From The Ramparts

Uncle Sam's Proxy War in Somalia

Uncle Sam’s Proxy War In Somalia

“Troops attached to the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa have been training Ethiopian soldiers in basic infantry tactics, officer logistics and maintenance since 2003, when the U.S. government identified the East African country as an ally in its global war on terror. Similar training programs are ongoing in Djibouti and Kenya. In Hurso, the so-called military-to-military training has taken on a new urgency in the days following Ethiopia’s incursion into Somalia on behalf of that collapsed nation’s embattled, albeit U.N.-sanctioned, government.” http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=42481

US trained Ethiopian troops and heavy military equipment invaded Somalia ostensibly to recapture and rout the supposed “Islamic fanatics” and “terrorists” who stepped in to restore order and fill the socio-political vacuum created when the Somalian government collapsed. “The Islamic Courts, dismissed by the US as ‘terrorists’, brought a semblance of law and order to towns that have known no such thing in the 15 years Somalia has been without a central government. Checkpoints and technicals became a rare sight in Mogadishu. Residents reported that they felt safe walking around the capital, something that had not been true when the city was run by rival warlords. Mogadishu now appears to be back in the hands of the same warlords. Mohamed Jama Furuh, a former warlord and current member of parliament, reclaimed control of the capital's seaport. Others have reclaimed the airport and the old presidential palace. The military defeat for the UIC has been remarkably swift. Just two weeks ago the Courts felt sufficiently confident of their military strength to plan an attack on Baidoa, the small town 130 miles west of Mogadishu that the weak transitional government was based in. But the military defeat has also become a political loss. Much of the UIC's support came from the influential Hawiye clan in Mogadishu. The Hawiye withdrew that support as the Somali government marched on Mogadishu, forcing the Courts to hand over weapons and vehicles the clan had provided. Ethiopia's superior military strength has been the key factor. With 100,000 soldiers and training programmes from the US, they are the strongest military power in East Africa. A predominantly Christian country, Ethiopia feared the rise of a militant Islamic state on its doorstep. They found an ally in the US, which saw the Courts through the prism of the global war on terror.” http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1096743.0.defeat_of_the_islamic_courts_pop_is_back_on_the_radio_and_clan_war_is_back_on_the_streets.php
Make no mistake about it, Ethiopia’s incursion into Somalia is at the behest and order of Washington. In fact if the US weren’t behind this it is highly unlikely Ethiopia would even get involved in Somalia’s internal problems. “Preparations for the present war began this summer when the UIC took control of Mogadishu. As the UIC rapidly extended its control over the rest of the country, the US began to work covertly through private military contractors to re-establish itself in Somalia. Emails leaked to the Observer and Africa Confidential in June this year revealed that Select Armor, ATS Worldwide and Special Associated Services—private mercenary corporations—had met with the CIA to discuss operations in Somalia. They were assisting Ethiopian forces in the defense of the TFG in Baidoa.” http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/soma-d28.shtml
The US is footing the bill and providing arms and training for Ethiopian cannon fodder to do the bidding of the Bu$h administration by gaining a toehold in a very geo-strategic region chocked full of natural resources. In fact the US military magazine Stars and Stripes is pleased as punch the US is training Ethiopians to wage war on their neighbors. A recent article in the online version of the magazine points out the role of the US military in training and preparing the Ethiopians to wage war on the people of Somalia. “‘Depending on whether things really kick off, it’s a very real possibility that some of these guys could find themselves using these skills very soon,’ said Sgt. 1st Class Bill Flippo, an instructor based at Camp Hurso. ‘You want to make sure you cover everything thoroughly,’ the 27-year-old Winfield, Kan., native said. ‘The stuff you teach them could result in things working out really good for them, or really bad.’ Flippo is one of a handful of instructors here who belong to Company A, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. The instructors, who are three-quarters of the way through a year long deployment, are currently training more than three dozen Ethiopian army officers, noncommissioned officers and enlisted from throughout the country. ‘The majority of these guys are trainers themselves,’ said 1st Lt. Ben Daughters, 24, of Chillicothe, Ohio. ‘The idea is that we train them and they go back and train their own.’ ” http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=42481
The US has been interested in the Horn of Africa since 1992 when non government organization lobbied for “humanitarian aid” for the region that was suffering from poverty, famine and wobbly political infrastructures in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia and civil wars in places like Sudan and Chad. Neo-colonial puppets and proxies for the West and Russia
