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.
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“More stuff to worry about.” I’m not following your comment. I’m thinking this is less “stuff” to worry about; i.e., one less terrorist leader to organize and attack seems like less worry not more. What am I missing?
Contratulations and a salute of gratitude to the honorable members of the U.S.A’s military who accomplished a difficult mission in a flawless manner.
It was imperative that this Kenyan terrorist be captured as he had a certain Kenyan birth certificate in his possession. That is why news coverage has been so sparse. It’s a conspiracy!
These invasions sure work a lot better when you don’t invite the media to your op. Remember that last time the US came to Somalia? What a freaken circus!
Kudos to the military team that made the clean strike.
(if that’s what actually happened)
However, most should know by now that military press releases rarely tell anything even close to the truth.
Considering this guy was only wanted (by the FBI) for questioning,</ -two to the head seems kinda harsh. 😮
Me thinks taking him out was a decoy/cover mission. it is more likely this was a close-up and personal Intelligence gathering mission on the alleged Somali Pirate bases there, or another mission outright.
-sounds like that guy couldn’t contain himself over a the “goldmine of intelligence” this dead body’s DNA provided. (okaynow…)
Note, also in the news was that there was a North Korean Cargo ship that fought off pirates..with molotov cocktails *cough* and also,
“Somali pirates free 22 Filipino seamen”
What fantastic timing, don’t yaz think?
I think the Reuter headline was made to fire the Patriotic imagination. The story played out like a mission with a god mode cheat activated.. -perfect.
Now if you look at the AP version of the story:
You kinda get a completely different picture forming in your head, yes?
Reuters: U.S. Special forces leads the way to victory. (yah!)
AP: Foreign troops strafed a car, -oh, and American forces were involved (ho hum)
Always remember, we live in custom tailored worlds of illusion.
The mirror image rule applies.
-s
(they don’t call it the matrix for for good reason)
bloody tags..
Editor please close the /em tag.
-and what happen to the formatting? how come paragraphs no longer separate?
highly unreadable.. 🙁
-s
[Fixed the tag. I also combined some of your lines into paragraphs so they don’t chop off. Not sure what you’re talking about. Everyone else’s paragraphs look fine. –ed.]
Invades….what a crock.
#37–Pedro==you’ve watched me criticize intelligent posters here for not being able to admit when they are wrong? ie==violating all the rules of honest evaluation that made them intelligent in the first place?
Now, sadly, I have to say that to YOU for your dismissal of Awakes last paragraph without any explication of how his assessment is wrong. It makes sense to me.
What are you “specifically” thinking of?
Learn to compliment your adversaries when they deserve it. They inch farther up the pedestal and fall farther when they honestly screw up, which they will do, because we all do.
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.
#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’.
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!