Who Was Behind Ethiopia Invading Somalia? More Blood For Oil

[Jcrowley]

More Blood for Oil
by Carl Bloice
January 16, 2007


Black Commentator


Forget about all that stuff about Ethiopia having a 'tacit' o.k. from Washington to invade Somalia. The decision was made at the White House and the attack had military support from the Pentagon. The governments are too much in sync and the Ethiopians too dependent on the U.S. to think otherwise.

 And, it didn't just suddenly happen. Ethiopian troops, trained and equipped by the U.S. began infiltrating into Somali territory last summer as part of a plan that began to evolve the previous June when the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of the government. In November, the head of the U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid (until last week he ran the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq) was in Addis Ababa. After that, Ghanaian journalist Cameron Duodu has written, Ethiopia 'moved from proving the Somali government with 'military advice' to open armed intervention.'

And not without help. U.S Supplied satellite surveillance data aided in the bombardment of the Somali capital, Mogadishu and pinpointing the location of UIC forces resulting, in the words of New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman, in 'a string of back-to- back military loses in which more than 1,000 fighters, mostly teenage boys, were quickly mowed down by the better-trained and equipped Ethiopian-backed forces.'

<snip>

Currently, the US gets about 10 percent of its oil from Africa, but, the Monitor story said but 'some experts say it may need to rely on the continent for as much as 25 percent by 2010.' Reportedly, nearly two-thirds of Somalia's oil fields were allocated to the U.S. oil companies Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in January, 1991.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=11869

I was poo-pooed for pointing this out but alas once we scratch beneath the surface...

[BayCityProgressive]

1. It's

a colonial attack by the US. Back when Ethiopia had a revolutionary government that opposed privatization the US worked to get rid of that gov. and install a western backed government. They have been trying to do the same to Somalia for quite some time now. Most of our attention has been on Iraq but we have been ruining countries all over the world. Afghanistan, Somalia, the coup in Haiti and the attempted coup in Venezuela...

[BayCityProgressive]

2. Yes

we may have problems with foreign governments ideas or thoughts about democracy or other issues...but mark my words, the US government doesn't care about that. If we attack or interfere in another countries politics it is because the corporations want it. Be weary whenever our government tries to demonize someone...even if they are deserving of it..

[Boojatta]

3. More information please

And, it didn't just suddenly happen. Ethiopian troops, trained and equipped by the U.S. began infiltrating into Somali territory last summer as part of a plan that began to evolve the previous June when the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of the government.

Has any nonpartisan United Nations commission established that this is true? Do the words "Ethiopian troops" in the above excerpt refer to covert operators who operate below the radar screen of international law or do those words refer to regular soldiers? Were the soldiers functioning as illegal immigrants, but not actually engaged in active combat or was there an actual military invasion of Ethiopia?

Any comments on this?

MOGADISHU, Somalia-November 18, 2006: Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts ordered residents of the capital to vacate all public buildings and land they occupied after Mogadishu's central administration collapsed more than 15 years ago.

(Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic Courts' executive body) said that the courts will also not honor any title deeds issued after 1991 when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, resulting in anarchy and violence.

Public buildings in Mogadishu such as the national museum have been looted during the 15-year period when the capital had no effective central authority up until the Islamic militiamen seized Mogadishu in June.

The Islamic Courts made the latest order a day after they banned the sale or use of khat, a leafy stimulant chewed by many across the Horn of Africa nation, and the main source of income for mainly women vendors whose husbands have been killed in Somalia's 15 years of anarchy and violence.

That ban lead to the first demonstration against the authority of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu since they took control in June.

edited to add source:
http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2006/252/12.shtml

[Jcrowley]

4. For more information

on this I suggest googling around the web and locating the transcript of Cynthia McKinney's Congressional hearing on Covert operations in Africa. I think the hearing was around 1999 or 2000. It's fairly lengthy, about 100 pages, and highly instructive. It's in the public record, I have a copy in print, and details the who, how and why of these type of operations.

If after a time you cannot locate this document let me know and I'll attempt to dig it up.

[Boojatta]

5. Should the USA not be involved in any kind of covert operations

anywhere in the world? If some kinds of covert operations are acceptable, then what kinds of covert operations are acceptable?

