Originally posted by AYOUB: Xildhibaan ka tirsan baarlamaanka: Soomaaliduu hore ay ahaayeen dad wanaagsan balse ilmihii ay dhaleen ay noqdeen dad aan damiir laheyn oo dano gaar ah ku kala xiran, Qaranimadii & dowladnimadii ay u soo halgameen aabayaasheen & awoowayaasheenna ku tuntay. You forgot to edit/remove this part before posting the article. At the very least, put some spin on it. Unadulterated truth like this is hard to swallow on these forums.

It was in 1507 (500 years ago) that Imam Ahmed Gurey was born and barely a man of 25, managed to achieve the unimaginable by defeating the mighty Emperor of Ethiopia and his Portuguese musketeers. In his conquest, he brought three-quarters of Ethiopia under the rule of the Islamic kingdom of Adal. "In Ethiopia the damage which [Ahmad] Gragn [Gurey] did has never been forgotten,” "Every Christian highlander still hears tales of Gragn in his childhood. Haile Selassie referred to him in his memoirs. I have often had villagers in northern Ethiopia point out sites of towns, forts, churches and monasteries destroyed by Gragn as if these catastrophes had occurred only yesterday." wrote Paul B. Henze [Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 90.] "While acknowledging that many modern Somali nationalists consider Ahmad a national hero, Henze claims that the notion of a Somali nation did not exist during Ahmad's lifetime." Source Remember that last sentence. Fast-forward four hundred years to 1907 (100 years ago) and it was Sayyid Maxamad Cabdulle Xassan who valiantly fought the mighty emperor of Ethiopia and his British musketeers. He had led a small-scale resistance for a few years until then and in that year, declared full war on Ethiopia and its Western enablers. For 13 years to come, and until his death in 1920, he menaced his enemies until they bombed him from the air (the very first time in the history of Africa that airplanes were used in warfare). The Mad Mullah they called him but he showed them hell and they couldn't even kill him. Fast-forward one hundred years (today) both Gurey and the Sayyid are turning in their graves. The mighty emperor of Ethiopia (with the help of his Western musketeers, as is the custom) has exacted his revenge. From land occupied outright in Somali Galbeed and Southern Somalia to dabo-dhilif mini-lands with names like Puntland, Somaliland and Maakhir land. Everywhere you look, a Somali is either dying of hunger, killing his neighbor in anger or getting crushed under Tigray boots. What a marvelously mournful ending to 500 years of glorious struggle. Ma calayna. So earlier this year, I watched with utter dismay how our one hundred year downward spiral culminated in Ethiopian troops bombing Muqdisho neighborhoods. What I never expected to witness is seeing Somalis cheering such abomination. I've gotten over that since then. What amazes me still that after all this time since the (official) invasion and occupation of Somalia, there are those who still struggle with the big picture. What will it take to see that Geedi, Yey, Cadde, Riyaale and others like them are woven of the same dabo-dhilif, self-serving cloth? What will it take to educate those who cheer the bombing of their kinsmen in South Muqdisho then turn around and wail when Laas Caanood is "captured" by another group of dabo-dhilifs? What will it take to show that an entire people under siege from within and from without share the same destiny whether they like it or not? Grown, seemingly educated men, in the homeland and the Diaspora, singing the clan tune and, as if on cue, wearing their keyboard-general attire to go to war while their ignoramus cousins fight futile, meaningless battles to "capture" a few hundred meters. Trying, in vain, to secure imaginary borders and foolishly seeking colonial recognition. Their counterparts, when not busy Xeroxing money, are furiously selling off lands to crooked Western oil companies or selling off their trees as coal. Earlier, I asked you to remember "that the notion of a Somali nation did not exist during Ahmad's [Gurey] lifetime." Well, five hundred years on, neither the notion nor the nation exist and whatever is there is in utter ruin. Woe to those who sell their souls for little worldly gain.

