[Peace-discuss] US troops attack Somalia

[C. G. Estabrook]

["US Confirms Invasion," indeed: it began in 1992 and has continued in some form 
ever since.  The US "Won't Say Why"?  Sure -- they don't want to admit the real 
reason for the vast military campaign in the Middle East.  But look at the map. 
  The US insists on controlling the area in a 2000-mile radius around the 
Persian Gulf, the energy resources of which constitute "the world's greatest 
material prize," in the words of the State Dept.  Since Somalia is on the 
approaches to the Middle East, it's included in the "Area of Responsibility" of 
"CentCom," the US military command for the region. --CGE]


	US Troops Attack Somalia
	US Confirms Invasion, Won't Say Why
	by Jason Ditz, September 14, 2009

Following confirmation by the French military that they definitely weren’t in 
the process of invading Somalia, the United States military is now confirming 
that it is, in fact, American forces that are pouring into the southern portion 
of the country in a helicopter-backed invasion.

US military officials confirmed to the Associated Press today that forces from 
the US Joint Special Operations Command had invaded the lawless African nation, 
and were the ones responsible for the attack on the tiny village of Barawe this 
morning that was the first staging ground of the attack.

What the officials wouldn’t comment on was exactly why the United States, which 
launched a failed “peacekeeping” operation in the nation in 1993 and backed an 
Ethiopian invasion in 2007, had decided to launch yet another foreign adventure, 
though media outlets speculated that it was probably something to do with al-Qaeda.

The United States has recently been supplying the self-described Somali 
“government” with “tons of arms,” according to the State Department. Yet reports 
on the ground suggest that forces loyal to this faction, which only controls a 
handful of city blocks in the capital city of Mogadishu, have generally just 
sold the US-supplied weapons on the open market.

Though without any concrete information about what the American military 
actually intends to do in Somalia it will be difficult to speculate about the 
size and scope of the invasion, with roughly 200,000 soldiers committed to Iraq 
and Afghanistan (and more escalations on the way in the later) it seems hard to 
imagine the nation is looking to commit to yet another long-term occupation.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/14/us-troops-attack-somalia/
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