “remaining American airborne units led the increasingly violent search for Aideed, bombing and strafing suspected hideouts, killing more than thousand civilians.†As noted by ken Galilo of the libertarian-bent The Revolution; During the weeks from June 5 to October 3, 1993, UN/US forces inflicted 6,000 to 10,000 casualties on the Somali resistance, said Eric Schmitt in the December 8, 1993 New York Times. Schmitt confirmed the account with US military intelligence, relief workers, UN officials and the US special envoy to Somalia; US Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni estimated that two-thirds of the casualties were women and children. Considering the fact that the “peacekeeping†force of benevolent Delta Force and Army Ranger commandos had caused such carnage, the glee of an angry mob over a solitary naked soldier paraded through the streets becomes more understandable. Defenders of foreign policy would object, stating that the mass deaths, while tragic, were unfortunate, but part of a well-meaning operation gone haywire. After all, Bush had involved troops because Aideed was the warlord who had caused all the damage: Over 350,000 dead (the vast majority due to famines) during the civil war, and as many as 30,000 reputed to have died in a single three-month shelling duel. To blame the deaths all on Aideed as the singular cause, however, ignores that deaths and famine are often tragic effects of a civil war. And to turn him into a bogeyman ignores that, as he was decidedly elected (by two-thirds vote) chairman of the United Somali Congress, the leading group behind the revolution, he had as legitimate of a claim to head of state as anyone in the country. Even the United Nations agreed to this point. Why would Aideed lead a civil war that led to such a bitter ends? Western media consistently portrayed petty politics and greedy self-enrichment as his motivation, and there likely was some self-interest involved in the decision. But overlooked in nearly all coverage of the civil war were the policies of Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, the man whom Aideed helped to overthrow. As noted in a Project Censored citation for excellence in suppressed journalism. Investigative authors Rory Cox, in Propaganda Review, and Jim Naureckas, in EXTRA!, wondered whether the decision to send US troops to Somalia was based more on potential oil reserves there than on the tragic images of starving Somalis that dominated major media outlets in late 1992 and 1993. The US/UN military involvement in Somalia began in mid-November 1992, but it wasn’t until January 18, 1993, two days before George Bush left office, that a major media outlet, the Los Angeles Times, published an article that revealed America’s oil connection with Somalia. Times staff writer Mark Fineman started in his Mogadishu-datelined article “Far beneath the surface of the tragic drama of Somalia, four major US oil companies are quietly sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concession to explore and exploit tens of millions of acres of the Somali countryside. That land, in the opinion of geologists and industry sources, could yield significant amounts of oil and natural gas if the US-led military mission can restore peace to the impoverished East African Nation.†According to Fineman, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips before Somalia’s pro-US President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown. The US oil companies are “well positioned to pursue Somalia’s most promising potential oil reserves the moment the nation is pacified.†Oil industry spokesman, along with Bush/Clinton administration spokespersons, deny these allegations as “absurd†and “nonsense.†However, Thomas E. O’Connor, the principal petroleum engineer for the World Bank, who headed an in-depth three year study of oil prospects in Somalia’s northern coast, said, “there’s no doubt there’s oil there … it is got high(commercial) potential…once the Somalis get their act together.†Fineman would add: “Conoco, whose tireless exploration efforts in north-central Somalia reportedly had yielded the most encouraging prospects just before Siad Barre’s fall, permitted its Mogadishu corporate compound to be transformed into a de facto American embassy a few days before the US Marines landed in the capital, with Bush’s special envoy using it as his temporary headquarters.†They wouldn’t have done this if Aideed had been in their pocket. Considering that two-thirds of the country’s richest natural resources were given to American energy barons, Aideed (and his revolutionary network) was rightfully objecting the plundering of the nation’s wealth by a corporate oligopoly while the people suffered in abject poverty. The more one looks at Somalia, the more it appears a better moniker for the Bush-Clinton plan would be “Operation Destroy Hope.†In August 1996, Aideed was pronounced dead, a victim of assassin’s bullets. Western Media cheered this event, announcing that his death would potentially lead to a greater “peace†in Somalia. For what is worth, Aideed’s Washington Spokesman, Ahmed Mohammed Darman, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in regard to his death: “it was a conspiracy by certain group…who fired on him. They were in the services of an international conspiracy… They were forces against Aideed and his ideals. His supporters had always been protecting.†Aideed was dead, but his image had been destroyed in the western world long before by mass media attacks. There is nothing new, of course, in demonizing political enemies. But after the widespread sympathy received in the West to Third World revolutionary leaders such as Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, and Salvador Allende – who most frighteningly of all, was democratically elected Marxist in Chile before he was ousted by a CIA-supported junta and death squads led by General Augusto Pinochet – it would be clear to any political analyst that the USA was slipping in the propaganda war. And that war, of course, is ultimately the most important of all.