The transitional regime is under fire for heavy-handed methods that critics warn sap public support and fuel a budding insurgency. By Edmund Sanders, Times Staff Writer 10:53 PM PDT, June 29, 2007 MOGADISHU, Somalia — His makeshift art gallery survived warlords, gangsters and Islamic zealots during Somalia's 16-year civil war. But when the transitional government took charge of Mogadishu, the artist known as Happy got two hours' notice that his tiny shop was to be torn down. As friends raced to salvage his collection of paintings depicting Somalia's years of anarchy, government troops swept away scores of commercial squatters who had been operating in tin-roofed shacks along the capital's oldest shopping avenue. "They demolished my shop," said the artist, whose real name is Abdulkhadir Aweys Abdi and whose work was featured this year in a Los Angeles Times article. Six months ago, the fledgling government said it had liberated Mogadishu from Islamic extremists. It now finds itself under fire for heavy-handed tactics that critics warn have sapped public support and fueled a budding insurgency. In one raid, about 100 children and teachers at a Koranic school were rounded up at gunpoint and held for three days before most were let go. Last month, government security officers arrested a clan elder who had been an outspoken critic, but quickly released him after an international outcry. In all, more than 1,500 people have been detained in the last few months. About 1,000 remain behind bars, many without charges, according to civil society groups. Many of those released complain of torture, beatings or extortion by the police. "We don't even know the exact number of people still in prison because the government won't acknowledge it," said Abdullahi Mohammed Shirwa, an activist with Somali Peace Line, a local watchdog group. After his organization complained about arrests, he said, top government officials warned its members to stop getting involved in "politics" or other activities that might be viewed as aiding terrorists. "You are either with them or against them," Shirwa said. "They just dictate. But I think they are creating terrorists by harassing the people." Last week, on the eve of a visit to Washington by Somalian Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, the State Department protested the government's arrest and harassment of prominent citizens, civic activists, opposition leaders and journalists. It called for the immediate release of those unjustly detained. The presence of about 1,500 Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu is also fueling resentment. Ethiopian soldiers invaded Somalia in December to help the transitional government seize control of the capital, but most Somalis view them as occupiers. The man given the task of restoring security to Mogadishu is former warlord Mohammed Omar Habeb, known for his ties to the U.S. and Ethiopia. For years he ruled the city of Jawhar, 60 miles north of the capital, with an iron-fisted authority that made his region the safest in southern Somalia. Since taking office as Mogadishu's new mayor, Habeb, also known as Mohammed Dheere, has pursued a citywide disarmament program, including house-to-house searches, and established a police force of more than 1,200 officers. He has collected and destroyed hundreds of land mines, missiles and grenades. "Security is the biggest challenge," he said in an interview in his office. Asked if Somalia needed tough leaders, he said: "I wouldn't say that I'm tough or that I'm weak." Then he added with a smile, "But sometimes Africans don't like to obey law and order." Even supporters call his style blunt and unpolished. When battling Islamic militants this year, he reportedly gunned down 130 fighters as they ran away, later quipping that he was helping the Islamic soldiers "get to paradise." When a frustrated businessman confronted Habeb recently about the repeated closure of his shop, the mayor's bodyguards beat the man nearly to death and dragged him through the street in front of horrified spectators, witnesses and the man's family members say. Government leaders make no apologies. "This is not the time for soft, reflective consensus builders," said Gedi, the prime minister. "We need strong leaders who can implement their programs. Mohammed Dheere is the right man at the right time." Habeb's brashness at times has put him at odds with the authorities of the day. In 2005, he kicked government officials out of Jawhar and looted their buildings. Later he joined the "anti-terrorism coalition" of warlords who said they had been given CIA funding to kidnap Islamic extremists and suspected terrorists. That offensive backfired and spawned an Islamist uprising, which chased him into Ethiopia. On the streets of the capital, some praise the mayor. "He's cleaning the city," said Mohammed Abdi Yussef, 51, who fled Mogadishu four months ago when mortar fire killed 20 people in his neighborhood. Schools have reopened, judges have been appointed, and government tax collectors are moving to regulate businesses. But although the fighting that killed nearly 2,000 people this spring is largely over, residents say crime and corruption are as bad as when the warlords ruled. Even when government curfews are not in place, Mogadishu streets empty by 5 p.m. Few dare to use mobile phones or wear jewelry in public for fear of robbery. Pirates again roam the Indian Ocean waters; a Danish vessel was recently hijacked. Conditions are so bad that many residents openly pine for the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of religious leaders that controlled Mogadishu for six months. The courts used public executions and lashings to control the population. Now they are remembered fondly for restoring stability. "No question, security was better during the Islamic Courts Union," said shopkeeper Ali Ahmed Abdi, 42. "They controlled the city and the waters. The new government has done nothing about that." Somalian security officials estimate that there are still 1,000 militants hiding in Mogadishu and other parts of the country. Most are believed to be remnants of the Islamic courts, but they have been joined by clans that feel marginalized by the government and by a handful of foreign fighters. Former Islamist leaders have emerged in exile in Eritrea and Yemen, some calling for armed revolt against the government and Ethiopian troops. One militant group, known as Shabab, is said by the United States to be the Somalian wing of Al Qaeda. In recent weeks, near-daily attacks have roiled the capital. Prime Minister Gedi has survived at least four assassination attempts since 2004, including a suicide car bombing outside his home this month that killed seven people. In an interview, he bristled at suggestions that the government was cracking down too hard or not doing enough to reach out to antigovernment clans. "What is happening in Somalia today is not opposition," he said. "These are people with connections to international terrorism. They only want to prevent any government from taking power." Gedi said his government continued to make progress in defeating the insurgents. "We have beaten them," he said. "There is not a huge force." He said the government was trying to find a political solution, but that military force might be the only option. "Remember," he said, "we did not come to Mogadishu through political solution." edmund.sanders@latimes.com

