US Military Confirms Washington's Secret New War in Somalia Despite Official Denials
by Finian Cunningham
US military sources have confirmed that the Obama administration is
engaged in a new war in the famine-hit Horn of Africa region.
The
disclosure in the Washington Post [1] comes only days after other
prominent Western media outlets, including the New York Times and the
Financial Times, carried denials from the US government that it was
involved in directly supporting Kenyan forces that invaded Somalia on 16
October.
Global Research first reported on 19 October [2] the
lethal use of US drones in attacks on various locations across southern
Somalia in a coordinated air campaign to assist the advance of Kenyan
ground troops deep into Somali territory held by Islamic insurgents. We
reported that US drones began attacking Somali targets days before the
Kenyan army began its incursion, and have continued in a pattern that
indicates American air power is being used to pave the way for ground
forces as they advance towards the southern port city of Kismayu – the
main stronghold of the Al Shabab insurgents, which the US government
accuses of having links with Al Qaeda.
It is believed that scores
of Somali fighters and civilians have been killed over the past two
weeks by US unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have attacked several
cities and towns, including Qoqani, Afmadow and Kismayu. Global Research
also reported on 26 October [3] that French naval forces had joined the
bombing campaign – again despite official French denials carried in
Western media – and that the conclusion from these military developments
was clear: Washington and Paris are now engaging in a secret new war in
East Africa ¬– a region where up to 12 million people are at risk of
starvation from years of drought and Western-induced conflict.
On
27 October, the Washington Post cited US military officials confirming
the deployment of attack and surveillance drones in "a rapidly expanding
US-led proxy war against an al Qaeda affiliate in East Africa". The
UAVs – also known as Reapers or Hunter Killers – are believed to be
operated from a site in southern Ethiopia, Arba Minch, as well as from
US bases in Djibouti and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
The
WP report states: "The [US] Air Force has invested millions of dollars
to upgrade an airfield in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, where it has built a
small annex to house a fleet of drones that can be equipped with
Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The Reapers began flying
missions earlier this year over neighboring Somalia… The location of the
Ethiopian base and the fact that it became operational this year,
however, have not been previously disclosed."
This disclosure of
US military operations in Somalia amounts to an admission that
Washington is at war. However, the Washington Post, while stating
"rapidly expanding US-led proxy war", does not highlight the legal
implications of that startling admission, concentrating its reportage on
technical and logistical issues that are providing "support for [US]
security assistance programs".
Iranian news channel Press TV –
citing civilian eyewitnesses and Kenyan and Somali military officials –
has been one of the few media outlets that has consistently reported the
almost daily lethal US drone attacks in southern Somalia since the
Kenyan invasion. However, even Press TV has not drawn the explicit
conclusion that this amounts to war.
While the other Western news
media, including the BBC, Reuters and the New York Times, had earlier
reported increased US drone activity in Somalia between June and
September, these outlets appeared to have dropped coverage of the deadly
attacks being reported since and just before 16 October.
Following
the disclosure in the Washington Post, the BBC on 28 October seemed to
resume its coverage, with the headline: "US flies drones from Ethiopia
to fight Somali militants". The BBC, as with the WP, does not view this
as an act of war, and stressed that the "remotely-piloted drones were
being used only for surveillance" – contrary to evidence on the ground.
As
well as playing down the fact of US-led war in Somalia, the mainstream
media now seem to be crafting a new narrative for the military
offensive. The initial pretext for the Kenyan ground invasion faithfully
repeated in the Western media was the "hot pursuit" of kidnap gangs
allegedly belonging to Al Shabab. It is true that there has been a spate
of kidnappings of Western holidaymakers and aid workers from Kenyan
territory by gangs suspected to originate inside Somalia. However, there
is no proof that Al Shabab has been involved and indeed the militant
group has denied any involvement.
Now it seems that the
rationale being given for the Kenyan invasion and Western "technical
support" has subtly morphed into an extension of the "war on terror".
Al Shabab has been waging an insurgency against the Transitional Federal
Government in Mogadishu, which was installed in 2009 with the support
of US and other Western governments as a bulwark against the Islamists.
The TFG has only managed to maintain a tenuous grip on power thanks in
part to Washington's military and economic support and to the presence
of thousands of African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi.
