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U.S. launches new air strike on Somalia
Reuters in heavy quagmire mode...
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship has launched a second air strike against suspected al Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified U.S. officials.
No confirmation of Monday's reported attack was immediately available in the region and a Pentagon spokesman declined to comment. The newspaper said there was no information on the results or the specific targets of the strike. An AC-130 gunship two weeks ago attacked what Washington said were al Qaeda agents fleeing with Islamist forces defeated by Somali government and Ethiopian troops late last month. It was the first overt U.S. action in Somalia since the end of a disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1994.
| That was 12 or 13 years ago. The most recent was now two weeks ago. Does Rooters see a pattern the rest of us don't? |
Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said he was not aware of a second U.S. attack.
Washington believes Somali Islamists harbored al Qaeda members accused of bombing two U.S. embassies and an Israeli-owned hotel in east Africa. Any prolonged U.S. intervention in Somalia would be sure to inflame political passions there, joining the chorus of Muslims who see the "war on terror" as a crusade against Islam.
| I think by now we can pretty much take it as a given that anything, to include inaction, is sure to inflame political passions among this or that bunch of Moose limbs. The bad guyz have been trying to paint the WoT as a war against Islam before the 9-11 bodies had cooled. Because the U.S. doesn't have a "Ministry of Information," nobody's come up with the idea of simply pointing out that it's more like a war on the Takfir ideology and that the rest of Islam is free to go to hell on its own terms. I'm not sure how the "war on Muslims" meme fits in with Somalia, where both sides in the current dispute are Muslim. |
| Both sides get to paint it as a "war on Muslims". It's the best of opportunities. |
A freelance Somali journalist said on Sunday he had seen U.S. troops on the ground in south Somalia working with Ethiopian forces hunting fugitive Islamists.
| "I seen it! I seen it wid me own eyes!" |
Ethiopia vehemently denied the report.
| "Lies. All lies. Piss off. We're busy." |
Posted by: tu3031 2007-01-24 |