"The first part of your question is ruthless" LOOOOL. Did he mean "truthless" or "rootless?" Must be a new word. LOL. Listen to the last 10 seconds when someone is whispering "wrap this up" to him in Somali. What a colossal dimwit.

Geedi gets the (proverbial) middle finger from the US (and the UN) and Meles divorces Yey in public. How much longer before these two buffoons are liquidated?

By Stephanie McCrummen Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, June 29, 2007; A16 NAIROBI, June 28 -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Thursday that his government "made a wrong political calculation" when it intervened in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops are bogged down in a fight against a growing insurgency. Addressing Ethiopia's Parliament, Meles said his government incorrectly assumed that breaking up the Islamic movement that took control of most of Somalia in June 2006 would subdue the country. He also said he wrongly believed that Somali clan leaders would live up to unspecified "promises." "We made these wrong assumptions," Meles said on a day when a roadside bomb killed two Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, and two aid workers were shot dead in northern Somalia. Opposition members of Parliament have accused Meles of making the same mistake in Somalia that critics say the United States made in Iraq: launching a military intervention without having a political plan. Many Ethiopian intellectuals and political leaders opposed the intervention because they said it would inevitably create the conditions for the sort of Somalia-based terrorist attacks that Meles intended to contain by invading the country. In December, Ethiopian forces backing Somalia's transitional government dislodged the Islamic movement, which was popular for the relative security it had brought after years of brutal warlord rule. Ethiopia and the United States said the Islamic movement had been hijacked by extremists and accused it of harboring terrorists, including three suspects in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, a charge the Islamic leaders denied. Since January, fighting between insurgents and Ethiopian and Somali government troops has displaced more than half of Mogadishu's population while the humanitarian situation has deteriorated. On Thursday, Amnesty International accused Kenya of blocking 141 trucks of food and other aid headed for more than 200,000 displaced Somalis suffering from "alarming levels" of malnutrition. Many businessmen and civil society leaders in Mogadishu say that over the past two weeks, they have been unjustly labeled "al-Qaeda" and that their homes and offices have been ransacked by Ethiopian and Somali troops. One internationally respected civil society leader, Abdulkadir Nur, said that troops plundered equipment in his offices and that his colleagues and relatives had been arrested without charge. Nur said he is simply against what he considers an Ethiopian occupation. "I do have the right to express my personal views," he said in a statement. "And the transitional government has no right to abuse its power to destroy my livelihood, my personal property and abuse my colleagues and co-workers." Special correspondent Kassahun Addis in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.

