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When a state of war is declared against an enemy that exists more often as a concept than a distinct individual, collateral damage that is, the death of innocent civilians becomes an almost inevitable by-product of the campaign to suppress that enemy. Islamic extremism has become defined by guerilla attacks perpetrated by individuals who co-exist with mainstream society, and become indistinguishable from the civilian population. In the ongoing War on Terror, the question must then shift to address when a terrorist threat in fact becomes potent enough to warrant risking the lives of innocent civilians in a military strike.

The United States Government has, controversially, viewed Somalia as a hotbed of extremist activity for many years. While certainly repressive on the Somali people, the establishment of the deeply conservative Islamic Courts Union as a system of government in the Somali capital Mogadishu in mid-2006, brought relative peace and stability to a country that had been ravaged by internal conflict for nearly twenty years. As journalist David Case writes in his article 'Collateral Damage in the War on Terror: Somalia', "the [Somali] populace seemed willing to endure repression if it meant an end to anarchy." The US Government, however, had its own interpretation of the state of the nation. The Bush Administration first claimed that the Islamic Courts Union was sheltering three al-Qaeda operatives involved with the 1998 Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam embassy bombings, before then claiming that the Courts were in fact under the complete control of al-Qaeda. The intelligence supporting these claims has been endlessly debated. As Roland Marchal says, in his article 'Somalia A New Front Against Terrorism', "Starting with the likely but never proven presence of those responsible for the 1998 attacks and the arrival of military trainers from a terrorist organization, the situation [in Somalia] has been characterized as justifying a surgical' intervention."

Having already invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq in the months following 9/11, in an aggressive foreign policy that has largely defined the Bush Presidency, the Administration decided against a direct invasion of Somalia. Instead the US avoided the glare of the international media by backing regional ally and major US aid-recipient Ethiopia in an invasion. The operation was launched in late December 2006, a mere six months after the establishment of the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. While Ethiopian troops fought

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