Although we may have been distracted by the war in Iraq, it looks like the United States is still making targeting al Qaeda a priority in the international war on terror.
Sometime Sunday an AC-130 gunship flying out of a US base in Djibouti launched an attack on suspected Al Qaeda targets in southern Somalia. Reports are that the targets were Abu Talha al-Sudani, the senior Al Qaeda leader in Somalia and an al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, either Fazul Abdullah Mohammed or Saleh Nabhan. Whether the primary targets have been eliminated is not yet known, but sources inside Somalia are reporting as many as 250 casualties from the attack, likely mostly Islamist insurgents.
Pentagon officials report that the al Qaeda targets had been driven out of Mogadishu by Ethiopian supported troops as part of an ongoing operation to bring the war-torn country under control and subdue Islamic militants who have taken over the southern parts of the country.
Three al Qaeda operatives associated with the embassy bombings are believed to have been hiding out in Somalia for years under the protection of the al Qaeda associated militia known as the Islamic Courts Union. Al Qaeda has been very active in southern Somalia in the last six months in response to a recent call to arms from al Qaeda's second in command Aymin al Zawahiri against Ethiopian 'crusaders' attempting to bring order to the country. Al Qaeda activities in Somalia include logistical support for Somali militias, and setting up training camps and recruiting Somali muslims to participate in al Qaeda operations around the world.
As Ethiopian military units move into Somalia, US or international forces may follow to provide support and bring Somalia under control. US naval units, including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, have moved into the area to prevent the possible escape of al Qaeda agents by sea. This is the first US engagement in Somalia since forces providing humanitarian aid were pulled out by President Clinton in 1994. As pressure on the Somali insurgents increases and more intelligence is gathered, further airstrikes like the one on Monday seem likely.
Coverage on CNN
Coverage in the Washington Post
Coverage on Fox News
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - lumpy
looks like this was the start of an all out assault. more al qaeda targets were hit today.
2 - nancy
I wonder about our strategy: kinda like trying to swat flies w/a sledgehammer, ain't it? They're so small, all they do is scatter, etc. while all we've done is thump our chests again to prove how macho & bad we are? Typical BushCo overkill. It would be more efficient to just send in a team to poison the local waterholes. But of course less macho & noisy, which is what W is all about.
Bush & Cheney seem to be going farther & further into unreality & fantasyland. I seriously think we ought to either impeach & prosecute both of them - thereby removing them from office before they do even more harm - or have them both declared mentally disfunctional & committed to St. Elizabeth's padded cells for the delusional Executive - thereby removing them from office before they do even more harm.
3 - SFC SKI
Actually, gunships can do some very specific targeting.
Africa is an ungoverned continent for the most part, corruption and incompetence make it a "free trade zone" for all type of terrorist activities. AQ and others will continue to take advantage of it if we continue to ignore it. Make no mistake, if left unchecked, Africa will become a major stronghold for all types of terrorist groups and supporters.
Until recently, there was no single US military command responsible for keeping abreast of issues on the African continent, but there finally will be. I hope it is not too late.
Reading the reports out of Somalia, it seems that the Islamic terrorists actually alienated themselves from the population. Next big question, will anyone other than the US try to assist the Ethiopian and Somali efforts to build up their countries, or will they all hold back, wait for the US to withdraw and let it all collapse back into anarchy? History repeats...
Within 24 hours, someone is going to make these US attacks to look like another imperialist move, and another will ask about Darfur, but still not support the use of force.
4 - ss
I have to give to Bush credit on this one. Osama wanted Somalia, and he didn't it get it.
Huh.
I guess even a blind squirrel gets a nut every once in a while.
Which isn't to say I'm wildly opptomistic about the Somali government's chances for survival, relying as it has on troops from a country that has invaded Somalia before
-I'm talking about the Ethiopians, SKI. Ethiopian empirilism. Bet you weren't expecting that-
Getting rid of a bad government is one thing, replacing it with something that actually works, as we've seen, is another.
And this also doesn't mean, no matter how the Prez chose to time this, that he's winning me over on Iraq by equating the two. Creating an even more dangerous version of Somalia a little further to the north isn't negated by doing something right in Somalia.
5 - Zedd
I would be more apt to take anyone more seriously if they didn't use the phrase "the war on terrrrrrr". I cant help but say it in that fake Texas accent.