sorry- double post!!

Thanks Rahima - I know every corner and alley ( Luuq and many not laamis ) of the city!! My family all went back to Xamar and live close to that Daameey Hotel you mentioned near Geedka Jaceeylka area. Our old home is one of those Tredici per Tredici boos and my father was on one occasion tempted to sell it for $20K but because of our opposition and objection, he changed his mind. My mother owns four homes in Huriwaa near Hotel Gurguurte and the Cinema; all venti X venti. She never left Xamar except for short two Hajj pilgrimages. She is a tough patriotic cookie who shuns living the exile and refugee life. I am planning to help her rebuild and improve these houses. We have a large extended family and they are all planning to go back and live there. My youngest sister was born in Banaadir Hospital( I was born in Martini ) and grew up in Makkah-Al-Mukarammah is Xaafid-Al-Quran. She teaches Tajweed and Arabic in School Osman Ghedi Raghe in Tokyo Village. My old neighborhood friends own and run Radio Shabelle. A friend of mine who is farm engineer ( from an Indian University and who once, in 1988, went to Australia for one year seminar on Solar Energy) still lives in Xamar Bille area and farms in Qoryooleey and Kunturwaareey. He grows sesame, maize and vegetables. He emails me on daily basis and he sends me some high quality scanned medical prescriptions that I don’t even know how he did. Jabril Abdulle, one of my old hommies, runs an NGO( war torn societies ) that promotes peace and dialogue. He went back after graduating from Canadian University. The manager, Teetano-Yare who runs Coca-Cola is also an old hommie who used to live in Sweden. He employs more than 500 people. These are my heroes. They decided to do something for their communities. People in Xamar are tired of and fed up with violence, tribalism and all its negativity. Now more than ever, every Somali, regardless of clan affliation, can go, live and work in Xamar. Siad Barre's daughter Fatima Mohammed Siyaad ( who recently passed away - may Allah bless and forgive her soul)lived there. It is us, the people in the Diaspora, who are out of touch with realities in Somalia and who are still caught in the clan animosity. I hope that we all go back to Somalia with degrees, knowledge, skills and above all with a vision different than those of our elders. that is our calling people and we should step to the challange and we must stop supporting the ruthless warlords and the opportunistic clansmen. Sister Rahima, one thing that you forget to mention is the consumption of Qat and its trade. There are more than 18 daily flights from Nairobi and other Kenyan cities importing Qat. They import Qat from Ethiopia and Yemen. It is huge business and it is estimated Somalis spend more than $200 thousand on daily basis chewing these drug leaves. In contrast to this, Banaadir Hospital was re-opened by a group of conscientious women activists with $20 thousand dollars.!! Imagine if Somalis quit chewing Qat, what would that capital money would have done? They could have used it to set up waste collection and sewer management systems, open more clinics, orphanages; they could have rehabilitated some old schools, repatriate refugees to their farms and villages, dig wells, buy fishing boats, farm tractors and so on. Another deadly and destructive import to the country is small arms from Ethiopia. You all heard about the toxic dumping on our seas and shores. People in Xamar, Merka and other cities close to the shore are all suffering a new disease called Kuduudiyoow. it is some kind of fever. AIDS is also spreading. Thanks again for taking these photos. they were inspirational to some and i can see they have changed some misconceptions. I will follow your example when I go back, Inshallah. this time i am planning to travel to Djibouti, Waqooyi, Bari, Mudugh, Galgaduud, Hiiraan, Shebeele and Jubba. I will get one of those expesinve digital cameras and camcorders and take photos and films to share, Hopefully, we will have functioning government and hopefully, the warlords will come to their senses and stop the fruitless bickerings and hostilities. we must all applaud Sis Rahima for her work!! Thanks again!!! or should I say, Laa shukr Calaa Waajib!! you did a great job! PS: Rahima, common, don't discriminate the economically and finnancially struggling brother - Ina- laah yarzaq Man Yashaa Bigheri Xisaab!!