Al
Shabab is on Washington's terror list and is accused of having links to
Al Qaeda. However, many Western analysts do not consider Al Shabab to
be a regional threat. The Council on Foreign Relations, the
Washington-aligned think-tank, estimates that the group has only a few
hundred hardcore combatants and that its alleged links to Al Qaeda may
be no more than rhetorical. Nevertheless, the militants have prevented
the pro-Western TFG from gaining control of the country. In that way,
the group has thwarted Washington and Western geopolitical dominance of
the strategically important East African maritime territory.
This
would seem to be a more plausible explanation for the US/French/Kenyan
war in Somalia. Namely, the assertion of Western geopolitical control,
rather than "war on terror" and certainly not the hot pursuit of kidnap
gangs. That gives the real meaning behind the "constellation of US drone
bases" being operated in the region – to strike any African country
when and where required. Currently, Somalia (and Yemen) is in the firing
line. But the entire region appears being turned into a "drone alley".
It is perhaps only a matter of time before reports emerge of drone
activity in Sudan, Eritrea, Uganda and elsewhere. The recent deployment
of US Special Forces in Uganda and other Central African countries is
also a harbinger of this strategic force projection.
The bigger
picture to this is, as John Pilger noted previously in Global Research, a
"modern scramble for African resources" by Western powers, which have
in recent years watched enviously the growing influence of China in the
region. This neo-imperialist scramble for Africa is consistent with
NATO's conquest of Libya. The close collaboration between the US and
France in the bombing of North Africa is now being rolled out in East
Africa.
It also marks a new era of lawlessness by Western powers.
Not only can President Barack Obama personally order the assassination
of individuals with his penchant for "hunter killer" drones. Evidently
from developments in Somalia, Commander-in-Chief Obama is no longer
obliged to notify the US Congress or the American people of their
country's engagement in new wars. Nor is he obliged to even seek a phony
UN mandate. Not so long ago such abuse of power would be sure grounds
for impeachment.
Finian Cunningham is Global Research's Middle East and East Africa correspondent
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27360
Thursday, November 3, 2011
America's War in the Horn of Africa: “Drone Alley” – a Harbinger of Western Power across the African Continent
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Followers
Blog Archive
-
▼
2011
(8499)
-
▼
November
(1134)
- रीटेल एफ डी आई से कारोबार पर विदेशी पूंजी काबिज और...
- ‘MINDCONTROL’ AND ELECTRONIC WEAPONS - VICTIMS' OR...
- Welcome to the world of corporate psychopaths
- Financial 'vultures' poised to swoop on Africa thr...
- MEDVEDEV: RUSSIA SERVES NOTICE November 28, 2011 B...
- Nepal Updates
- Statement Condemning Repression Against Anti POSCO...
- he GOP’s Middle Class Tax Increase
- F-22s Gobble Up More Billions
- Adivasi Bounded Labour Killed,No Justice yet.-Than...
- US war against Pakistan?
- PIL to Register FIR Against Mukesh Ambani, RIL
- The lawsuit that could end the gangster rule of We...
- Throw These Cooking Oils in the Trash
- Retail FDI: The Calculations and Compulsions..
- Manual scavengers poster -READ
- Irula Tribe women sexualy abused by Police - Tiruk...
- Sr. Valsa case with the National Commission for Women
- Oh The aggressors! Oh The killers of the Innocent ...
- MY AUSTRIA VISIT AND PROJECT OF HOPE Asghar Ali En...
- Fwd: BAMCEF & RMS 28TH N.C. 24TH TO 28TH DEC 2011,...
- Fwd: [OrissaConcerns] Statement on the Repression ...
- Fwd: declare aadhaar illegal, pleads suit - bangal...
- Fwd: [bangla-vision] FD News and an important action
- Fwd: हस्तक्षेप.कॉम चल अन्ना घर आपने रेन भई यह देश…
- Fwd: Tom Burghardt: Target Iran - Washington's Cou...
- Fwd: Kanimozhee bhee Kaanee ho Gayee!
- Fwd: Truth behind the appeal to Hindus - One secon...
- Fwd: (Desiyatra)-- Sharad slap unites Indian polit...
