U.S.: A dangerous game in Somalia
The Los Angeles Times has a very critical editorial on U.S. current clandestine activities supporting the warlords in southern Somalia. It reads:Â Â
In Somalia, it’s not merely stupid to assume that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. It’s liable to get you killed. Yet the United States appears to be supporting one group of Somali warlords, who have repackaged themselves as secular anti-terrorists, to fight another group of equally brutal Islamist Somali warlords. The U.S. involvement, an open secret since 2002, became undeniable this month after fighting between the two sides killed at least 140 people in Mogadishu. Last week, White House and State Department spokesmen didn’t bother, even when asked, to shoot down reports that the U.S. is backing one of the warring militias — thus backhandedly confirming that the Somalia operation had White House approval. (John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, did deny that the United States had violated a U.N. embargo on sending arms to Somalia. Cynics say that means the U.S. gave the warlords cash instead of guns.). Â
The LA Times concludes by saying that:Â
The Bush administration fears that Al Qaeda operatives and “foreign fighters” are profiting from Somalia’s chaos to establish a beachhead in the strategic Horn of Africa. Even if these concerns are valid, arming thugs to fight a proxy war against Islamists is a clumsy game the U.S. is likely to lose. …. National security advisor Stephen Hadley, a veteran of decades of mostly failed Third World proxy battles with the Soviet Union, should put a stop to this silliness now. Instead, the U.S. should stick to its policy of trying to help create a government that can finally end the anarchy in Somalia. Â
I agree with the LA Times that the U.S. is currently pursuing a counter-productive foreign policy in Somalia. The long-term strategic U.S. interests as well as the national security interests of Somalia can be best served by helping the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to fulfill its mandate of stabilizing the country politically, economically and militarily. Undermining the TFG by showering millions of dollars to the enemy of the Somali Nation will not yield desired political outcome for either party. The U.S. must change course!Â