I believe that it was Clinton who said, “Never again” referring to the notion of ever sending forces in to help Somalia after the awful results last time it was attempted. Somali gratitude for the help looked a lot like brutal, grotesque hatred of anything white or Western. However the Muslim threat to the world clearly supersedes any Clintonian promise as this AP report shows:
By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED
Associated Press
The operation is at least the second time U.S. troops have landed in Somalia after a targeted strike, though no forces have been stationed there since shortly after the “Black Hawk Down” battle that left 18 Americans dead in 1993.NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a U.S. drone strike targeted a group of insurgents, Somalia’s defense minister told The Associated Press on Friday.Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi called on the U.S. to carry out more airstrikes against the al-Qaida-linked militants, though he admitted that Somali officials appear not to have been informed about the June 23 operation near the southern coastal town of Kismayo beforehand.
“But we are not complaining about that. Absolutely not. We welcome it,” Faqi told AP. “We understand the U.S.’s need to quickly act on its intelligence on the ground,” he said. “We urge the U.S. to continue its strikes against al-Shabab because if it keeps those strikes up, it will be easier for us to defeat al-Shabab.”
U.S. officials have increased their warnings that the threat from Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group is growing and that militants are developing stronger ties with the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
New Pentagon chief Leon Panetta told lawmakers last month that as the core al-Qaida leadership in Pakistan undergoes leadership changes, with the killing of Osama bin Laden, the U.S. needs to make sure that the group does not relocate to Somalia.
The only American military base in Africa is in the tiny nation of Djibouti, which lies on Somalia’s northern border. U.S. troops can also operate from Navy ships moving through the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
In 2009, U.S. helicopters swooped over a convoy carrying the al-Qaida fugitive Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who was killed in the U.S. raid. Elite commandos rappelled to the ground and collected two bodies.
Faqi said the June 23 attack was carried out by a U.S. drone, and that after the attack U.S. forces picked up militants who were either killed or injured. Residents in Kismayo reported hearing helicopters hovering overhead the night of the operation.
“We have intelligence reports from our own sources that the U.S. army picked up militants after the strike,” Faqi said, declining to disclose them. He said that the Somalia government would release the militants’ names when they’re confirmed by DNA tests.
In late 2009 the U.S. deployed drone aircraft to the island nation of Seychelles. A U.S. official said then that the drones were primarily for anti-piracy efforts but that he couldn’t rule out their use over Somalia.
Rashid Abdi, a Somali expert with the International Crisis Group, said if the drone strikes are conducted with “sensitivity” they would cripple al-Shabab without causing a public outcry over civilian deaths.
The rest is over at AP. The question for me continues to be, how many theaters of operation do Western nations have against Islamic forces and is it enough? We really need some serious troops in Tower Hamlets and several Toronto schools as well as Carleton and Ottawa U. I would say.
Eeyore
First the Blackhawk down incident was caused by Clinton expanding the mission and then refusing to furnish move men and material to do the job he ordered.
Second, good I hope they got all of them.