US War on Somalia

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Somalia is located on the Horn of Africa, near the Bab el-Mandeb strait chokepoint separating Yemen from Eritrea. Millions of barrels of oil flow through it to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

The country is strategically important for Washington, significantly involved in the country since at least the GHW Bush administration.

Covert CIA operations are run out of a protected Mogadishu airport compound, its own aircraft based there, the area guarded by Somali soldiers, an indigenous strike force trained there, a secret prison incarcerating US enemies.

US Special Operations forces have conducted targeted drone strikes and surveillance operations in the country for years. 

Al-Shabab militants control much of Mogadishu and surrounding areas, as resilient and tough for America and its installed puppet regime to defeat as the Taliban in Afghanistan, resisting Washington's imperial presence, a hostile invader. 

According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), Pentagon Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been conducting airstrikes and ground raids in Somalia for the past 10 years - clandestine operations against Al Shabab since 9/11.

Drones, attack helicopters and AC-130 gunships have been used, drone operations begun in mid-2011. Frequency of attacks increased in recent years. Trump escalated them after taking office.

Alleged strikes on ISIS in Somalia are bogus, its fighters used by Washington wherever they're deployed.

It's unclear how many civilians perished from US airstrikes and other operations in the country. They always pay the highest price wherever America shows up.

AFRICOM reports this week of airstrikes on ISIS-linked terrorists in Somalia are false. Aerial operations continue against al-Shabab, supporting ISIS if its fighters are present in the country, not combating them.

Trump deployed scores, perhaps hundreds of US combat troops to Somalia, arriving in early April, signaling possible escalated operations to come.

AFRICOM claims US forces are there "to assist our allies and partners" combat al-Shabab, falsely designated a foreign terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda.

Its members are combating the Mogadishu-based US-installed puppet regime. AFRICOM commander General Thomas Waldhauser sought White House approval for airstrikes and ground attacks on al-Shabab fighters – vowing not to turn Somalia into a "free fire zone."

In late October, Joint Chiefs chairman General Joseph Dunford lied, claiming ISIS intends "establish(ing) a larger presence" in Africa - only if Washington deploys its fighters there he didn't explain, a way to justify US militarization of the continent, operating in nearly all its countries, conducting hostile missions against its people, including targeted assassinations.

Peace and stability defeat America's imperial agenda. Violence and turmoil serve it - including pretexts for aggressive wars and unconscionable amounts spent on global militarism.

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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

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