(posted 1/1/07)

*From the Ramparts*
Junious Ricardo Stanton
*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?secti...&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/internat...he_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/de...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?secti...&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/internat...he_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.

-30-