After the airstrike on the terrorist training camp in southern Somalia, this is what President Abdullah Yusaf told journalists: "The United States has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies." But others felt that "the attacks would only increase anti-American sentiment" in a predominantly Muslim country.

The United States and Ethiopia discovered an al-Qaida training camp at the southern tip of Somalia in 2006 and were trying to rout out key al-Qaida operatives there when they made their airstrike.

According to one report about 30 civilians were killed when they made the airstrike but this report was not substantiated, according to an msnbc article.

The Somali people who don't want any people other than Somalis in their borders probably are suspicious of America, not realizing that America is helping to defend their livelihood. However the leaders of the Transitional Government know when they need the help of America.

Modern Warfare

The accidental killing of civilians during war times is certainly a devastating tragedy, but the natural consequence of modern warfare. Modern warfare is different than the warfare used in centuries past where opposing armed forces went to a specified area and clashed - killing as many soldiers as they could to win sides. The side who killed the most won.

Civilians were not there, but we don't know the total circumstances. Civilians have been killed in all our modern wars - World War I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It is not something we like or accept, but it happens.

Perhaps countries need to do more to protect their civilians in time of war, but in the case of poor countries like Somalia this may not be an easy task.

Modern warfare consists of guerrilla fighting, ambushing, bombing, landmines; and the newest edition to modern warfare is terrorism.

Terrorism

Terrorism is the planned assault on innocent civilians in order to make a statement of shock to the ones watching the innocent victims being killed in order to make the ones watching do as the terrorists wish.

Many more innocent civilians are killed through terroristic acts than through accidental killings when trying to rout out the terrorists.

The terrorists committed a huge act of warfare against the global world when they bombed the Twin Towers (911). They didn't just kill Americans, but killed people from many countries around the globe or family members of people around the globe to make their statement.

Thus they committed an act of war against the entire free world, not just America.

Propaganda and terrorism

There are differing viewpoints regarding the accidental killing of civilians during wartime; and there is also propaganda. During wartime propaganda is very thick and can hypnotize the weak-minded into believing falsehoods. It feeds on your weakness and how you believe just as the terrorists feed on the weaknesses of a country.

When 911 happened America was in a state of weakness, having allowed too many immigrants into the country without checking their credentials, thus allowing terrorist cells to germinate within her borders. America has worked hard to correct this situation since 911. Let's not let propaganda infiltrate our thinking. We don't want war and we don't want innocent civilians killed anywhere, but the terrorists continually threaten the livelihood of our people and all free people worldwide.

Political climate in Somalia

The situation in Somalia is that of political unrest and anarchy, which has been going on since 1960 when they gained their independence from Great Britain (UK). There was a 20-year period of stabilization with the dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre. He was overthrown in 1991 and the country has been struggling for an autonomous identity since with two areas threatening secession - Somaliland, which is not a recognized government; and Puntland, which borders Somaliland. These are areas within Somalia to the NW and NE. The southern portion is made up of warlords, clans and factions all struggling for what they see as fighting for Somalia.

The struggle seems to be between the different factions in Somalia.

However, there has been political turmoil in Somalia for over 150 years with the British wanting to control the Red Sea, Egypt wanting to control the Nile, and the Cold War causing "switching of sides."

The Transitional Federal Government(TFG) is the governing body of Somalia with an elected president - Abdullahi Yusef Ahmed. However since its inception in 2004 they have only been able to control one city - Baidoa, due to the many clans and factions within Somalia; and Somaliland and Puntland establishing separatist governments.

The Council of Islamic Courts (CIC), which was a group of clerics, business leaders, and Islamic court militias overthrew warlords and took over the capital of Somalia - Mogadishu. They were threatening to overthrow the TFG in Baidoa. So you see it is a big struggle in Somalia.

Ethiopia borders Somalia as does Kenya; and each of these states seek to help Somalia in their time of trouble. Ethiopia and the TFG suspected links between the CIC and al-Qaida and drove the CIC from power in December 2006.

Due to the insecure situation in Somalia there is no embassy in Somalia. There is also no Somali embassy in the US. The US Embassy in Nairobi, Keyya represents US interests.

