anvil and hammer...
Posted on 12/31/2006 6:13:09 PM PST by blam
Army prepares to oust Somali fighters
By Mike Pflanz, East Africa Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:19am GMT 01/01/2007
Fighting erupted late yesterday in southern Somalia as government troops prepared their final onslaught against Islamist forces who, until last week, controlled most of the country.
Fearful residents in the southern town of Jilib reported hearing artillery and gunfire.
Thousands have fled to the fields as the Islamists began what is likely to be their last stand against their rivals and their Ethiopian allies.
After being pushed out of their stronghold in Mogadishu, an ultra-loyal rump of 3,000 fighters of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) have regrouped in Jilib and the coastal city of Kismayo, 90 miles north of Somalia's border with Kenya.
Ethiopian fighter jets yesterday flew reconnaissance missions over the city, as soldiers dug into positions near Jilib. Opposite them, Islamist fighters bulldozed trenches and re-armed their front-line soldiers.
Mohamed Ali Gedi, Somalia's prime minister, said government troops were hunting three al-Qa'eda terror suspects who are wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in east Africa that killed more than 250 people. He said Islamic militants in Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, were sheltering accused bombers Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Taha al-Sudani.
"We would like to capture or kill these guys at any cost," Mr Gedi said. "They are the root of the problem."
The ICU has been roundly neutralised by the superior firepower of the Ethiopians, and it is unlikely that they will be able to hold out against this widely expected final on-slaught.
Officials from Somalia's weak transitional government, which now holds sway over Mogadishu, said they would leave open the offer of peace talks with the ICU providing that they surrendered.
"We are contacting them for dialogue. We have repeatedly asked them to come to Mogadishu to talk," Mr Gedi told reporters, adding that the foreign fighters now constituted 65 per cent of the Islamist force.
However, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, the Islamist commander, said: "This is something that will never happen. Our country is under colonisation and we cannot accept any offer of negotiations as long as Ethiopians are in our territory.
"This is not a time of peace. It is a time of liberation and we are going to liberate our country from the enemies."
The Kenyan army is waiting at the border and the US Coast Guard is waiting off-shore.
The 'jig' is up for these bad boys.
Ping.
"ultra-loyal rump of 3,000 fighters of the Islamic Courts Union"
Kill em.
I think "oust them" is code for "kill them" (as in "off them").
Where are they going to go? Who's going to want them? They are human garbage and there's only one respectful place for them: the ash-heap of history.
Notice how effective the Ethiopians have been since they ignore the UN and don't face an ani war crowd at home.
This should be rubbed in the face of every anti war liberal in America with the message "You don't end wars, you extend wars and are the true cause of death".
But do they have a plan to win the peace? /sarc
If Kenya holds the border this will be the end of the line for the ICU in that area.
Yeah, I mean, what is their exit strategy?
anvil and hammer...
This is a small skirmish but if it proves decisive enough militarily, (all of them dead), it could perhaps inspire enough small skirmishes over the next ,oh, I don't know, ten or twelve years so that eventually ALL of those who can't live on Planet Earth on Planet Earth's own terms, will be DEAD. I think that is what it will take, and I think that is the BEST-case scenario.
Any nation that has the ability to rout and kill these people in large quantities and doesn't isn't a nation worthy of the name. God speed to the Somali and the Ethiopians.
Probably more like "kill them all"
Oops, a few thousand of our new Somalia immigrants are not going to be happy to hear this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1760477/posts Local Somalis want peace for homeland(Anger at America)
Oh and here comes the hammer to the utter trepidation of the Islamic fanatics re: Arabs and the utter uselessness of the Arab League protests.
That's the way we like it.
This is going to be the best operation since Saddam got ousted.
I bet they're really ticked at being called "an ultra-loyal rump!"
Well, it's better than being an ultra-royal lump. I guess.
"Opposite them, Islamist fighters bulldozed trenches and re-armed their front-line soldiers."
Sounds like these creatures want to stand and fight. Good! They'll all die. The Ethiopians will see to that. :)
It's not a matter of choice as another poster put in military terms: the anvil and hammer. They've fallen back to positions repeatedly and are being pursued relentlessly and without mercy.
It's not about choice, it's about the situation on the ground and the Somali army's professional ability to pin down the enemy.
One quote by an Islamofascists declared the loss of their "children" a slaughter in the neighborhood of 1,000. The big Islamic hero is just a poorly trained teenager following the orders of his ultra fanatic leadership.
And they have led them to their ruin. Hopefully, they will also get the terrorists who were responsible for the Kenyan bombings. The Somalis seem awfully focused on that objective as well.
You don't think there is some of our folks working with our Somali allies do you? As the President once said, some things will never be told.
You can be sure that the effectiveness of this operation is one of them.
God bless our military serving all over the world.
Well, isn't that nice.
Once the Somali government is operational again, we should repatriate these Somalis to their happy homeland!
I know---see my #10
"It's not about choice, it's about the situation on the ground and the Somali army's professional ability to pin down the enemy."
There is nothing professional about the Somali army. If ever there was a looooooser people, its the Somalis, followed very closely by Mohammedan Albanians, especially the ones in Kosovo and FYROM. The army that has pinned these maggots down is Ethiopian and they will positively enjoy wiping out the Islamists...assuming we let them do it and I trust we will.
"God bless our military serving all over the world."
In spades!
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