Here's a news story about some covert operations in another part of the world:

Syrian Intelligence Still in Lebanon
Significant Number of Operatives Remain, Say U.S. and U.N. Officials

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 27, 2005; Page A18

Syria has not withdrawn a significant part of its intelligence presence in Lebanon, undermining its claim yesterday to have ended its 29-year intervention in its western neighbor, U.S., European and U.N. officials said.

The international community yesterday welcomed the pullout of the last of 14,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon. But the continuing presence of covert Syrian intelligence operatives would violate the promise President Bashar Assad made to the United Nations last month to withdraw all Syrian personnel.

(...)

Syria's intelligence network has been its chief means of influencing Lebanese political and economic life for almost three decades. About 5,000 Syrian intelligence operatives were deployed in Lebanon, U.S. and European officials said.

[Jcrowley]

7. No they should not

for a detailed examination of their track record read William Blum's "Killing Hope."

Then ask yourself the same question.

Once one understands the nature and reason for US covert operations around the world it is impossible to justify them. Only those who ignore the very vicious and very public record of US covert operations over the last 60 years would suggest the US has any moral position in the world.

[Boojatta]

8. Should international law prohibit all governments around the world from

engaging in covert operations?

[Jcrowley]

9. Do you understand

what covert operations are about?

[haymark]

6. Ethiopia not happy with failed state on border

Somalia has been in a state of civil war for decades. Refugees have fled into Ethiopia, putting a strain on the govmt's resources. The UIC was overthrowing the UN sanctioned govmt creating more refugees. Not to mention UIC was strictly enforcing Sharia , keeping women inside, threating men who did not attend prayers 5x daily, threating businesses who were open durning prayer times, closing movie houses and other entertainments. Ethiopia helped Somalia's govmt re-assert it's authority to the cheers of the locals, although they want Ethiopians to leave as soon as possible, which is what the Ethiopian general says he will do.

[Jcrowley]

10. Here's some more info

Ethiopian TV reported on the widely-overlooked visit to Addis Ababa by Gen. John Abizaid, chief of the US Central Command, on the same day as the anti-US rally in Mogadishu. Abizaid met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and discussed "further strengthening cooperation" between the two governments on regional stability in the Horn of Africa.


There are growing signs of this cooperation. The Somalia-based Somaaljecel website reported Nov. 27 that a "tripartite meeting among military officers from Ethiopia, America, and Yemen was held yesterday at a military base in Gode city in Ethiopia's Somali regional state. Djibouti-based US military officers tasked with the fight against what is referred to terrorism, military officers of Yemeni air and ground forces, as well as some high-ranking Ethiopian military officers took part in the meeting. The tripartite meeting discussed on the best ways to counter the Somali Islamic Courts and maintain security in the Horn of Africa. The meeting was concluded with the three sides agreeing to cooperate on the maintenance of security in the Horn of Africa while countering what is referred to terrorists in the region. At the meeting, a coalition among the three countries was formed, and there is a plan to expand it to include Uganda and other unidentified countries."


Somaaljecel also reported Dec. 3 that two military officers who defected to Mogadishu from the autonomous Somaliland region met with officials of the Islamic Courts Union and revealed "many secrets" on growing collaboration between Ethiopia and the breakaway Somaliland government. The two officers, Ali Du'ale Abubakar and Muhammad Abdullahi Abbas said "they had come to their Muslim brethren to participate in the jihad" against Ethiopia. They claimed they had recently completed training in field artillery and anti-aircraft guns in Awasa, Ethiopia. "After I realized I was part of the forces being prepared to invade the country, I decided to join the Islamic courts and contribute my knowledge," said Ali Du'ale. "Our conscience would not let us bombard our country."


Kenya's The Standard newspaper reported Dec. 4 on a mysterious mission by US Marines to the country's North Eastern Province bordering Somalia, which "has raised eyebrows among the local Muslims amid fears that the province is likely to be used as the launching pad" for military intervention. The Marines' unexpected arrival in a convoy of trucks with sophisticated military and engineering equipment reportedly "caused a stir" in Garissa town. "We thought we had seen the last of them when they left the province late 2004 after completing the humanitarian projects," said Hussein Issa, Garissa chairman of the ruling National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). "Now that they are back, it seems they have a special attachment to northern Kenya - probably due to its proximity to Somalia."

http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2006/255/7.shtml