Posted on 12/28/2006 6:28:18 AM PST by meg88
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Triumphant Somali government forces marched into Mogadishu on Thursday after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months before an Ethiopian-backed advance.
The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule.
Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid. Photo
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"People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," said resident Abdikadar Abdulle, adding scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city center.
Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled its base early in the morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals.
"We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters. "Most of our leaders have fled."
The fall of Mogadishu came about 10 days after the Islamists sought to march on the government base of Baidoa. That prompted Ethiopia to come openly into the war, proving the decisive factor in saving the government and pushing back the Islamists.
You mean Katie Couric won't have footage of this tonight on the See-BS Evening News?? (shocking, I tell you!)
We have put a lot of money and time in wooing Ethiopia over the last several months.Bush realized the strategic neccessity of a good relationship with this nation and it's now proving to have been an excellent move.
There are parts of eastern Ethiopia, the Ogaden region, that have a large number of Somalis. They've been a cause of trouble before, and would be again, were a hostile and organized government rise in Somalia. Rather than wait for the Islamists to consolodate power, they simply took the fight to them first.
I'm going to an Ethiopian restaurant this weekend
"Now...how to handle the subsequent terrorism?"
Knowing the Ethiopians, they will catch terrorists, bring them into the town square and mutilate them, leaving their rotting corpses for the insects and other vermin to feast upon.
Something we should have done with Al Queada.
I'm sure that's true. More importantant is the fact that the islamo terrorists knew that this was not going to be a P.C. war. That's why they didn't try their ususal terrorist activities during the advance. Fortunately for the Ethiopians they didn't have to fight the international press corps along with the islamo terrorists.
Changing their clothes does not necessarily mean they have changed their minds, it just means you won't be able to pick them out of a crowd.
The battle is only half over.
I have no doubt that the Dims will soon be demanding hearings and investigations into that.
Aren't they calling that sectarian violence in Iraq? ;-)
Should'nt take too long to find out. The dude quoted and his "comrades" have already taken Step 1...
Looting! I hope they protected the museums or there'll be hell to pay.
Is this being covered on the cable news networks?
I'm seeing stories about panda babies and the best Christmas gifts.
Are muslims allowed to own flowers?
That will doubtless change, and very soon. I'm sure al Qaeda is already sending out messages to their allies in the media that their assistance is needed. Obviously they can't win a fair fight, so they need the press to tie the Ethiopians' hands behind their backs.
Civillians often play it safe when it comes to welcoming invading armies, especially if each side has some hope of their support. In WWII, some Italian villages changed hands between Allied and German forces several times. Each time the villagers "welcomed" their "liberators" with wine.
I don't doubt that most Italians would far rather see the Americans or British marching in, than the Germans, but villagers often decided to do what they could to keep the heavily armed troops arriving in town as well disposed as possible towards the locals.
I don't know if the Italians preferred the French Foreign Legion or French North African colonial troops to the Germans. The Free French government paid their North African troops a bounty for Germans killed, the number of dead being proven by turning in left ears. They discontinued the practice due to complaints that not all of the ears came from dead -- or even wounded -- Germans. Allied dead and wounded, or civilains, lost their ears too. If was one of the few times in WWII when Black troops in the US Army were at an advantage, as the French would never believe that their ears came from a German.
I seem to have wandered off point here. If the Government loses Mogadishu again, expect to see stories that the populace welcomed the rebels into town with flowers.
GWB... good job... now let our forces do the same.
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