Posted by
mgraves on Monday, June 22, 2009 2:21:32 PM
This is just odd.
A couple years ago Ethiopia invaded Somalia--and brought fleeting security improvements to the lawless nation. Now, Somalia's "government" is requesting Ethiopian military aid in pushing back the "insurgents". Ethiopia has rejected the request.
1) Somalia does not really have a functioning government, so it is understandable that Ethiopia is unwilling to aid a "government" with no constituency. What is strange, however, is Ethiopia's insistence that such aid would require an "international" mandate.
2) How does one tell who the insurgents in Somalia are? With no functioning government and no professional security forces, it would be nigh impossible to pick an establishment. The only functioning security forces in the country are the African Union troops, currently at 4,300, and it is doubtful that those forces are professional enough--even assuming command and control could be managed--to fight back an insurgency, when there is no one for the insurgents to be fighting against (and, therefore, no one for the AU troops to be supporting).
Withdrawal in 1993 not only left UBL with the impression that the U.S. was a weak horse that could be attacked with impunity, but also left the heinous suffering and chaotic, terrorist breeding ground that is Somalia today.
Sometimes, when there is no obvious U.S. interest in a region, it is necessary to look outside the box. Somalia's lack of security threatens international shipping and provides a terrorist training ground. AQ operated out of East Africa before being chased to Afghanistan, it can do so again.