The Fourth Front In The 'War On Terror' Opens Wide
UPDATE : If you're going to reveal that you wasted dozens of innocent people and compleely missed the targets of your anti-terror mission, reveal the truth on the day when half the world's media is totaly occupied with the 'Bush Surge Speech'.
None Of The Three Targeted Al Qaeda Terrorists Were Killed By Airstrikes In Somalia
The gruesomely efficient mass-killing machine that is the American gun ship has laid waste to dozens of Somalis near the Kenyan border, for the third day in a row.
The dead may or may not be Al Qaeda. They may or may not be some of the FBI's most wanted terrorists. And they may or may not even be Islamists. It seems unlikely that all the dead will turn out to be key 'War On Terror' targets, considering that at least one of the dead was a four year old boy, and two others were a young couple in the process of getting married.
To prove that the savagery of the guns-in-the-sky attack was worthwhile, the US, literally, needs Al Qaeda heads on a stick, because after being strafed by gunships, there is unlikely to be much left of their bodies.
On the ground are US special forces, amongst the ranks of the Ethiopian army, and the World Bank is directing millions of dollars in fresh cash to the Coptic Christian powers across the border from Somalia.
America is well and truly back in the land of 'Black Hawk Down'.
And the locals are already starting to talk about the attacks as being nothing more than pure, spiteful revenge for the early 1990s humiliation that Somali warlords dished out on American special forces ; downing at least three Black Hawk helicopters and killing some 18 highly trained American warriors.
The United States' decision to open up a fourth front in the 'War On Terror' has been met with shock and fury across the EU and words of warning from a clearly troubled, brand spanking new United Nations Secretary General.
There is little but the claims of the United States to cite truth that Al Qaeda is operating widely in Somalia, and seeking shelter for its most wanted amongst the Muslim-majority towns and villages.
It should have been a clear and easy sell to the American public : We're striking back at those who destroyed two of our African embassies in the late 1990s.
But so far, there is no proof that Al Qaeda operates in Somalia, that Islamists were threatening the Christians next door in Ethiopia, or even that the majority of Somalians were unhappy with the Islamic Courts that removed the foul and brutal warlords from their savage rule of the nation in June, 2006.
Incredibly, the United States and Ethiopia are now arguing over who supplied the intelligence that said Al Qaeda targets were hiding out in Somalia and had been located.
In Somalia, the US faces a choice between millions of people leaving relatively peacefully under a low-grade Sharia Law or slipping in the blood of their children and neighbours under the Law of the Warlords.
For now, the US appears to be backing the warlords, who have promised to strengthen the unelected 'interim' government of Somalia, as it tries to take control of the capital Mogadishu. But riots amongst Somalis, who were happy with the peace brought by the Islamic Courts (if displeased at the same time that nutters shot up a crowd watching the World Cup), have already broken out in Mogadishu, and plans to disarm the public at large are going badly, if not already abandoned. There are also stories now flowing out of Mogadishu that Islamists backed by the citizenry are attacking Ethiopian troops and at least one Army base of the Somali government forces.
The Islamists, for the most part, appear to have melted away, promising an Iraqish insurgency, of car bombings, suicide attacks and gruelling guerrilla warfare from the shadows for years to come.
Why is Somalia so important to US interests?
It is partly strategic in a world war manner, it is partly to do with the massive mineral and oil wealth of the region, but it also appears to have a lot to do with throwing off the veil and revealing the true colours of the 'War On Terror'.
That is, Christianity Vs Islam, or Islam Vs Christianity.
Few in the media have acknowledged the likelihood that this new front has as much to do with religious choices, and the possibility that Islamist rule can work, as it does with stopping 'terror'.
For there is little else more terrifying in the world, for the people on the ground, than the horrifically awesome spectacle of a couple of A130 gunships slashing thousands of rounds a second into your homes and villages and family members.
Many Somalians already view the gunship attacks as acts of terror, state terror this time, courtesy of the Americans.