It sort of makes me smirk because it forces a barrage of all of The Decider's famous phrases and it becomes funny.
Okay... now let me read the article.
6 - Zedd
Dave
I suppose the article "Why We Cant Afford to Ignore Africa" has some weight now????
7 - Zedd
SFC SKI
"Africa is an ungoverned continent for the most part,"
Simmer down cowboy. Don't forget, Africans have computers too. You cant make such ridiculous statements any more. This is no longer the 1800's. Statements liket "here are man eating pigmies and ape men who cook blondes roaming the dark continent" dont' fly.
Lets say its badly governed for the most part.
You can apply to Africa the same conclusion as countries of the old Soviet Union, in terms of governance for very similar reasons.
8 - SHARK
SHARK sits by the viddy, breathlessly awaiting Bush's speech on the new "surge" -- um, I mean ESCALATION -- in Iraq.
SHARK laughs as he notes talking heads, from Left and Right, scratching their noggins while yakkin' -- ALL wondering how one President can LOSE AN ELECTION -- then ask a Bi-Partisan commission, friends, opponents, and military leaders for advice -- process said advice -- and THEN -- like a Bad Monty Python Skit -- COME UP WITH SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
SHARK likens to process to explaining to one's child the chemistry and physics of FIRE, then giving them a choice between a candle and an incandescent bulb -- and having them -- after two months of "listening mode" and nation-wide consultations -- to announce that they've decided to BURN DOWN THE HOUSE -- even tho that wasn't one of the options.
SHARK -- anticipating that the Bizarre Tragic/Hilarious National Trainwreck is about to get even more WEIRD and HILARIOUS (especially for the 150,000 unlucky Americans who are unlucky enough to be born with gigantic red-white-and-blue targets on their backs) -- sits back and ponders the Bush/Casey Jones speech planned for THE NEXT NIGHT -- and can't even imagine how much worse and/or insane things might get in the next 24 hours.
SHARK -- while watching [on TV] the LARGEST FIREFIGHT in BAGHDAD since the beginning of the invasion in 03 -- notes that the tragic fucking nightmare is suddenly interupted for some "BREAKING NEWS" -- which appears to be...
"US STRIKES AT AL QAEDA IN SOMALIA" ---
SHARK smiles to self, thinks that -- once again -- the Bush administration thinks the American People are a hypnotized, mindless, thoughtless, forgetful, immature, easily swayed, easily amused Nation of Morons.
SHARK multi-tasks the dominant "Breaking News: story and the news "crawl" at the bottom of the screen:
"US STRIKES AT AL QAEDA IN SOMALIA"
"BUSH TO ANNOUNCE NEW IRAQ STRATEGY ON WEDS"
and thinks...
WHAT
A
FUCKING
COINCIDENCE.
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
9 - SHARK
Zedd on Africe: "Lets say its badly governed for the most part."
Yeah. Okay.
And I write short sentences.
And Saddam Hussein ain't feelin' so swell today.
10 - SHARK
And Nalle, with this "article" -- once again, you set the New Indoor Record for MARKETING BULLSHIT FOR BUSH on Blogcritics.
You should be proud.
~Baaaaaaaaaaaa...
11 - SHARK
Aesthetic Note:
Dave, just as we admonished "JET in Columbus" to take down that horrible cheezecake photo of him lookin' like the love child of Arnold Swartzenegger and an Australopithecus female -- I BEG YOU, FUCKING BEGGGGGGGGGG YOU to remove that photo of you looking like a Quaker Gunfighter with a corncob stuck up his ass.
Seriously, man, it's distracting.
Just tryin' to be helpful.
xxoo
Yer Pal in the Saddle,
SHARK
12 - sr
Shark. Get a hobby. Your friend, sr
13 - Franco
#2 â€" nancy
"I wonder about our strategy: kinda like trying to swat flies w/a sledgehammer, ain't it? They're so small, all they do is scatter, etc."
Nancy, do your even know what a AC-130 gunship is, or even why it was part of our strategy used in this attack? Based on your assertion above, which is faults, I don't believe you do, because if you did know, you would know how it completely exposes and discredits your prejudice clearly displayed in your above statement. If you really want to know then ahead and take a set in one and watch it swating flies and how it can do so with presision even in the middle of the night. Viewer discretion is advised
"while all we've done is thump our chests again to prove how macho & bad we are? Typical BushCo overkill."