You'll be missed Horn. But don't quit just yet. I read in another thread someone calling your hero a buffoon. Though it may simply be his way of asking you to stay, I encourage you to defend your hero for I'm sure you reject the label buffoon on his excellency Hiiraale.

Insecurity restricting aid operations 25 Jun 2007 14:30:05 GMT Source: IRIN NAIROBI, 25 June 2007 (IRIN) - Insecurity and violence in Somalia's capital Mogadishu are limiting the population's ability to make a living and restricting aid agency operations, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said. "An atmosphere of fear has intensified within the population of Mogadishu. Intimidation is obstructing the implementation of humanitarian activities," OCHA Somalia said in its latest report, issued on 22 June. It said violence had intensified since the postponement of a national reconciliation conference that had been scheduled for 13 June. The conference is now scheduled for mid-July. The announcement on 19 June by the government of an amnesty for insurgents has had no apparent effect on security in the city, OCHA said. At least a dozen explosions and attacks on government targets have been recorded since 22 June, a local resident, who requested anonymity, said. "Unfortunately, the amnesty does not seem to have persuaded those who are fighting," he said. He said civilians were often caught in the crossfire. As of 20 June, the Protection Movement Tracking initiative estimated that at least 2,600 people had fled insecurity and violence in Mogadishu during June, according to OCHA. However, despite the violence, at least 117,000 of the 400,000 people displaced from Mogadishu earlier this year had now returned, many from regions close to Mogadishu, such as Lower and Middle Shabelle. Others returning from Dobley and Afmadow (Lower Juba region, near the Kenyan border) were being hampered by reported tensions in Kismayo, 500km south of Mogadishu, between two clans within the TFG forces. OCHA said information collected from 238 roadblocks/checkpoints in south-central parts of the country indicated that humanitarian convoys were being delayed for two to three days on average. "Passage fees are reported to range from US$20 to $500 per truck at checkpoints and roadblocks," OCHA added. Reuters

25 Jun 2007 16:07:40 GMT Source: Reuters By Guled Mohamed MOGADISHU, June 25 (Reuters) - A Somali government soldier opened fire on Monday at a crowd clamouring for food aid in Mogadishu and killed at least people, witnesses said. Three others were seriously wounded when the soldier fired in an apparent attempt to disperse a multitude trying to barge into a local authority building in an eastern district of the Somali capital where the grain was to be distributed. "People tried to push through a gate before the food aid arrived," witness Halima Salad said. "One of the soldiers opened fire at the crowd. He killed three people and wounded three." Two other witnesses spoke of three dead. But Halimo Abdullahi, who lives in the same Abdiaziz district, said he believed five people had perished, and some local media echoed that number. "He shot at the crowd without warning. The people were waiting for food aid that was to be distributed by a local organisation. This is cold-blooded murder," he said. Government officials did not comment on the latest bloodshed in the city. And senior police officials were unavailable. Millions of Somalis are suffering food shortages due to their nation's unrelenting violence, drought and floods in the last two years, and poor access for aid organisations. Somalia has been without effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator by warlords plunged the country into anarchy. Since then, thousands have died from war and hunger. Somali authorities from an interim government set up in 2005 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule have imposed a curfew on Mogadishu to try and stem violence, but sporadic gunfire and explosions can still be heard in the night. The government faces an Islamist-led insurgency after routing Islamists from Mogadishu late last year with the help of Ethiopian troops. Reuters

