So maybe the Gulf buildup against Iran is actually...against Somalia?

[WilliamPitt]

CBS: U.S. Strikes Al Qaeda In Somalia
CBS News Learns Air Strikes Were Aimed At Alleged Al Qaeda Members Linked To 1998 Embassy Bombings

(CBS/AP) A U.S. Air Force gunship has conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports exclusively.

The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reports. Those terror attacks killed more than 200 people.

The AC-130 gunship is capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, and sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike, but there is as yet, no confirmation of the identities.

The gunship flew from its base in Dijibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reports, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/08/world/main2335451.shtml

[babylonsister]

1. Who the hell knows what's in their evil minds? I'm tired of trying to

figure out where they're coming from. Nowhere logical.

[mod mom]

3. That why many refer to their PNAC game book. No logic, only evil plans.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Wasn't the sub that just hit the Japanese tanker somewhere near there too?

I thought they said it was in the Arabian Sea.

I imagine they're attempting to keep a strong presence in the region just to keep all their choices open.

[babylonsister]

5. Here's a thread I found (shaking head in disbelief):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2680555

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Thank you

It looks like it was in that region.

[No Exit]

4. Wow, what a relief to know that Junior's long-threatened Iran attack isn't necessarily imminent...

Um... yeah... relief...we bombed... WHO??

If it's Tuesday, this must be Somalia!

With this criminal at the helm of our government, it's getting to where you can just close your eyes, aim your finger at a globe, and guess where our next attack will be. Wow, I feel so... so... safe.

[WilliamPitt]

6. This may make me sound all belligerent, but

taking on some of the more dangerous elements in Somalia, in a surgical strike kind of way, isn't the worst idea in the world. Thanks to the shouting party the GOP tossed up after "Blackhawk Down," Somalia has been politically radioactive for more than ten years. The problems there didn't go away, and fundamentalism finds fertile soil in despair and rage. If serious Qaeda folks were working on something there, and we had solid intel, this was a good thing, a rare smart move.

They don't get anything much out of Somalia, by their lights. That makes Somalia a good base of ops for anyone in the OBL business.

[babylonsister]

12. That does sound 'belligerent', even bellicose.

Aren't we trying to stop war, not encourage it? If we don't have troops or money for Iraq, we surely don't have them for Somalia, as good an idea as that might be.
If this was/is a single operation that had fabulous results, I would concur. But this admin isn't known for very (any?) clever, reasonable moves.

[WilliamPitt]

15. See my post 11

for further elaboration.

If we don't have troops or money for Iraq, we surely don't have them for Somalia

But we do have air armaments that have been largely untouched by Iraq (which is why everyone seems to think an Iran attack will be air-based), so that equation doesn't play.

[ellisonz]

22. And Iran has a massive air-defense system...

And an army that would invade the South of Iraq and guerilla units that would infiltrate not to mention the Madhi army.

Blowback.

[No Exit]

16. But, see, I bought into the fear of Al Quaeda, but later on I sold.

I'm sorry, but after the reading up I've done on "Al Quaeda" for the last few years, it has lost its power to frighten me. I am not saying that there have not been murderous terrorists on the loose in the world. (Because of my rather unfortunate former conservative-leaning views, I am open to material from a variety of different sources. Bottom line: I despise republicans now, but I will read material from other ex-republicans, as well as reading material from progressives/democrats. There's a lot to be learned about Al Quaeda on non-liberal anti-Bush websites.)

I was in absolute agreement when I heard John Kerry say (in 2004) that terrorism is a police problem, not a military problem. Needless to say, Kerry was my candidate in 2004.

I am not entirely convinced that an organization called Al Quaeda planned, financed, recruited for, and carried out, the attack on the WTC. I don't know who did it, but I am convinced that the Official Story is not the true story.

I believe that Osama bin Laden is dead. I believe that Al Quaeda is more a concept than an organization.

Put it all together, and you get the same old world we've always lived in: at any given moment, there may be persons and entities somewhere in the world who would kill you at a moment's notice. The trick is to know which are more threatening to you, so that you can prioritize when you seek to defend yourself. You have to prioritize because no person or nation has unlimited resources.

And now here's something you'll probably strongly disagree with, but this I believe: George W. Bush and those aligned with him are a much greater danger to ME, an American, than is anyone or anything in Somalia. So I'm concentrating on fighting what I perceive to be the most dangerous enemy.

[aquart]

7. Got oil?

[Imagevision]

8. So maybe the Gulf buildup against Iran is actually against Iran...

A judgment by Bush that the immediate risks and costs of preemptive military action against Iran are, in the final analysis, less formidable than the risks and costs of tolerating Iranian nuclear possession --- and the personal and national humiliation that would result from passive acceptance of that outcome.

