^ Indeed. This is one of the more powerful parts: Also lost in this eulogy of the moderate ways of Somali clergy is the ever-increasing anti-Ethiopia and anti-U.S. public sentiment. Even today the Ethiopian troops are facing stiff public resistance, targeted by Somali gunmen in Mogadishu and elsewhere. Even if defeated militarily, dislodged from their strongholds, and hunted down on land, in the air, and at sea, the leaders of Islamic militia remain legitimate political actors. Their views on the invasion of foreign forces correspond with the antipathy of average Somalis toward Ethiopia and the United States. Stoking the Fires The direct U.S. military intervention in Somalia is ill-timed and ill-conceived. The aggressive U.S. posture, at sea and in the air, has antagonized the Somali people without any significant gain against suspected al-Qaida operatives or their Somali allies. In pursuit of a few individuals, the United States has earned the fury of the masses—in an eerie replay of Black Hawk Down. More importantly, the involvement of American forces seriously undermines Washington's pious intentions of pushing the Somalis to the forefront of the process to stabilize the war-ravaged country. Once again, the Bush administration has proved that the tenets of international law and the norms of interstate relations can be flouted with dismissive arrogance whenever it wants to go into pre-emptive mode.

Insightful read, if you have the attention span.

Najum Mushtaq | January 9, 2007 A day before U.S. planes struck suspected al-Qaida hideouts in Somalia, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer spelled out in Nairobi the preferred order of leadership. “Some people would like the United States to lead on this issue,” she said. “I would prefer that we lead from behind, and what I mean by that is pushing the Somali people first, pushing the sub-region next, and then mobilizing the resources of the international community.” But words from the Bush administration do not always mean what they say. More often, as with Ms. Frazer's statement, they mean exactly the opposite. Instead of the Somali people taking the lead in shaping the country's future—a possibility Frazer alluded to in the wake of Ethiopia's recent victory over the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and the return of the U.S.-backed interim government to Mogadishu on New Year's Eve—the United States has again rushed in to take military action. Humanitarian concern for the ever-suffering people of Somalia did not motivate U.S. involvement. Rather, Washington's ideological zeal and ill-conceived war on terrorism has led to this latest foray into yet another jihadi battleground. U.S. Attacks The first U.S. attack took place on January 8 on Ras Kamboni, on Badmadow Island. This area of livestock herders and religious schools close to the Kenyan border is a suspected training base for the Islamic militia as well as the reported destination of the core group of ICU leadership and militiamen fleeing Mogadishu and then Kismayo. Journalists based in Mogadishu report that instead of killing their targets—al-Qaida suspects implicated in the 1998 bombing of American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam—the air strikes killed many civilian Somalis believed to have given shelter to the suspects. The U.S. attack was executed in conjunction with land reconnaissance by Ethiopian, and possibly Kenyan, forces. Since the Ethiopian invasion, Kenya has deployed a large number of troops on the border to prevent the ICU militiamen, their families, and sympathizers from crossing over as refugees. More attacks have since followed in what seems to be a series of strikes in hot pursuit of al-Qaida targets. Four civilians, including a small boy, died in a second attack west of Afmadow in a village called Hayi. With the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower joining three other warships already in the region, this new campaign is likely to be protracted. The longer it goes on, the more difficult it will become for the United States to disengage and the more fuel it will provide to jihad international to inflame Muslim emotions. The Order of Intervention During its six months of control over Mogadishu and most of the rest of south-central Somalia, the ICU stopped short of Baidoa, the base of the U.S.-backed transitional government. Amid simmering tension with the interim government, especially over the presence of Ethiopian forces, a UN Security Council resolution in December partially lifted the arms embargo to protect the interim government and authorized a protection force for Somalia. The new force is to be set up by the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, comprising troops from neighboring countries. The resolution cornered the Islamic courts. Anticipating an onslaught from Ethiopia, the ICU became more aggressive in its rhetoric. The frequency of clashes between the two sides suddenly increased, leading to Ethiopian air strikes on Mogadishu on Christmas Eve. The Islamic militia abandoned the city without putting up a fight. Not only are the militias of the courts too weak militarily to take on the might of the U.S.