Originally posted by Johnny B: Israel, US and the EU unmercifully demand from the plastinians to put Hamas to bed atleast for now, but what they don't understand is the psyche of Arab guts mixed with Islamic bravery. JB, what is the alternative to "Islamic bravery"? Secular submission to the west? Clan collaboration with the occupiers? Do Castro and Chavez also have an Islamic bravery fever? What happened to Abbas' Islamic bravery? Washed away with too much money in a Swiss account? Give me a break saaxib. If the Palestinian people had any love for Fatah they would not have voted for Hamas. They wanted change and they naively thought they got it. Instead, they suffered a crushing economic embargo militarily enforced by the dabodhilif in Fatah from within and Israeli might from without. Sound familiar? As a Somali, you ought to at least know there's nothing worse than your own kind selling you out.

SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2007 20:38 MECCA TIME, 17:38 GMT Haniya rejects Israel-Arab summit The former Palestinian prime minister has rejected a summit of Israeli and Arab leaders to be held in Egypt, saying only "resistance" would produce results for his people. Speaking in Gaza, which his Hamas movement overran earlier this month, Ismail Haniya also dismissed as bribery Israel's decision on Sunday to release Palestinian tax funds. Haniya was removed from his post by Mahmoud Abbas, the president and Fatah leader, after days of intense factional fighting in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-led unity government had been under an economic boycott, with Israel withholding tax revenue and the US and Europe holding back aid. Haniya said: "The Americans won't give anything. Israel won't give us anything. Our land, our nation will not come back to us except with steadfastness and resistance." He called any hopes generated by the summit a "mirage" and "illusions." Haniya called Israel's release of the tax money "financial bribery" and "political blackmail" aimed at "deepening the crisis and divisions" between Fatah and Hamas. "It is our right and our money," Haniya said. "But this money ... should reach all the Palestinian people." Haniya said that isolation would not force his group to give up power in Gaza. He accused Abbas of violating Palestinian law by dismissing his government, saying that the president's actions have resulted in the separation of Hamas-ruled Gaza from a Fatah-dominated West Bank. Rather than weaken Hamas, Haniya said: "Experience proves that the more pressure on Hamas and the greater the siege will only increase Hamas's strength." Tit-for-tat Haniya also accused the United States of providing Fatah forces with money and arms in order to "oust Hamas or push it to make political concessions", suggesting Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip earlier this month was defensive. "The arms and money [for Fatah] showed that things were going towards a pre-planned explosion," Haniya said in his first major speech since Hamas routed Fatah's forces in Gaza and seized control of the coastal territory. Fatah, in return, accuses Hamas of accepting arms and money from Iran and of plotting to overthrow Abbas. Haniya denied any Iranian role. "We are not under the influence of anyone," he said. The Israeli government approved in principle on Sunday the unfreezing of the money as part of measures to boost Abbas after he fired the Hamas-led cabinet and replaced it with a cabinet made up of moderates and experts. The move came as Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, prepared to head to a summit in the Sinai resort of Sharm al-Sheikh on Monday with Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan aimed at working together to isolate Hamas. Haniya tried to draw attention away from the Fatah-Hamas conflict, saying repeatedly that the real problem facing the Palestinians is Israeli occupation. "Our battle is with the occupation that has been here for more than 60 years," he said. He called for dialogue between the factions. "There is no alternative to dialogue on the basis of ... no separation of the homeland and of our people". Kidnapped journalist Haniya also referred to the case of Alan Johnston, the British journalist, kidnapped on March 12 in Gaza. Haniya denounced the kidnapping, saying it harms Palestinian interests. He also made a reference to a videotape showing Johnston wearing an explosives belt of the type used by Palestinian suicide bombers. The recording has not been seen in public. Al Jazeera