The BushCo overkill statements (the Co part) would also mean President George W. Bush’s choice of generals in full control and command in Iraq. Who are these Generals accused by Nancy of being over kill cowboys.
General John Philip Abizaid (Arabic: جون أبي زيد) (born April 1, 1951) is a General in the United States Army and the Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), overseeing American military operations in a 27-country region, from the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, to South and Central Asia, covering much of the Middle East.
Abizaid was born in Coleville, California, to a Christian Lebanese-American family, is fluent in Arabic, and is the most senior military officer of direct Arab descent.
Education
Abizaid’s military education includes the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York (Class of 1973); Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, Armed Forces Staff College, and a U.S. Army War College Senior Fellowship at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
In his civilian studies, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and was an Olmsted Scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. Abizaid greatly impressed his teachers at Harvard University. Nadav Safran, the director of the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies kept Abizaid's 100-page paper on defense policy for Saudi Arabia, the only paper of a masters student he has kept, saying, "It was absolutely the best seminar paper I ever got in my 30-plus years at Harvard."
General John Abizaid
General David Howell Petraeus (born November 7, 1952) is a Lieutenant General in the United States Army. On January 4, 2007, it was announced and approved by President Bush that Petraeus will be appointed to commander of Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I). In addition to promotion from Lieutenant General to General, Petraeus will oversee all forces in Iraq and carry out the new Iraqi strategy plan
Petraeus commanded the 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and during that unit's occupation of Mosul into mid-2004. Petraeus has been widely lauded for his effectiveness in administering Mosul, where public order decayed rapidly in 2004 soon after the 101st left.
In June of 2004, Petraeus was charged with the task of training the new Iraqi Army and security forces as commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq.
Education
LTG Petraeus is a 1974 graduate of the United States Military Academy. Petraeus was the General George C. Marshall Award winner as the top graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Class of 1983. He subsequently earned MPA (Master of Public Administration) and Ph.D. degrees in international relations from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and later served as an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the U.S. Military Academy. His Ph.D. dissertation, "The American Military and the Lessons of Vietnam", dealt with the influence of Vietnam on military thinking regarding the use of force. He also completed a fellowship at Georgetown University.
General David Petraeus
Nancy suggests....
"It would be more efficient to just send in a team to poison the local waterholes. But of course less macho & noisy, which is what W is all about."
I will put my faith in, and what influences my outlook on the war in Iraq, upon the Generals listed above, and the soldigers under their command. Through their education both military and civilian, their training, extensive experience, and the accomplishments of these gentlemen, (oh, excuse me Nancy, over kill cowboys), over any you could or would suggest.
"Bush & Cheney seem to be going farther & further into unreality & fantasyland. I seriously think we ought to either impeach & prosecute both of them - thereby removing them from office before they do even more harm - or have them both declared mentally disfunctional & committed to St. Elizabeth's padded cells for the delusional Executive - thereby removing them from office before they do even more harm."
Our military men and women serving over in Iraq, and those who just attacked Al-Quada in Somilia do not share your sentiments, and to put it a little more direct, they detest them. While you site home, or where ever, and post exceedingly un-well thought out assertions based on prejudice for the world to see, I would like to ask you the following question.
If our soldiers with boots on the ground, and our generals leading them do NOT what to leave because they believe they can get the Iraqis themselves to secure and bring their Iraq under the control of the new goverment, nor dose our military want to retreat on any opportunity to attack terrorest in other areas, in this case Somilia, why do you want them to leave so much when they want to stay to finish this job?
Nancy, you have better then this……either put it out here or get back in the kitchen!
14 - Zedd
Shark
When we oversimplify matters we miss them all together. I'd rather have a good glimps of my world than to be content with a synopsys of blurry over and understatements. Africa is complex. There are bad governments but to say that the countries are not governed at all is not only wrong but it is dumb. Its like saying that the middle east is not governed because of Afganistan (a few years back). Ignorant. But a few years back most Americans knew what Afganistan was....
Lets just say, we don't know much about Africa and we don't really care to know about it. Instead of offering opinions.
Bush was able to convince the American public to go into Iraq because most people thought "they are all alike. I'm sure there must be terrist there too"..... dumb!
On CNN last night there was a focus on Oprah's project. In the entire hour report, which I enjoyed, you would have NEVER know that South Africa was a highly developed country with cities that make most US cities look shabby. It would be like comming to the US and focusing only on trailer parks and saying that you had covered America. You would be accurate but your report would be extremely distorted and significantly incomplete.