-backed Ethiopian army in conventional land and air battles, they also suffered from internal dissension and defection. Now dispersed and underground, the leaders of the Islamic courts are gearing up for unconventional warfare against the 8,000-strong Ethiopian invasion force and other protection forces that might arrive to enforce the Security Council resolution. Behind the diplomatic jargon of “peacekeeping” and “stabilizing force” lies the reality that the United States and its allies in the region have once again made a unilateral military intervention on the pretext of decimating al-Qaida. Like many other allies of the United States in its war on terrorism, notably the military-run Pakistan, the Tigrayan minority regime in Ethiopia is also exploiting the terror threat to gain international acceptance for its repressive rule and to divert attention from troubles at home. Efforts are now on to replace the Ethiopians with a regional force. Whatever the composition of such a force—Uganda has promised 1,500 and others may follow—the past experience of peacekeeping in Somalia does not augur well for its prospects of success. As the south-central region once again reverts to the unruly reign of local warlords, clan militias, and general lawlessness, the artificially resuscitated interim government is as likely to bring the Somalis together and earn their support as the Maliki regime in Iraq or Karzai's Kabul-bound government in Afghanistan. The trajectory of the conflict, too, seems to be similar. A hurriedly assembled foreign force presides over violent local chaos. If the Islamic courts are further isolated and targeted, an insurgency as difficult to control as the Afghan Taliban may well arise. At least, al-Qaida and the more extremist leaders of the Islamic courts would want it to be that way. Jihad Impossible? The docile manner of the defeat of the ICU militia has prompted analysts and diplomats to underline the organizational and military weakness of the Islamic movement in Somalia. “I don't see they're in a position to regroup militarily, nor do I subscribe to the idea of Iraq- or Afghanistan-type suicide bombings—it's simply not the Somali way of doing things,” said David Shinn, a former U.S. envoy to Ethiopia. Like Shinn, other Somalia analysts also fall back on the argument that the Somali Muslims are not the suicide-bomber, al-Qaida terrorist types. Such a disturbing statement implies that extremists among the Afghans, the Pakistanis, the Palestinians, and the Iraqis are innately inclined to such terror tactics, whereas “it's simply not the Somali way.” This line of analysis suggests that places like Palestine and Iraq, among others, have always been hatcheries of suicide bombers and terrorists, that there is something wrong with the kind of Islam practiced in those violence-ridden Muslim areas. Shinn and others have lost sight of the fact that no ethnic group or society is inherently prone to violence. Rather, it is the context in which they live that makes them so. Also lost in this eulogy of the moderate ways of Somali clergy is the ever-increasing anti-Ethiopia and anti-U.S. public sentiment. Even today the Ethiopian troops are facing stiff public resistance, targeted by Somali gunmen in Mogadishu and elsewhere. Even if defeated militarily, dislodged from their strongholds, and hunted down on land, in the air, and at sea, the leaders of Islamic militia remain legitimate political actors. Their views on the invasion of foreign forces correspond with the antipathy of average Somalis toward Ethiopia and the United States. Stoking the Fires The direct U.S. military intervention in Somalia is ill-timed and ill-conceived. The aggressive U.S. posture, at sea and in the air, has antagonized the Somali people without any significant gain against suspected al-Qaida operatives or their Somali allies. In pursuit of a few individuals, the United States has earned the fury of the masses—in an eerie replay of Black Hawk Down. More importantly, the involvement of American forces seriously undermines Washington's pious intentions of pushing the Somalis to the forefront of the process to stabilize the war-ravaged country. Once again, the Bush administration has proved that the tenets of international law and the norms of interstate relations can be flouted with dismissive arrogance whenever it wants to go into pre-emptive mode. Moreover, by tarring all of the Islamic courts with the al-Qaida brush, the Bush administration has ostracized a major political faction within Somalia. The sympathizers and supporters of the ICU—and they are not an insignificant minority by any means—find themselves facing persecution and the same warlords they had gotten rid of not too long ago. If the ultimate objective of peacekeeping forces is to create conditions for the initiation of an intra-Somali dialogue leading to some sort of a democratic process, then the Islamic movements cannot be cast side. Their participation in any future plan for Somalia, however, seems improbable given the mood in Washington and Addis Ababa. Their refusal to engage the Islamic movements will mean more violence and further instability in the region. Or perhaps once again the Bush administration's words are misleading, and such instability is indeed the ultimate objective of America's policy of containing and decimating Islamic extremism. FPIF contributor Najum Mushtaq is a Nairobi-based journalist. Foreign Policy In Focus

I wonder what the Garaad has said (publicly or privately) on the state of Somalia today? If his natural expertise is conflict resolution, the nation could use a man of his caliber, no?

^ It's a general phrase indicating a messy situation. I don't give a shit who takes offense.

Che, Paragon: there's a diaper in the pool. Get out while you can.