Written by Chris Floyd Sunday, 24 June 2007 The Bush-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia -- the third direct "regime change" action of the Terror War -- installed a faction of CIA-paid Somali warlords in power over the long-ravaged land. Now, inevitably, these violent gangs and warring clans are turning on each other, while the Ethiopian occupiers -- funded and trained by American forces -- are tightening the screws on the conquered people. McClatchy Newspapers and the Washington Post report this weekend that forces of the "interim government" have broken into warring clan militias in the key port city of Kismayo, where the sub-clan of the new Somali president, Abdullah Yusuf, is battling it out with long-time rivals to gain control of the lucrative operations there. Hundreds of soldiers, using mortars, anti-aircraft fire and other heavy weapons, waged open battle in and around the port. This is the second major armed conflict within the new government's forces in the last two weeks, following a violent outbreak of clan violence among warlords in southern Somalia. Meanwhile, the Post reports that the Ethiopian forces occupying the capital city of Mogadishu are cracking down hard on the populace there -- already decimated by the brutal Ethiopian-warlord attacks that consolidated the conquest of the city this spring. More than 400,000 people fled the attacks, which featured heavy weaponry used on residential areas, and hundreds of civilians were killed. Now the Bush-backed Ethiopian forces are rounding up hundreds of Mogadishu businessmen suspected of supporting opposition to the invasion. In a grim echo of the virulently counterproductive polices of the American occupation in Iraq, the foreign invaders in Somalia have declared a curfew in the capital and are conducting house raids across the city. Again, businessmen -- i.e., some of the few people with money in the moonscape of the Somali economy -- are the primary targets of the raid. In another move that will certainly warm the White House's heart, this weekend "Ethiopian troops accompanied by intelligence officials raided the offices of Hormud, the largest telecommunications company in Somalia," the Post reports: The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he believed that the raid was aimed at gathering phone records, which Hormud had refused to hand over. Ethiopian troops also busted open safes and locked drawers and absconded with thousands of dollars, he said. Once again, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Terror War has empowered violent thugs, extremists and self-seeking warlords, radicalized the opposition, increased terrorism on all sides and inflicted untold misery and death on the innocent. Thievery and murder, chaos and repression, with America's backing, in America's name. Every day, Bush's Terror War plants new seeds of hatred, revenge and suffering in the hearts of thousands of people who have never wished the slightest harm to the United States. Every day, Bush teaches untold numbers of people that brutality, inhumanity and indiscriminate violence are the proper tools, the only tools, for pursuing their goals -- or just defending their lands, their families, from attack. How great, and how bitter, will be the harvest from these seeds. Empire Burlesque

Muqdisho: Isbadal ku yimid 48-kii saac ee la soo dhaafay xaalada magaalada Muqdisho ..... rubbish snipped ..... Cali Muxiyaddiin Cali AllPuntland, Muqdisho LOOOOL.

24 Jun 24, 2007 - 12:27:02 PM MOGADISHU, Somalia June 24 (Garowe Online) - Sporadic gunfire could be heard throughout the Somali capital Sunday night as government troops continued to enforce a 7pm curfew for the third straight night, residents said. At least four loud blasts were heard in Mogadishu overnight Sunday, followed by rounds of gunfire. There were immediate no reports on casualties or who was fighting, since the nighttime curfew has severely restricted journalists' ability to report the news. Four civilians were wounded earlier Sunday when a blast tore through a khat kiosk filled with customers. Witnesses said the explosion occurred minutes after a police unit on patrol passed through the Howlwadaag intersection, one of the most dangerous junctions in Mogadishu. In a separate attack, a lone gunman fatally shot two civilians – one man, one woman – before escaping authorities who arrived on the scene moments later. The killer intended to kill the male victim only but a stray bullet hit a female victim nearby, according to eyewitness accounts. A policeman in north Mogadishu was shot to death by two gunmen, who managed to evade authorities. Abdi Mohamed Dhabarey, district commissioner of Hodon, confirmed to Garowe Online that the policeman was killed moments after he left a mosque near his home. Somalia's transitional government arrived in Mogadishu in January and has since been battling a violent insurgency, believed to be spearheaded by remnants of an Islamist movement ousted six months ago by the Ethiopian army backing the government. Garowe Online