15 - Zedd
I meant to say not many Americans knew what Afganistan was.
16 - Zedd
Franco
Pull yourself together.
17 - Dave Nalle
And Nalle, with this "article" -- once again, you set the New Indoor Record for MARKETING BULLSHIT FOR BUSH on Blogcritics.
Shark, this is a straight news report with ZERO interpretive content compiled from four or five different mainstream media sources. Do, please, point out to me what Bush anything I'm marketing in this article.
And BTW, talking about yourself in the third person is a key milestone on the road to madness.
Dave
18 - Zedd
Shark
Dave Sez: And BTW, talking about yourself in the third person is a key milestone on the road to madness.
ummm agreed. I know that you are in kook mode but I need the lucid you back. We've got to hold these people accountable and nudge the thought meter up a few notches. Can you shorten the nutcase phase of the cycle? I know it exhausting to be brilliant and the mind must rest but pull yourself together man!
19 - Franco
#8 -- SHARK
SHARK plays TV quiz show special on Iraq
Here are the results of our special guest.
SHARK Answer: COME UP WITH SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
Gong! Wrong…. Correct Answer is…
There ain’t gonna be nothing different, that’s all political hype at home which will only result in putting more pressure on our troops and their infield commanders while the drools exude from the mouths of our blood thirsty butchering advisories shearing SHARK&Co. on.
SHARK: unlucky Americans who are unlucky enough to be born with gigantic red-white-and-blue targets on their backs
Gong! Wrong again. Correct answer is….
These Americans don’t share your sentiment and their there.
SHARKS: the Bush administration thinks the American People are a hypnotized, mindless, thoughtless, forgetful, immature, easily swayed, easily amused Nation of Morons.
Gong: Wrong once again. Correct answer is:
US Military with boots on the ground in Iraq think that the American People are a hypnotized, mindless, thoughtless, forgetful, immature, easily swayed, easily amused Nation of Morons if they think SHARK&Co expresses any of our sentiments here on the ground in Iraq.
Please stay tuned next week for round two when SHARK answers more on what our US Military really thinks about the war.
20 - Zedd
Franco
Even your jokes are LONG and boring.
I'm surprised you didn't provide links then copy an paste from some lame site to prove the validity of your joke. Sorry couldn't resist.
21 - SHARK
Zedd: "Can you shorten the nutcase people accountable and nudge the thought meter up a few notches. Can you shorten the nutcase phase of the cycle? I know it exhausting to be brilliant and the mind must rest but pull yourself together man!"
[cut to a CLOSE-UP of our hero -- looking like a chimpanzee being offered a Zen Koan]
[SHARK ponders the advice]
SHARK: [aloud to self] Nah.
22 - SHARK
Nalle: "talking about yourself in the third person is a key milestone on the road to madness."
And writing boring, cookie-cutter "news-speak" 'essay/marketing press releases -- and monumental cut-and-paste doctoral theses from Hell -- with no wit, no style, no insights, and no originality is... well...
~um, Dave Nalle, I'd like you to meet Franco.
~Mr. Franco, say hello to Dave Nalle.
23 - SHARK
Gotta run!
My class on "The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers" is about to begin!
xxoo
A Gemini
24 - Mohjho
Lets see now, basically a gunship is able to completely destroy a large swath of real estate and anyone in it at the push of a button.
They mentioned who they were trying to kill, but since a gunship is a standoff weapon, do we know who we killed? What is the body count? Were civilians killed or do we even care? Is there any accountability or do we just pin citations on our generals for shooting up a target no matter who gets killed.
Kind of reminds me of when Clinton sent in a bunch of Cruise missiles after ben Laden and simply hoped that they hit something. Hail Mary!
25 - Dave Nalle
And writing boring, cookie-cutter "news-speak" 'essay/marketing press releases -- and monumental cut-and-paste doctoral theses from Hell -- with no wit, no style, no insights, and no originality is... well...
Shark, we're trying to keep on top of important events s they happen with some basic news summary articles which folks can use as a starting point for discussions. If this is a problem for you then I suggest you skip any articles with 'news' as their classification.
As for the 'marketing' aspects of this article I'm still waiting for you to point out what exactly it is that I'm supposed to be promoting here - other than news, that is.
Dave