By Monica Moorehead Published Jan 7, 2007 9:05 PM An estimated 15,000 Ethiopian troops invaded Mogadishu, the capital of the African country of Somalia, in late December to militarily defeat the Islamic Courts Union. The ICU until recently controlled large sections of the southern part of that country. It has now pulled back from the cities and said it will conduct guerrilla warfare against the invaders. This war and invasion began to escalate in early 2006. Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, which has been put together with U.S. and British connivance, supported the invasion. As of Jan. 1, the ICU forces have been pushed back on a temporary basis. The ICU has a mass base among many Somalis, along with other Muslims throughout the region, due in part to social services it provides for the poor, especially in the areas of health and education. The U.S. government has openly supported this invasion under the guise of the Bush administration’s on-going war against “terrorism,” which began after 9/11. This war began with the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and now has spread its tentacles into the Horn of Africa. Millions of Muslims view Bush’s endless war as a ploy to attack Islam, not just as a religion but also for daring to resist imperialist and colonial aggression. This recent conflict has drawn Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda into an anti-ICU alliance. Jakkie Ciliers, executive director of South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, stated in the article “Africa, Root Causes and the War on Terror,” that “The potential impact upon the region is catastrophic, and may, if not checked, open the Horn as the latest battleground between the U.S. and Islam with disastrous consequences for its peoples, regional stability and the consolidation of African development, peace and security.” A U.N. resolution orchestrated by the U.S. and Britain, which hold permanent positions on the Security Council, is being used to justify sending a “peacekeeping force” to Somalia to protect the transitional U.S.-backed government there from the ICU forces. Fighting “terrorism” or quest for oil? What has been the concrete involvement of the U.S. in this war between Ethiopia and Somalia, two of the poorest countries in the world? According to William Church, director of the Great Lakes Centre for Strategic Studies, the CIA has been funneling between $100,000 and $150,000 monthly to the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism, which includes Somali officials recognized by the West, “warlords” and business people. Military equipment has also been donated to the Somali military by Select Armor, a private company based in Virginia. The Pentagon also sent $19 million worth of weapons and loans to Ethiopia in 2005 and is scheduled to provide another $10 million worth of weapons this year. (Sudan Tribune) In countries as poor as Somalia and Ethiopia, this is a lot of money. Just as Bush used the phony excuse of “fighting terrorism” to invade and occupy Iraq, he is using the same excuse to justify Washington’s support for the invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia. And just as controlling another country’s oil reserves was the real reason for invading Iraq, the same holds true for this recent invasion of the Horn of Africa. The Horn has great strategic value, since naval bases there can control the traffic of tankers and other ships through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. In addition, however, the U.S. is well aware that Africa has the world’s third-largest oil reserves, after the Middle East and Latin America. Industry sources say these reserves amount to over 95 billion barrels, or about 8 percent of the world’s total. Nigeria is the largest producer of oil on the African continent. It remains one of the poorest countries because Shell, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco, not the Nigerian people, control the oil production, wealth and profits there. Much of Africa’s overall oil reserves are untapped and are strategically located in the Horn of Africa, which is on the Red Sea and is a direct route to the oil-rich Middle East. The Pentagon established a Central Command in Africa in 2002 and stationed naval warships off the Horn of Africa. The excuse was that they were monitoring the movements of al-Qaeda members based in Afghanistan. Just last month, the Pentagon sent a proposal to the White House requesting that an African Command be set up to oversee all U.S. military maneuvers throughout the African region. Bush is expected to approve this request within the next few months. Can there be any doubt that both these commands will carry out the same task of working on behalf of Big Oil transnational corporations in an attempt to oversee the drilling for oil that is expected to occur in the Red Sea? The U.S. has expressed concern that representatives of the Chinese government recently visited Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia to discuss oil and trade agreements with those governments. China is offering developing countries better terms than those established by the imperialist powers. This is another reason why the U.S. wants to deepen its economic influence in Africa through military hegemony. The U.S. ruling elite and its military arm could care less for the people of Somalia, Ethiopia or the African people in general. Friends can become enemies and vice-versa at a blink of the eye when securing profits is at stake. A case in point is during the early 1990s, when the U.S. military invaded Somalia under the guise of providing humanitarian aid. The troops were driven out by the heroic resistance of the Somali people. Another example is that the U.S. was a major enemy of the 1974 Ethiopian revolution until it was weakened and then eventually overthrown by internal and external factors, including U.S. intervention. Today, the government in Ethiopia is to the liking of the White House. It is important for revolutionaries and progressive activists to expose what is going on in the Horn of Africa and connect this development to the overall struggle against U.S. imperialist designs in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere. The people of Africa deserve reparations, political stability and economic development free from imperialist domination and plunder. Worker's World