[pinto]

10. Not a bad call, Will, imo. Very likely, along with the new African Command DOD designation.

[WilliamPitt]

11. My crystal ball sees this.

We all spend a good deal of time focused on the Mideast, because that's where the oil and core Islamic fundamentalismis found. But I believe a whole lot of weapons manufacturers, energy/mineral concerns and that Pentagon African Command are looking at Africa like a farmer looking over a fallow, fertile field.

Wars beget wars, the new empires have to cope with the post-colonial messes left by the old empires, and this is the biography of Africa. Billions of dollars worth of stolen-and-resold black market AK-47s from the armories of the collapsed Soviet Union flooded into Africa in the 1990s. You can get one, in some countries, for the price of a chicken.

Ours is a wartime economy, and has been since WWII. That means, simply, we need wars. We arm them one day and blast them the next, but not before arming the place we'll need to blast in 20 years. Africa is armed to the teeth and, in many places, in total anarchy. This is a vast cash opportunity for those who make money from war...who are also, and have been for a while now, running things around here.

I'm also one who thinks, despite my belief that Bush and crew are morons and that lots of questions linger after 9/11, that al Qaeda is a legitimate concern. We basically put them together in Afganistan and gave them a working lesson on command structure, assymetrical battle tactics and the basics on how to take down a superpower. Package that with religious fervor, plant it in a weapon-flooded land filled with desperate, furious people, a land that has been steeped in Islam for a very long time now, and that is a dangerous mix.

Africa in chaos is bad, but in some minds good for the bottom line in the future (see: Darfur). Africa motivated by religious ferment and anger, trained in tactics and strategy, armed to the teeth, and looking over the Gulf of Aden into all that oil and all those shipping ports, is worth an airstrike at least.

[babylonsister]

18. Worth an airstrike to get yet another country riled up and

out for bear, if you believe dimson? If he's trying to make us safer, I don't think this is the way to do it, by fomenting more hate against the US. And there is that nagging thought that soldiers and civilians are at risk wherever we are, and we're just exacerbating that. Not to mention the money clock that keeps ticking.

[WilliamPitt]

19. Question

What do you do with a situation that combines trained fighters, massive stockpiles of weaponry, a large recruitment body, religious extremism and very little local government?

I'm not sure you can call it "formenting hate" when the hate is always there. It's a bottomless mess, which I get into in my 11th post, and yes, this kind of crap feeds it. So I'm wondering what your alternative solutions are.

[babylonsister]

20. Sounds like Iraq, Will. And I guess I'm having trouble

reconciling the anti-war movement, Cindy, etc., with getting into another conflict.
My immediate solution is to get the hell out of there, stop the culture of war perhaps, find other ways to feed the machine than the constant drumbeat of war since WWII.
I don't really know what the alternative is, other than some very smart person going in (a la Clinton despite his weaknesses, who people loved and do to this day) and using some diplomacy for a change. I think THAT is our only solution.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. How's the saying go?

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Fool me three times, shame on... fool me... fool... won't get fooled again.

[Cleita]

13. So Iraq wasn't responsible for 9-11 after all. It was Somalia.

Too bad for Saddam.

[No Exit]

17. Oh my God. It was North Korea.

No, wait! It was Iran!

Sh*t, you know, I am SO SICK of living in a real-life version of "The Godfather"!

Someone's always out to get us. Someone's always got to be "whacked". Someone's always playing a double game with us. We've got to be TOUGH, above all.

This is the world that George W. Bush has brought us. Welcome to "Goodfellas, America".

[Ellipsis]

14. AC-130 "The angel of death"

A marriage of old and new technology... this is one serious killing machine.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130


http://digg.com/lbv.php?id=457053&ord=1


They flushed some game out in the open. I'd guess the US just took advantage of an opportunity after the Ethiopian army forced the al Qaeda operatives out of Mogadishu away from the general populace.

[uppityperson]

21. No, I think Somalia is a distraction& attempt to show "it's working"

whatever "it" may be. A plane, a ship, some bombs= show the world that the USA is still on the job, keeping it safe for democracy and freedoms. I think it is a distraction from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran.

[KoKo]

25. He needed a "show of force and might" before tomorrow's speech. It

gave the MSWhore Media something to report on and ammunition to his flagging "base." The timing of this (whatever the real need) is suspicious. After the Iraq stowaway terrorists fizzled in Miami and the other things he's been up to (increasing the ships in the gulf) and the Libby Trial coming up and successful start of the Democrats in Congress.

[butterfly77]

23. I believe that Bush is trying to payback ...

anyone who he sees as an enemy. He is doing a payback in somalia for black hawk down, sadaam, and next Iran for the hostage crisis who else is on his list. I also think this is his build up for his speech so that he can use everything he can to claim terrorism he seems to think that he can kill everyone he doesn't like he will never kill everyone he claims is a terrorist...