Where does all this leave the White House idea to involve Tony Blair as a Middle Eastern envoy? It creates a "coalition of the discredited" - Bush, Olmert and Blair - and sounds like something from a satire since Blair has no credibility with Hamas or most other Palestinians. Better to leave it to the Saudis to revive the Mecca deal, or wait until Abbas realises he has fallen into a trap. Neither common sense nor democratic principles, let alone time, are on Fatah's side.

Originally posted by Allamagan: ^^ dabka jooji adeer. All Horn wants is to educate Duke about the consequences of when playing with the fire. Horn wants to educate who on playing with fire? LOL. One of them worships Hiiraale and the other worships Yey. There's really not much they can teach or learn from each other.

^^^^ You sure don't sound like you know. But if you do, then may be you could concentrate on your Hindi movie library.

Buy CIA Stooges

NGONGE, I'm not the only one comparing Abbas to the other stooges. Perhaps this could shed more light for you on what became of the once heroic Abbas.

How many stooges, puppets, CIA assets, collaborators, warlords and yes-men are mentioned directly or indirectly in this article? Pay close attention to how the Somali and Ethiopian puppets and stooges are not even worth mentioning by name.

When it meddles in the Muslim world, the United States can be counted upon to blow it June 24, 2007 By ERIC MARGOLIS America has done many great things around the globe, like rebuilding post-war Europe and driving international economic growth. But when it comes to the Muslim world, almost everything the U.S. touches turns to ashes. Washington's record of picking compliant foreign leaders has been particularly awful. In 1969, the CIA put a young officer, Muammar Kadaffi, into power in Libya. Next, the Langley boys helped a promising young Iraqi "asset" named Saddam Hussein, seize power. They courted Osama bin Laden and Taliban to use against Iran. In Lebanon, CIA put a bunch of corrupt, anti-Syrian Lebanese businessmen and warlords into power who woefully neglected their people's needs. As a result, the anti-U.S. Hezbullah, which ably runs hospitals, schools, pensions, and civil society, become Lebanon's real government. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-installed Maliki and Karzai regimes have zero public support. Both face civil wars and national resistance, and are branded "U.S. stooges." Ditto the new U.S. and Ethiopian-installed puppet regime in Somalia. Washington's political alchemists are now working their latest magic in the Palestinian Territories, a giant, open-air prison camp surrounded by Israeli security forces. Having gotten rid of Fatah founder Yasser Arafat, who refused to condone U.S.-Israeli plans to parcel up his nation, Washington installed Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian leader. The compliant Abbas is lauded in the west as a "moderate" -- our code word for obedient Arab leaders. U.S.-ISRAELI STOOGE But once Abbas was in office, Israel simply ignored him and his feeble pleas to halt their colonizing the West Bank. Palestinians called him a U.S.-Israeli stooge. Having undermined Abbas, the Americans and Israeli then built up his tough security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, into a mini-Saddam and heir apparent. They sent $80 million US worth of arms to Dahlan's Fatah gangs and told them to crush the staunchly anti-Israel Hamas. Seeing an attack imminent, the Islamist movement Hamas struck first, running the U.S. proxy Fatah out of Gaza. CRACKDOWN Next, the U.S. got Abbas to appoint a new prime minister, Salam Fayyad, a nobody who won only 2% of the vote in the last elections. He proclaimed a crackdown on Hamas. After President George Bush commanded democracy to flower in the Arab World, to his shock and awe, Hamas won a major democratic electoral victory in the region's second free election. The first, in Algeria in 1991, produced a landslide for the Islamist reformist movement, FIS. Algeria's French and U.S.-backed army quickly annulled the election and jailed FIS leaders. The "moderate" Palestinians Washington has put into power, backed by $83 million in cash,lack political legitimacy or popular support. Abbas' Fatah has degenerated into a thuggish movement devoted to enriching itself while ignoring the plight of its own people. Hamas won power in good part because of the refusal of Israel's rightwing governments and the Bush administration to halt West Bank settlement even though it violated international law, the 1993 Oslo Accords, and UN Resolution 242. West Bank Jewish settlers grew from 111,000 in 1993 to nearly 500,000 today. Israeli rights groups estimate 40% of the West Bank has been taken over by Israeli settlements, military bases, the new Berlin-style "security" wall, and Jewish-only road networks that chop up the territory into tiny, isolated Bantustans. Hamas and Fatah kill Israeli civilians. Israel kills Palestinians in an endless of cycle of retaliation. As 1.3 million increasingly enraged Palestinians saw their lands being taken away, Fatah offered only more corruption and collaboration with the occupiers. Hamas offered able, honest government, resistance and defiance, however hopeless, often criminal, and self-defeating. MORE VIOLENCE Building up Fatah to fight Hamas, splitting Palestinians, and getting them to accept Israeli land claims will only bring more West Bank violence. America can always buy local yes-men, but it can't buy popular support, respect, or peace in the Arab World. Rumours Bush may name Tony Blair, who is discredited in Britain and despised by Arabs, as his chief Mideast negotiator, is Washington's latest Mideast folly. Toronto Sun

