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Riz Kahn Asks: Is Somalia the Next Afghanistan?

By SusanUnPC on December 26, 2008 at 10:30 PM in Current Affairs

PREFACE: “Although the pirate crisis grabs the headlines, the fact is that for years this African country was left to fester in ungoverned criminality and violence as its society literally disintegrated.”

SOMALIA will be a center of concern for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her team:

I’m looking for more materials to add to this story. Please share whatever you know.

My goal is to learn about these trouble spots around the globe so that, while Hillary is dealing with them, we’ll have the requisite background to follow and comprehend her moves, her statements, her negotiations, and her interactions with fellow cabinet and national security personnel.

Strawberrybitch

Do we really want a Blawk Hawk Down Redux? We tried going in once before and look how that turned out. Yet as long as there is no immediate security the violence will continue. Man, what a bloody mess. And the ones who suffer the most are the women and children. The UN is inept. I really don’t want to see our worn out troops back into that hell hole and no amount of diplomacy will convince either side to do what’s best for the country. I always thought Africa should develop it’s own peace keeping force to intervene in African problems. Otherwise it just looks like more western imperialism. PS any news from Larry on the Pakistan/India problem. The Pakistani army moving to the Indian Border.
Hot Librarian

There has been weak & unauthorised central governments . There has been a period of peace’ under The islamic Brotherhood . These were pushed out to the south by US backed Ethiopian forces -including helicopter gunships – & another weak unrepresentative central govt.

The Islamists are regrouping. If one is so blindsided by anti-Islamism one may not see their value.

I dont care if they cut off heads & arms & hands of criminal & pirates .I think Hillary would have no impact here. Better to send Bill.
Lynn E

If you haven’t noticed Africa does run its own peace keeping force but they are as corrupt as their governments. Ethiopia tried with American money but it couldn’t hold it for long. I’m not saying that a redo of an American invasion is the answer, but anything in Somalia is going to affect the Middle East which it is near and Africa and eventually the United States. It could become a haven for Al Qaida in a much stronger way. I would thing the best thing we could do right now is break off Somaliland which is the top half of Somalia. They were separate for many years and run by a different colonizer, Italy I believe. They want independence and are economically stable. Let them go and prosper.
justsomeone

Hot Librarian, are you actually suggesting we align ourselves with primitive Islamists who execute people for “infractions” like watching soccer on tv? or listening to music simply to create some sort of order?
Hot Librarian

Well you could align yourself with local warlords /& or Ethiopians in gunships blasting away in a foreign country.

Saudi Arabia has Sharia & we still like (we LOVE) them -even if 15 of their citizens plane bombed USA.
Patrick Walker

African militaries are not actually designed to fight other African militiaries. They are designed to kill and terrorize their own populations.

You can make three slight exceptions. The battle over western Sahara, South Africa and Smith’s Rhodesia, which used units to fight clandestine wars against those labelled “Communist” during the Cold War.

One African scholar also noted that many of these Somali pirates in the news were former fishermen whose livelihoods were destroyed by overfishing by the Taiwanese, Chinese and Spaniards in particular.

Also, that if there was a functioning government in Mogadishu, they could impose customs duties for shipping through their waters just like most nations do.
Patrick Walker

I’m starting to wonder about the official version of 911.

Think about it. The Bush Adminstration has lied on virtually everything else. Is it wise to believe them on this?

But I agree, the Islamic Courts Union was formed after 911 precisely to ensure that Al Qaeda and other organizations could not function inside Somalia.

Bush saw the word “Islam”, he eyes flew wide open, a grimace appeared and rage spewed forth from his lips. The next thing we knew was that the US was funding Addis Ababa, a US-client state that probably has a worse record than Somalia next door, to invade, occupy and rule Somalia.

Yeah, that’s worked out REAL well.