Smudging Blueprints
Washington - Military operations in Somalia by American commandos, and the use of the Ethiopian Army as a surrogate force to root out operatives for Al Qaeda in the country, are a blueprint that Pentagon strategists say they hope to use more frequently in counterterrorism missions around the globe.
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But since the retreat of the Taliban in 2001, when American Special Forces worked with Afghan militias, Mr. Rumsfeld's ambitious agenda for Special Operations troops has been slow to materialize.
The problem has partly been a shortage of valuable intelligence on the whereabouts of top terrorism suspects. Mr. Rumsfeld also dispatched teams of Special Operations forces to work in American embassies to collect intelligence and to develop war plans for future operations.
Alright, I'll bite. As the blueprint for future operations what have we learned in the last 7 days about the success of our approach?
(via)The US air strike on Somalia failed to kill any of the three top al-Qaida members accused of terror attacks in east Africa.
A senior US official said yesterday that Sunday night's attack had killed between eight and 10 "al-Qaida affiliates" near the southern tip of Somalia.
But he said that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Taha al-Sudan and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, all linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2002 Mombasa hotel attack, were still on the run. "Fazul is not dead," said the official, contradicting earlier reports. "The three high-value targets are still of interest to us."
(via)BRUSSELS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel on Monday warned the U.S. strike on suspected al Qaeda targets in southern Somalia last week could lead to an escalation of violence there.
"I repeat: the future of Somalia depends on political solutions," Michel told reporters after talks in Brussels with Somali Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan on ending weeks of war in the Horn of Africa country.
Michel said such attacks could not only hit civilians but lead to "an escalation of military activity in south Somalia which risks having a negative impact on the process of peace process and reconciliation -- which should be our main priority".
Michel, whose office said last week the U.S. strike was "not helpful", said he could not rule out the presence of al Qaeda in the area but insisted he had seen no intelligence confirming it.
(via)MOGADISHU -- Somali lawmakers voted yesterday to authorize the government to declare martial law, the deputy parliament speaker said, as the country's internationally recognized leaders struggle to assert their authority after battling an Islamic movement that had controlled much of southern Somalia.
Parliament's approval allows the government to impose martial law for a period of three months, starting at a time of its choosing, said Osman Ilmi Boqore, who made the announcement during a parliament session broadcast live on a government-owned radio station.
(via)Somalia's main broadcasters have been ordered to close, shortly after the interim president set up a new team to end the "chaos" in the capital.
Three top Somali radio stations and al-Jazeera TV are affected. They have been ordered to appear before the national security agency.
Well done architects!