MOGADISHU, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Unknown assailants fired rocket propelled grenades at a building in Mogadishu housing Ethiopian and Somali troops, the same site where at least one person was killed in an attack over the weekend. A Reuters reporter near the building in the Kilometre Four area of the capital heard the two RPGs explode followed by five minutes of automatic weapons fire, and later, sporadic shots. It was not immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the attack, which a witness from a neighbouring hotel confirmed had struck the building patrolled by Somali troops. "Fighting is going on at Kilometre Four at the same building where Ethiopian and government troops were attacked before. I heard two big bangs. A car is burning outside," the witness, who declined to be named, said. Ethiopian troops are in the Somali capital, helping protect the interim Somali government while it awaits the arrival of an African peacekeeping force to help it tame a country in anarchy since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The allied forces over a two-week offensive before the New Year thrashed an Islamist movement that for the past six months had taken over most of southern Somalia, including Mogadishu, and threatened the government. Though badly beaten by the superior Ethiopian military, which had tanks and jets, some Islamist fighters have vowed to fight on and carry out an Iraq-style insurgency against the government and its allies. The Ethiopian presence grates on many Somalis, who view their soldiers on Somali soil as another affront by a Christian imperialist power that has for generations been a rival in the Horn of Africa. Reuters

^ You're asking someone who's been discredited about someone else who's also been discredited. Yeey said he heard it on the radio the US was bombing the South. LOL. What can I say? To call him a moron is an insult to many morons out there.

The mandate of this puppet regime has ended the day Muqdisho was aerially bombed. Going forward, the only way it can keep power is through foreign military protection. The toppling of this regime is not a matter of if but of when. Originally posted by Mansa Munsa: I was supporter of the ICU untill they antoganized other somali regions and started conquering cities which they were not their right owners even though I still believe that Islam is the solution and the way forward Don't worry, you're not the only one who's torn between Islam and clan worship. Maybe you can create a support group with the others on this site. Start with Fiqikhayre and he'll tell you about the rest of them.

Originally posted by Juje: They were responsible for the creation, funding and training of the Al-Shabab. They were the friction and the catalyst to the savage wars between the 'La Dagalanka Argagixisada' (former warlords) and the ICU. They were the brain behind the assassination and termination of charecters whom they deemed to be linked with US intelligence. One famous Somali peace activists ,Mr. Abdulkadir Yahya Ali, and many notable high ranking officers of the previous Somali police who resided and lived in Xamar were among their victims. Their, the fugitives, presence and influence is undeniable. For someone who is still defending a puppet and clueless regime, you have the gull to come around here and make statements like that without proof?

Are there no impeachment articles in the Somaliland constitution? Why are we represented by criminals, fools or both, wherever we are?

The "choice" (assuming you have any) is hardly one between dishonor and mass annihilation. But since you insist it is, I'll let you expand on it. P.S. Forgive me, I shall be off line for sometime now.

Originally posted by Sophist: Castro old chap I would rather choose dishonour than the mass annihilation of my people. I would not have taken you for a man that uses false dilemmas, and carelessly so.

Another puppet using borrowed testicles to talk big. His clock is ticking as well.

^ Amin. Originally posted by NGONGE: True. But the fact that they went on the offensive is, in my opinion, their biggest blunder. Now that they’ve been easily defeated and have (mostly) vanished into thin air many are wondering if the Courts were really any good to start with or just the simple concoction of dreamy amateurs. This is the shot in the foot I’m talking about. Classic pre-invasion propaganda saaxib. First, trump up your non-existent enemy into a formidable foe. Second, convince your own public they're under imminent danger of being attacked (hence the ICU going on the "offensive"). Third, destroy that built-up enemy swiftly and declare victory as soon as possible. Back in November, and after a couple of failed trips to Khartoum, the ICU leadership (or at least some elements in it) realized, and rightly so, that peace was not coming and that these "talks" were meant to buy the Ethiopians time to descend into the country. Once they realized that, and had gone all the way to Baidoa to see for themselves (old fashioned reconnaissance mistaken for offense) they knew they were doomed. That's when they started talking rubbish about foreign Jihadists being welcome and all. The ICU realized the TFG was being pushed from the back by Ethiopia and that the latter too was being pushed by the US. And the rest is history. P.S. I'm not all for conspiracy theories of the ICU being infiltrated and all that but the above is the most logical explanation I could come up with for the past 60 days.

There's a traitor being born every minute.

I can understand why this puppet president would say "terrorist" this and "extremist" that. He has waited 40 years to sleep in Villa Somalia and paid every price conceivable to do so. What I cannot comprehend is why these so called Somalis here on this site who cannot even articulate the mandate of this puppet government would use these same words? Are you naturally dishonest or do you hope, as well, to get to Villa Somalia one day 40 years from now?

