Posted on 11/25/2001 3:30:06 PM PST by MadIvan
AS THE Taliban crumble, speculation is again rife that American sights could be turned on another of the world's most chaotic countries: Somalia.
President Bush has already given clear warnings. Shortly after the September 11 attacks he placed the Somali militant group al-Itihaad al-Islamiya on a list of outlawed terrorist organisations.
This month he froze the assets of al-Barakat, Somalia's biggest business conglomerate, described by the US as "quartermasters of terror". Intelligence and diplomatic sources say al-Qa'eda has been operating training camps alongside its colleagues in al-Itihaad.
They have pooled resources, observers say, since 1992 when al-Itihaad leaders met Osama bin Laden in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Intelligence sources say that in 1998 bin Laden congratulated his operators on the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
There have been persistent rumours that bin Laden could flee to Somalia. Some reports say he is already there. Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said last week that he could have fled via Pakistan to Somalia, Sudan or Yemen, which are also on Washington's potential hit list.
Al-Qa'eda is reported to have training camps in Yemen's northern mountains, where several thousand guerrillas are believed to be awaiting orders. Eight British Arabs convicted in Yemen of murdering four tourists in 1998 identified Islamic army camps in Aden. These could be targets.
Sanctions against Sudan, which remains on Washington's list of countries that sponsor terrorism, were dropped in September after President Omar al-Bashir declared himself a member of the coalition against terrorism.
But Hassan al-Turabi, the leading opposition figure, was bin Laden's closest associate in Sudan, where he lived between 1992 and 1996. There is speculation that followers of Turabi, who is married to bin Laden's niece, could be pursued by the Americans.
Somalia could be the easiest of the three countries to strike. It has been an open secret for months that al-Itihaad's main training base is near the coastal town of Ras Kamboni, on the Kenyan border.
According to Somalis in the area, members of al-Qa'eda began to infiltrate the south of the country in 1996 posing as Islamic missionaries. They built training camps and took control of several towns.
Locals tell of Arab recruits training in the camps and imposing a terrifying, Taliban-style sharia law. "These people have a kind of poison in them," said Muhammed, a cattle trader who fled the area this year. "They did terrible things to people they suspected of being opposed to them and their teachings. They would rip out their eyes and chop off their hands.
"They would beat people and cut the body to allow the wounds to become infested with maggots. Others they tied their hands and feet and drowned them in the river." Smoking was forbidden. Caught once, a guilty man would receive 40 lashes. Caught again, he would be executed.
Yet it remains unclear how the Americans could eradicate the terrorism threat in Somalia. Many accounts say the terrorists fled after September 11. Boats were seen leaving Ras Kamboni night after night, sailing out into the Indian Ocean.
"If there was a war to be fought against terrorism in Somalia then I think the Americans have missed the boat," said one diplomat.
There are also doubts over whether America has the stomach for a war in Somalia. In late 1992 Mr Bush's father sent troops there on a peacekeeping operation. It was a disaster, with at least 17 Americans killed in a single incident, and they soon pulled out.
Onward brave islamofascist warriors! LOL, what cowards!
Justice for the Blackhawk downed. Justice for the dead soldiers betrayed by Clintoon. I say drop tactical neutron-bombs on terrorists hiding in urban areas, hose em' down, and give them to decent folk.
You can bet that 43 won't make that same mistake in Afghanistan.
Really. I remember talking to an Afghanistaner ( or what ever they like to be called) in Washington D.C. last January.
He told us that he had rocket lauchers and rockets, and his neighbors had a tank.
That is how they kept the peace...being each well armed.
He stressed the clan warfare being very real over there.
Democracy... LOL, where ever it is instituted, it is just the road to socializm...onward to communizm...
Thank goodness they aren't ready to hoe that row...
Ain't that the truth...some of the most patriotic people to the USA either don't live here or are not American citizens...Thanks MadIvan and those others...you know who you are.
You can bet that 43 won't make that same mistake in Afghanistan.
Hence the easing out of the ground forces of that Cli'ton-cloned Socialworker Soldier Syndrome-suffering British fellow.
Whatshisname.
We'd have more respect in the world if we did stick up for our military / citizens. The vast majority of nations have a tribal mentality, and a lack of response is a sign of weakness. OBL and cohorts prodded and prodded with no retaliation, and either instigated 9/11 thinking they were safe, or in an attempt to create a "holy" war.
"There can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us. We are at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it has been said if we lose that war, and in doing so lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening. Well, I think it's time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers."At least one American President understood.
Ronald W. Reagan, ("The Speech"), 27 October 1964
FReegards!
FRegards,
Exactly. however, after October, 1993, we ran like a scared cur. Not our GI's, but our political leaders. Mogidishu was the first giant step to 9/11/2001.
Thanks for this thread. Extremely illuminating.
Yes I do, my friend. The old scores will be settled, and with our new leadership, the Marines will teach the lesson long-needed for eight years!
You might also remember that I predicted USAF-Base-Kandahar after 9/11!
Who knew that the damned Marines would be tasked for that?
It's nice to be winning, FINALLY, in case some klintoonites are still hanging around here. Stay well and vigilant, pal....FRegards
Maybe we could appoint a delegation to notify Sens Leahy and Daschle of that truth...
...bleedin' traitors!
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