- Fwd: Today's Exclusives - Controversial stock oper...
- In Tamil Nadu’s southern districts, prisoners are ...
- Fishy Friends By Nigar Ataulla
- Rapid Haramikaran Of India - Growth Rate Food 2%, ...
- Dalit labourer dies, nephew alleges he was beaten
- Water politics in the Jordan River basin
- Dr. Bhupen Hazarika honoured in London - 1999
- declare aadhaar illegal, pleads suit - bangalore, ...
- DGP Mr. BR Lall – Crusader Against ‘Black Money’ N...
- The glimpses of Post FDI in retail
- Anand Sharma writes to parties clarifying FDI stance
- The Miqati Government in Lebanon – Continued Subju...
- Miami-protest spokesman led 'Nuke Israel' rally
- Why not open debate on Holocaust?+Capitalism under...
- Discussion on Karnataka Guarantee of Services to C...
- Statue of Liberty – an Egyptian Peasant Lady?
- Moroccan opposition warns of silent majority
- De Jager talks tough as he heads to Berlin for tal...
- Debt Crisis Belgium under the tutelage of Brussels?
- Eurobond talk should not be 'taboo', Monti tells V...
- Will Global Financial Demolition Lead To New World...
- Would uranium sales to India breach a key Labor tr...
- Fwd: [Occupy Kolkata] i know casteism in india is ...
- Fwd: [Marxistindia] CPI(M) Supports Traders Call f...
- Fwd: Julie Lévesque: Protest in Syria: Media Lies ...
- Fwd: [Occupy Delhi] IN 1886-94, DURING THE SANTHAL...
- Fwd: [Occupy Delhi] PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC STUDENT...
- Bangladesh: International anti-imperialism conference
- 5,000,000 North East Indian Migrations Expected in...
- Prosecutor: Reagan, Bush not criminally liable
- LIVING IN GERMANY
- Occupy Everywhere: Michael Moore, Naomi Klein on N...
- The People's Surveillance State
- Washington's $8 Billion Shadow
- Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? ...a p...
- Israel's technology or its politics that the minis...
- Targeted Individual due for execution unless we dr...
- FDI in Retail for 99% Indians – Vendors, Farmers, ...
- HUNDREDS RALLY IN MUZAFFARABAD AGAINST MFN STATUS ...
- KSA: Thousands in Eastern Province Chant Death to ...
- LIBYA: Thousands accused of Gaddafi links held by ...
- RSS A pure religion- LIKE SIKHS/Jaina/ BUDHA/= wit...
- Dead Man Talking: More Fake Encounters in Gujarat
- 21st Greatest Sikh Traitor Parkash Chand Badal ina...
- Up to 25 Pak soldiers dead in NATO chopper attack
- Abhay Sahu, leader of anti-POSCO movement arrested
- login immediately Meshram saheb speaking
- Nuclear emergency in Japan: lessons for India
- DRUM- Desis Rising Up & Moving
- World's Largest and Longest Invisible War
- Regards to PIL- Chinese expert praises Indian courts-
- Non-discrimination and Equality in India Contestin...
- Akal Takht, SGPC condemn slapping of Sharad Pawar
- Urbanization key to speedy growth: RBI governor
- Egypt's economy slumps under weight of unrest
- FDI decision taken to help Rahul's foreign friends...
- Kishenji's body identified by niece
- aviation crisis News Stories
- KISHENJI SPECIAL Calcutta Corner Why is Mamata Ban...
- Bring the spice back The men have left the Sunderb...
- Maoists allege fake encounter PRONAB MONDAL
- Blunted: Maoist peril & CPM slur - CM scores twin ...
- Hunt for Suchitra yields purse NARESH JANA
- State to fly Kishan’s body home if identified by n...
- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111126/jsp/frontpag...
- Egg on the face of fake Tagore champions - All 20 ...
- State steps up border vigil Police escort for fore...
- Kishan wily, govt wilier Parivartan and penetratio...
- Reforms Drive is in Topmost Gear Now in Absence of...
- Fog effect: 28 trains to remain cancelled for two ...
- ISHRAT JAHAN: MURDER IN COLD BLOOD Ram Puniyani
-
▼
November
(1134)
No comments:
Post a Comment