Fighting ultimately costs innocent lives. Few will endorse it knowing this. But the alternative also costs innocent lives, albeit in a slower fashion. Pick your poison atheer. Originally posted by NGONGE: ^^^ But the Courts did shoot themselves in the foot. As time goes on, I'm inclined not to think so. The Courts were under siege much like all of Southern Somalia is now. Just how much could the Courts have done to get themselves destroyed like this? Not much I say. The Ethiopians were coming because the Americans told them to. And they were going to bring this puppet regime. What the ICU did or did not is quite borderline, in hindsight.

Personally, I will do this: 1) Expose this fraudulent puppet regime for what it really is. Though their criminality, sheer incompetence and buffoonery is making it easier and easier to do so only 10 days after its installation. 2) Educate those around me that a bad government may be better than anarchy but this puppet regime doesn't even qualify as bad. This puppet regime is the most dangerous cabal this wretched land had ever seen. 3) Politically support alternative indigenous leadership that has no blood on its hands and does not support foreign occupation to reach its goals. I believe we had that recently and the west has installed this puppet regime instead.

Aweys Osman Yusuf Mogadishu 09, Jan.07 ( Sh.M.Network) -Somalia’s President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed, who has held a press conference at the presidential palace (Villa Somalia) in the capital Mogadishu, said he firmly supports the American air bombardment on suspected al-Qaeda hideouts (settlements) in southern Somalia last night. US officials in Washington have confirmed that American AC 130, which has flown from US military base in neighboring Djibouti, struck so-called al-Qaeda suspected members in settlements of southern Somalia. Mr. Yusuf said he only heard the news from local radios. “America has the right to hunt down and air bombard wherever those who were responsible for bombing its embassies in East Africa are staying or hiding”, he stressed. He said the Somali government did not forgive the Islamist leaders. Speaking to reporters he said, “You have taken our words wrong. The government only extended an amnesty to Islamist fighters. We have not offered any forgiveness to the ICU leaders. We are tracking tem down; they have brought foreign extremists and al-Qaeda in the country”. Somalia’s Islamists that were driven out of their strongholds in central and southern provinces in the country, including the capital Mogadishu, in two weeks battles by thousands of Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government forces. They were accused of harboring al-Qaeda members in their open Jihad war against the largely Christian Ethiopian forces in the country. He urged the population in Mogadishu to work and support the government that seems to moving to the capital. He arrived in Mogadishu on Monday afternoon for the first time since taking office more than two years ago. He said armed militias should join the government forces. “They will be disarmed and trained as government soldiers. I urge the people of Mogadishu to voluntarily surrender their weapons to the government”, he said. Speaking about the insecurity in the capital, Yusuf promised the district commissioners and security forces would be set up soon to tighten up the peace and security in Mogadishu. “Those who deliberately bomb parts of the city at nights to intimidate the civilian population should give up their cruel intentions. If they don’t stop terrorizing people, we will capture them”, he threatened. Although many people doubt if the president would be staying in the capital for long and government be moving in the days ahead, the government spokesperson Abdirahman Dinari told Shabelle by the phone that Mr. Yusuf moved to the capital Mogadishu officially to make his government functional here. He also said warlords would go to Baidoa to either support the government or be members of the ordinary people. “The government will not warlords to be empower themselves in the capital and recruit militias. Some of them are government officials”, he said. Shabelle

Originally posted by Sophist: Suspicions, allegations and counter-insults aside, what do you propose now? The complete destruction or eviction of this puppet regime at any cost.

Abdillahi Yuusuf tells the BBC: "The US has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania". "So many dead people were lying in the area. We do not know who is who, but the raid was a success," interim government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told AFP news agency about Monday's raids. And these are the maggots we should support to lead us? Over my dead body.

Amiin Xiinow. The US involvement is deliberately being made public for a reason. The Ethiopians, also, have been fighting in the Ras Kamboni area for almost two weeks now and sustaining heavy casualties. Why not bring the the US warplanes. Kill some innocent people and claim to have killed terrorists. Give the Ethiopians the edge they've been getting throughout this war. Villa Somalia might end up becoming the old man's grave for we're all walking towards our own graves.

LSK, saaxib this is turning out to be a simple PR operation for domestic US consumption before the big troop surge announcement on Wednesday. Heck, the entire Ethiopian invasion may have been timed for this. Think about it. Wall to wall coverage in world news of "Islamists", "Al-Qaeda", "extremists", etc... The US couldn't buy this kind of publicity. It's simply priceless. Now, the public is back into the "war on terror" mood. I wouldn't be surprised if they razed an entire village of hundreds just to get a couple of people.