On January 28, 2008 journalist, Hassan Kofi Hared, 2 doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres -Holland (humanitarian workers), and a Somali driver were killed by a remote controlled landmine. The journalist was a member of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ). The NUSOJ has declared "this is targeted attack and we declare that this brutal killing on the journalist and the aid workers is an attack on the society itself." They are demanding the Transitional Government to find and bring these "criminals" to justice.

So the violence and bloodshed continues to this day in Somalia and here we can see how it is very difficult to get aid to the starving people of Somalia, when aid workers are being killed.

The economy of Somalia

Not only is there political unrest but there is no stable economy and "no formal banking sector" in Somalia. Businesses print up their own money. As of February 2007 the exchange rate is 23,000 shilling per one US dollar.

Somalia is also racked by periods of drought and floods, which ravish the land - the floods killing plant and animal life and further causing desertification of the desert lands once the floods subside. Animal life left dying and decaying causes pollution of the water and disease.

There is a vicious circle of environmental pollution feeding into poverty and poverty feeding into war; and war and poverty feeding into economic decline; and economic decline and unrest attracting terrorists.

The war of terrorism is not a war on Islam

David Case in his article, "The War on Terror's Newest Front" published December 4, 2007 in Mother Jones states "Bush's war on Islam," when discussing the routing out of terrorists. Although some may not like Bush's tactics, to say that he is making war on Islam is a huge mistake. Terrorism is the issue here, not Islam.

Somalia is predominately Islam, but the terrorists are Islamic Extremists that really don't understand their own religion. They are Islamic fundamentalists just as there have been Christian fundamentalists down through the ages like the conquerors (Jesuit missionaries) of Peru who demanded the Peruvian natives to say they believed in Christ and after they did they chopped off their heads. (from the Conquest of the Incas by John Hemming).

There seems to be religionistic extremists who often get their priorities mixed up. But the terrorists seem to have absorbed other types of religions into their training of terrorists. They place a great emphasis on death and dying as do some sects of Buddhists. When they train young men to become suicide bombers they do a similar thing as the Zen Buddhists. They teach them that dying is okay - they take them on frequent visits to the cemetery and discuss dying and try to remove hope and desire from their thoughts. Why would a religious Muslim act like a Buddhist rather than a Muslim?

When we lose hope we no longer wish to live. Suicide bombers have no hope and Zen Buddhists are taught to relinquish hope.

So perhaps the Islamic Extremists who are the terrorists have really been infiltrated by the corrupt Zen Buddhists. I am not saying all Zen Buddhists are corrupt, but maybe this is the ideology the terrorists use in training not realizing they are actually Zen Buddhists and not Muslims.

Differing viewpoints

Somalians don't appreciate anyone but Somalis in their country. Neither do the Somali people want terrorists in their backyards. So in Somalia there are many different viewpoints. One viewpoint is that there are no terrorists in Somalia as one journalist states regarding some huge sealed tanks that washed up on Somali shores during the September 2004 Tsunami: These tankers of toxic waste are terrorist cells and there are no terrorist groups in Somalia "except those who have buried the toxic in our sea and land."

The terrorists take advantage of any weakness in people and the weakness of Somalia is their political unrest partly due to the devastating famines caused by the droughts and floods; and their situation of poverty due to the famines, droughts, and floods.

Therefore the Somali government needs our help in keeping terrorists at bay. By not becoming involved and allowing a terrorist breeding ground we would be irresponsible in our role as a world leader. Despite terrorist propaganda we must continue with our fight to rid the world of terrorists.

And remember, many more innocent civilians are killed through terroristic acts than are killed accidentally by those trying to rout out terrorists; and the aim of terrorists is deliberate not accidental.

References:

http://garoweonline.com/artman z/publish/Press_Releases_32/In dex.shtml

www.somalinet.com/news/world/S omalia/14462

"The War on Terror's Newest Front," by David Case at www.pulitzercenter.org

www.shabelle.net/news/ne1630.h tm

"The Rise and Fall of Somalia's Islamic Courts," www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/ 9130_bpsomalia0407.pdf

www.hoa.centcom.mil/article.as p?id=20080126_trainthetrainerc ourse001

Human Rights Watch at http://hrw.org

"Somalia: Getting it Wrong Again" by Mary Harper at www.pulitzercenter.org

"Crisis in the Horn of Africa," http://hornofafrica.ssrc.org/

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/

www.cia.gov/library/publicatio ns/the-world-factbook/geos/so. html

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