Posted on 07/02/2011 6:03:03 AM PDT by markomalley
WASHINGTON — The clandestine American military campaign to combat Al Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen is expanding to fight the Islamist militancy in Somalia, as new evidence indicates that insurgents in the two countries are forging closer ties and possibly plotting attacks against the United States, American officials say.
An American military drone aircraft attacked several Somalis in the militant group the Shabab late last month, the officials said, killing at least one of its midlevel operatives and wounding others.
The strike was carried out by the same Special Operations Command unit now battling militants in Yemen, and it represented an intensification of an American military campaign in a mostly lawless region where weak governments have allowed groups with links to Al Qaeda to flourish.
The Obama administration’s increased focus on Somalia comes as the White House has unveiled a new strategy to battle Al Qaeda in the post-Osama bin Laden era, and as some American military and intelligence officials view Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia as a greater threat to the United States than the group of operatives in Pakistan who have been barraged with hundreds of drone strikes directed by the Central Intelligence Agency in recent years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Somalia now? OK, wait, can someone put together a list of nations where Obama does NOT have drones patrolling??
What part of “clandestine” does the NYT not understand? Traitors.
Colonel, USAFR
South Minneapolis could use a few drones...
Thanks markomalley.
Somila? - you mean Minnesota? Same people.
USA has serious mission going on in Somalia, Special Forces that cover that entire area. I have a relative who gets sent to Afghan about every year for 5-6 months, and he was telling me that in 2013, he will be in Somalia. These missions are planned a couple years in advance.
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