were in power and their countries no matter which side “supported” them were in disarray and trouble due to European influence and meddling. Following 9-11 which the US used as a pretext to launch a bogus global war on terrorism any sane person clearly sees is merely a euphemism for militarist imperialism, the US sent a task force to the region now referred to as HOA or Horn of Africa. Unsubstantiated US claims that Al Qaida (a.k.a CIA agents) had planted extensive roots into Somalia and Sudan (two Muslim countries that just happen to sit on massive natural resources coveted by the Anglo-AmeriKKKan-Zionist cabal) were used to justify the US sending a task force into the region. The Us can’t even provide any real facts about Al Qaida’s inroads into Africa as the following doublespeak in Le Monde diplomatique shows, “Very little is known about al-Qaida’s and Osama bin Laden’s links to the Horn of Africa, especially Somalia and Sudan, but they are well-established and extensive. The international action this November against the al-Barakaat telecommunications company, the main financial institution used by Somalis abroad to transfer funds to Somalia, the allegations against the al-Shamal Islamic Bank in Khartoum and the lists of terrorist organisations published by the US, suggest that Washington views the Horn of Africa as al-Qaida’s second theatre of operations after Central Asia. Governments are preparing for the possibility of US troops returning to the region.
But the last few years have seen a relative decline in radical Islamism, especially its internationalist and terrorist groups. Al-Ittihaad, a radical Islamist movement active in southern Somalia and the Ogaden region of Ethiopia (3), has less influence in the south of Somalia than it had five years ago, and the Islamic National Front in Sudan has split into two factions, the most moderate firmly ensconced in power. But it is by no means certain that US appreciates the complexity of the situation, even assuming it is trying to. Over the last 10 years the main feature has been the steadily growing influence of warlords in Somalia, to some extent in Sudan and to a lesser degree in Ethiopia, with shifting alliances that have little to do with ideology.” http://mondediplo.com/2001/12/06horn The notion the Islamic Courts are tied to Al-Qaida is just more US fabrication to justify its’ imperialism. “Few analysts dispute that the UIC had a hardline element that included some with links to known al-Qaeda operatives, but the idea that the entire organisation was run by terrorists appeared to be shared only by a handful of neoconservatives in Washington. It was certainly not believed by any Western diplomats, Americans included, based in the region. But with America's tacit approval, Ethiopia was prepared to send troops to Somalia to bolster the weak, UN-backed government. The increasingly fragile government had little authority or popularity outside of Baidoa and their reliance on Ethiopia only deepened the resentment felt towards them by ordinary Somalis. Ethiopia and Somalia have fought two bitter wars in the past 45 years and the enmity felt by Somalis towards their neighbours runs deep.” http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1096743.0.defeat_of_the_islamic_courts_pop_is_back_on_the_radio_and_clan_war_is_back_on_the_streets.php
US NeoCon/Zionist policy makers used the Islamic Courts status as a defacto government as a pretense to send US forces into the region. I wonder if this is tied in any way to the findings and policies of the super secret Cheney Energy Task Force? Even so, the US now has a military presence in the Horn. “The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) headquarters was initiated with members representing all US armed services, civilian personnel and coalition force representatives aboard the USS Mount Whitney, operating in the Gulf of Aden. Initially the operation area, Horn of Africa, included the ‘total airspace and land areas out to the high water mark’ of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen. But now the US government is expanding the operation area to include Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles. The US military says it is also trying to help the region deal with ‘illegal activities’ in the Indian Ocean region from Yemen to South Africa.” http://allafrica.com/stories/200612181398.html?page=2
This is cow dung. If the US military really wants to thwart “illegal activities” it should concentrate on the shenanigans coming out of Washington D.C., London and Tel Aviv! Just because the US says terrorists exist in Somalia doesn’t make it true. Notice how the total HOA area has expanded since 9-11? We know how they’ve lied in the past and they are lying now to get a toe hold into Africa to seize and steal the oil, water and other natural resources under the guise of “fighting terrorism”. It’s deja vu all over again; this is the same game plan and ruse they used to do their imperialist dirt following WWII but under the pretext and guise of “fighting communism.” The latest Somalia caper is business as usual for Uncle Sam, his European cohorts and African proxies.

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posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 8:45 PM