Return With Us Now . . .

. . . to those thrilling days of yesteryear (with our apologies to those too young to remember the intro to The Lone Ranger.

But, we're not talking about the old Ranger, we're talking about Mogadishu, Somalia. Warlords ! Technicals ! Militias ! Rangers (Army, not Lone) ! SEALS ! Delta Force ! Helicopters large and small ! It was great until an otherwise successful raid cost more casualties and helicopters than President Clinton's poll numbers could sustain and we pulled out. That was 1993 and since then Somalia has been mired in civil war and anarchy.

More recently, Somalia has struggled to return to normalcy and a shaky, fragile interim government has been formed. Among the factions involved are Islamic courts which create some order and security, albeit via Sharia law. There are as many as twelve of these courts in operation. Some are "believed" by U.S. officials to harbor Islamic militants, even al Quaeda operatives.

Other factions are our old friends the warlords (see above), some of whom have joined together into a rough alliance.

O.K. class, for extra points, tell us which group the U.S. is apparently now funding ?

Of course ! The warlord alliance !

Just as during the Cold War you could always tell which side of any local dispute the U.S. would jump in on by discovering which side was "anti-Communist", the same thing can be done today by discovering which side is "believed" to be Islamist and then choose the other.

It must be noted that the U.S. denies taking sides and admits only to seeking "responsible individuals" to help makes things better, but that begs the question of what "responsible" means.

Keep an eye on Somalia where your tax dollars may be undermining the nascent government and thereby creating the terrorist safe harbor we think we are trying to avoid and

Stay Naked
jd