A U.S. raid in Somalia that killed one of Africa’s top al Qaeda men has likely won valuable counter-terrorism intelligence but risks further inflaming anti-Western opinion in a country of growing concern.
The apparent absence of civilian casualties in Monday’s strike, in which U.S. special forces took custody of the body of the man, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, is a notable win for military anti-terror efforts often condemned for killings of innocents.
More stuff to worry about.
Little mainstream reports? Really? You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
This was on the front page of the New York Times print edition yesderday. It was the first story I read at 6 am with my morning coffee. Doesn’t get any more mainstream than the front page of the times. Open you eyes before you open your mouth my friend.
#39 It’s in my post. I was actually going to congratulate him until I read his last paragraph. Saying what he said in the last paragraph and not including the raise & support of illegal immigrants in the US is making the issue one sided.
I for one, see more chance of the US turning into a third world country with the latter than with the example asleep cited. True, teapartiers are a bunch of loons, but have far less support than illegals. We could even argue the point that illegals are the rednecks of latin america yet they are still more like Somalies than the teaparty rednecks.
#41–Thanks Pedro. I’m getting sleepy and about to fluff my pillow but Awake doesn’t mention illegals. His point about there not even being a “country” there is overstated but sets the conditions that “illegals” would be nonsense?
Have you got illegals on the brain? or is that a continuing issue with Awake from another post?
In my view, however it may fit in, illegals are “bad” for any country because they are merely a type of overpopulation. Overpopulation dehumanizes everyone concerned. Not directly but in economic opportunity which is very powerful.
Note to Guilherme Cherman: You should preface your post with an “Al-Reuters disclaimer.”
As far as I’m concerned, this is simply more good news of more rat killin’.
#43 No, I do believe illegals are a serious threat to the US. That’s one of the means used to weaken venezuela in the 70′s. Look at the results now. I’m just watching that same movie in the US.
What exactly is meant by the tag phrase “more stuff to worry about”?
I assume the article heading uses the term *analysis* in a loose manner.
“military anti-terror efforts often condemned for killings of innocents”
Weasel journalism at its finest.
#45–Pedro==I won’t quibble over the use of “serious” because I am. There are pro’s and con’s to every activity. You gotta compare, contrast, contextualize each instance. When anyone FAILS to do three required activities in a process, the result certainly can’t be valid.
#46–Laura==stuff is stuff==you know?
I sure miss the good old days, I remember peace through superior firepower. Nowadays were back to kickin’ asses and taking names. Obviously there’s more money (for some) to be made from war than peace. These people reap and sow but the ones to die are never them or theirs. The US purposefully created the context that caused the terrorism that now targets them. Irresponsible foreign policy abroad cannot be attributed to shortsightedness or good intentions. Isreal, Syria, Libya, the Shah, Saddam, Lebanon, and so many more, ignore history if you like, but there’s just no way this doesn’t follow a plan. I’ll bet they already have their sights on the next ‘enemy’ to fight and if things slow down in the war on terror they’ll be ready to start again.
“… but risks further inflaming anti-Western opinion in a country of growing concern.”
Gentlemen… no one cares what these people think anymore. They are all bent on destroying western civilization and we should just do what needs to be done so they do not succeed.
I salute the US forces that conducted this raid.
God help me, this is the second time within the space of 24 hours that I have agreed with our President. That being said, there is a small part of me that wishes he had called the terrorist a “jackass” and sent the SEALs to take out Kanye West.
“… in a country of growing concern.”
Al-Qaida apparently is sending trainees there instead of Afghanistan.
Somalia does have a government fighting through a civil war. The leader was elected this year as part of a United Nations brokered peace package.
The Horn of Africa has always been important. My opinion of the present:
Oil certainly – http://www.rangeresources.com.au/ is an Australian company active in mineral exploration in Somalia. According to them, oil extends from Yemen through Somalia into Sudan. That’s the Southern Sudan where Chinese oil concerns drill now and the location of a civil war in the 1990s. Chinese parties http://addax.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/china-looks-for-oil-in-somalia-la-chine-cherche-du-petrole-en-somalie/ made deals with Puntland authorities in 2007 for oil and natural gas.
Sudan is also on the coast where oil can be easily exported to China. (A large oil terminal was built in Sudan for this purpose.) Offshore oil is possible since Somalia granted oil rights to American oil companies in the early 1990s. Chinese companies have offshore oil exploration rights in Kenya – bordering Somalia to the south.
The north coast of Somalia on the Gulf of Aden is a major shipping lane. This is where much of the piracy takes place. There is a US military base in Djibouti which borders Somalia, Ethiopia and is across the Red Sea from Yemen.
A country of growing concern?
This place doesn’t have a government.
There is no way to guess how many people have been killed due to the fighting.
Pirates use it a safe haven and home port!
#52 – “… in a country of growing concern.”
Just quoting from the lead paragraph from the Reuters article.
This statement is correct. Somalia is an area of immediate interest to the recently created United States Africa Command, AFRICOM. Gen. William Ward of AFRICOM said that the U.S. will continue to support the Somali transitional federal government and AMISOM, the African Union Mission to Somalia – representing about 5,000 military personnel from Uganda and Burundi and up to 3,000 more that have been pledged to arrive. Fighting has been intensifying over the last two to three months.
#24 – Problems are being caused from all directions. People are desperate and fighting for their lives. That’s why there is a refugee problem.
Several opinions above ask “why should the U.S. care about the opinions of Somalis?”. It’s that security analysts wonder if attacks such as this will undermine Somali support for the Somali transitional federal government.
Actually, this is the kind of stuff we wanted Bush to do, but instead he had his most excellent Iraqi Adventure!
party on dude!
i think in my oppinione somalia need help, but two main group are involving to corept somali politicians , those 2 group are : arabs and americans,,
arab individually or as goverment help insurgents
american like to help warlords and they now formed as goverment ,, so basically america and arab people are not honesty about rebiulding somalia. They are dishonesty and hybacrates
I just watched Black Hawk Down and I was for the Somalians all the way. The angry Americans did not bleed enough. I cheered when they did. I also noticed how many Somalians were the enemy and how many Somalians were for the Americans. That seemed really staged and phony. Looked to me like America was where they were not supposed to be!