 CAIRO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Arab League said on Wednesday U.S. military action in Somalia had killed "many innocent victims" and demanded that Washington refrain from such attacks.
| Let the seething commence! |
Somali officials said U.S. and Ethiopian aircraft struck new targets in Somalia on Wednesday as they hunted al Qaeda suspects and defeated Islamist fighters. But U.S. officials said there had been no new U.S. air strikes in Somalia since an operation on Monday, and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi also said there had been only one U.S. air attack with no civilian casualties.
| "We would have liked to have done a few more but we ran out of spatulas for the bomb damage assessments." |
U.S. government sources said U.S. ally Ethiopia, which defeated Islamist forces in a lightning war last month, had conducted further air strikes since Monday.
| "The infidels are ganging up on us! You guys gotta do something to call them off!" |
In Cairo, the Arab League's Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Hilli said: "We demand that these strikes which now target civilians and led to the killing of many innocent victims be stopped."
| "Hey, we're doing our best but that infidel Bush doesn't listen to us!" |
"There was no U.N. Security Council authorisation for the U.S. forces to hit Somali areas," he told reporters.
| On the other hand, they didn't say we couldn't hit Somali areas. |
Ben Hilli also criticised the interim Somali government for backing the air strikes. "We'd hoped they'd care about for the sovereignty of their country ... instead of calling for foreign intervention," he said.
| Except for the al-Qaeda furriners. And the Yemeni furriners. And the Arab furriners. And the Paki furriners. I mean, there's furriners and furriners! |
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has said the air strikes were justified because they targeted al Qaeda militants.
| Which is precisely what has the Arab League's knickers in a knot. |
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