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In late December of last year, an American nod of approval countered almost 10 years of progressive stabilization in Somalia. If this is news to you, it may have something to do the media's tendency to grossly undercover third world problems whenever something as compelling as celebrity gossip arises. December was the climax of a recent American covert campaign to derail Somalia's most promising nationalist movement in recent years. Now Somalia slips into anarchy once again and stands as another victim of Washington's increasing unilateral foreign policy.
From 1991 until about 2005, Somalia was the world's only true anarchic state. During this decade, Somalia was dominated by rival warlords. These warlords stole Western humanitarian aid intended for millions of starving Somalis and sold it to fuel their own conflicts. An incredible influx of small arms and the indiscriminate violence that followed it brought even more chaos to an already turbulent region. A U.N. transitional government was set up in 2004, but to this day it cannot assert its authority outside its base in Baidoa.

In 1997, a new faction began to check the warlords' power. A popular Islamic movement started gaining momentum in the capital Mogadishu after local Islamic courts restored law and order. Although most Somalis were not in complete accordance with the Islamic conservatism embodied by the courts, they began to see Islamic rule as a favorable alternative to secular warlordism. U.S. officials saw a popular Islamic movement in another light. By 2004, CIA agents began popping up in Mogadishu, handing out cash to the warlords to fund various "counter-terrorism" operations. Growing tensions climaxed in a ferocious urban firefight between the warlord alliance and the Islamists in Mogadishu last spring. The warlords were routed and the Islamists quickly seized control of the countryside and began encircling Baidoa late last year. As tensions mounted and polarization intensified, the interests and motives of both sides of the conflict were revealed.
On one side stood the Islamists. They were fed up with the corruption and anarchy synonymous with a weak central government and were united through religion. Although there were certainly radical elements within the movement, the majority of its members were fairly moderate and used the idea of jihad simply to unite the country. The Islamists offered rule of law and peace under institutionalized Islam and had the support of the masses. The West's

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