Partial Recall

Yesterday on ATC Debbie Elliott reported on the terrible violence raging in Somalia, especially in the capital, Mogadishu. She mentioned the many civilians killed and the more than 300,000 refugees fleeing the city--BUT failed to include one important detail: the United States was involved in creating the devastating conditions that currently exist. The US military was intimately involved with the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and overthrow of the Islamic Courts Union back in December. This involvement is not new, in fact the US helped back an alliance of warlords which may well have facilitated the rise and popularity of the Islamic Courts Union.

Clearly the situation in Somalia offers no clear case of good guys vs. bad guys, but ignoring the hamfisted-military approach of the Bush administration in this case is unfortunate. And it is not an isolated case; it seems that the Bushists have a sort of civil war Midas touch in foreign policy - something that others have noted and commented on as early as April 2003 and more recently in December of 2006.