Abbas' actions since Hamas was elected indicates he is in fact a sellout. The man's history does speak for itself but the past 18 months have likely tarnished what came before it. If he weren't a turncoat, he would not have stood by silently while the West virtually strangles the Palestinian territories economically and militarily since Hamas' sweeping election victory. And as the (ostensible) leader of the Palestinian people, he could (and should) have respected their wishes by not only recognizing Hamas as the free and fairly elected government but also demanding the West and Israel do the same. Alas, he chose not to. A change of guard is in order.

Originally posted by Libaax-Sankataabte: It is quite a frequent practice in that cursed nation for the “conquering” militia to commit crimes against civilians suspected of sympathizing with "the enemy". That's true saaxib. Allow sahal. When will this nightmare end?

Allpropaganda articles some even with out any sources taken as the truth. This ain't Somali on Somali crime, if anything, it's dabodhilif on dabodhilif crime. Keep the orgy going.

NAIROBI, June 23 (Reuters) - Lack of funds rather than insecurity has prevented Somalia's parliament from moving to the capital Mogadishu, where a curfew has been imposed amid a deepening insurgency, a senior official said on Saturday. The interim government is desperate to establish itself in Mogadishu and boost its legitimacy after being confined to the south-central town of Baidoa since its creation in 2004. "There is no fear of moving the parliament to Mogadishu, but we are stalling because there is no money for the rebuilding," parliamentary speaker Sheikh Adan Madobe told a news conference in Nairobi. He said he expected a national reconciliation meeting to go ahead as planned on July 15, despite being postponed twice because of near-daily insurgent attacks targeting the government and its Ethiopian allies. "I met the chairman of the reconciliation conference ... who has insisted the conference go ahead on that date," Madobe said. "Everything that is needed -- logistically, security, infrastructure -- is now almost complete." Despite Madobe's optimism, there has been no let-up in attacks in the capital, where Islamist fighters have waged an Iraq-style insurgency since New Year. Their leaders -- who briefly controlled much of southern Somalia -- were ousted then by allied Somali-Ethiopian forces. Madobe was speaking before a trip to Cairo, where he was expected to meet Arab League representatives to boost diplomatic ties between Somalia and the Arab world. Reuters