It will be hard for the US to convince the locals that hypocrisy and blood-lust revenge have nothing to do with the new Somali front in the supposed 'War On Terror'.
Besides religion, oil wealth and revenge, Somalia also sits smack bang on what will prove to be a powerfully decisive front of the Fourth World War.
In short, he who controls the Red Sea passes through which much of the world's oil is shipped, controls all. And the Suez Canal is not far away.
As for how life will change for Somalis now the Islamic Courts no longer rule, there is this perspective from noted historian Niall Ferguson :
Whether or not the Islamists imposed a rule that was better for the majority of Somalis is beyond debate. About the only thing worse for the Somalis than the raping, child-slaying warlords would be a government composed of Hannibal Lecter clones starved into raw fury.
The Islamists offered Somalia order; not a Western order, to be sure, but order nonetheless.
Under their rule, the price of an AK-47 in the Mogadishu markets slumped to $15, a sure sign that the warlords were being forced to downsize their militias. Young men no longer roared through the streets in the Mad Max-style vehicles known locally as "technicals" trucks mounted with antiaircraft guns. Some were returning to school and university. Others were getting jobs with private electricity companies and airlines. Internet cafes were beginning to displace militia training camps. Kalashnikovs were being traded in for mobile phones.
Now, with the Islamists gone, the most likely scenario is a return of the warlords. Worse, the Islamists may now revert to the tactic of suicide bombing to destabilize the new government. As has happened in Afghanistan, the overthrow of an Islamist government will be followed not by a new order but by the old disorder.
...in the war on terror, the United States would rather see a country torn apart by multiple sons-of-bitches than ruled under Sharia law.
But the more U.S. foreign policy promotes anarchy instead of order, the stronger the Islamists' appeal will be. And the darker the shade of mischief that will ensue.
In Somalia, under the Islamic Courts, Sharia Law was not all-encompassing, and those who tried to outlaw dancing and kite-flying found the resistance was more trouble than it was worth. This was not Afghanistan, and despite the images on television, Somalis know all the about the West, its movies, clothes, TV shows, music, mobile phones, flash cars, gadgets and trinkets.
Somalis were finding a middle ground between Taliban-like religiously-imposed restrictions on their freedom and something close to Western-style debauchery. There were no strip clubs, but magazines like Vogue were eagerly being snatched up by Somali women looking for the latest fashions.
Perhaps it was this middle ground that terrified the Bush Neocons the most.
That Islamist rule could work, and lead towards totally democratic elections where, God forbid, the Islamists might win a powerful majority.
The United States had clearly decided that what happened with Hamas in Palestine, could not be allowed to happen with the Islamic Courts in Somalia.
Savage terror, pouring down from the sky, was deemed the better alternative.
As usual, former CIA action man Robert Baer provides the concise, nail-all sound bite :
"It's akin to the heart of darkness, just shooting into the jungle," he said.
"At the end of the day, you are just making more enemies."
Mission Failed : Official Admits Not Even One Of The Supposed Al Qaeda Terrorists Were Killed In Somali Airstrikes By The US That Killed Dozens Of Civilians
Coincidence? Ethiopia Invades Somalia - World Banks Gives Somalia $175 Million In 'Aid'
United States Went After 20 Targets In Somalia - Now Ethiopia And US Argue Over Who Supplied The Intelligence That Led To The Deadly Air Strikes
The Globalist Agenda In Somalia - Control Over Read Sea Oil Shipping Lanes & Suez Canal, With Oil Riches To Boot
US Warships Gather Off The Coast Of Somalia
Somali Interim President Defies US On Day Two Of His New Rule - Refuses US Request To Allow Moderate Islamists To Join His Government
New UN Secretary General Concerned About US Actions In Somalia - Fears Escalation Of Violence
US Special Forces, CIA, Working Inside Somalia With Ethiopian Troops
Dozens Killed By Airstrikes, Including Newlyweds
The Local View : Retreat Of Islamists Will See Resurgence In Clan Conflicts And Warlords Violence
