Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:37:38 +0100
Fighting Al Shahab Rebels: Washington’s Terrorism or Counter-terrorism in
Somalia?
By <http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/ismail-salami> Dr. Ismail Salami
Global Research, January 21, 2014
Somalia has become a breeding ground for Washington’s black operations since
2001, with the African country suffering human losses due to US hegemonic
policies.
Only recently, it has been revealed that the US secretly deployed two dozens
of troops under the guise of military advisors. It is naïve to think that
the US has no ulterior motives other than giving advisory clues to the
military men in Somalia or protecting the security of the African people.
In 1993, the US embarked on a military expedition dubbed Operation Gothic
Serpent in Somalia under the pretext of eliminating a Somali warlord, an
operation which sadly caused massive human losses. Quite naturally, the US
swiftly exonerated itself and attributed it to a misstep.
According to Charles William Maynes, editor of Foreign Policy, CIA officials
privately concede <http://bev.berkeley.edu/fp/readings/Maynes.txt> that the
US military may have “killed from 7,000 to 10,000 Somalis during its
engagement. America lost only 34 soldiers. Notwithstanding that
extraordinary disparity, the decision was to withdraw.” So, the estimates
delivered by the US media have been drastically overlooked or
underestimated.
The fact is that there is no justification for this human catastrophe.
However, as is their wont, Washington officials barefacedly insist that
their mission was to capture Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid who was
openly opposed to the presence of the US in Somalia.
Later, much to the disappointment of many, this military farce was
unfortunately glorified on the screen by Ridley Scott in a movie called
Black Hawk Down.
Among other black operations in Somali is a series of killer drone sorties
which the US had been carrying out for years without openly acknowledging
the fact. It was in 2012 when the White House eventually lifted the lid of
secrecy on its black ops in the Horn of Africa and admitted to the crime for
the first time.
The US excuse for launching such attacks is the same old story: eradicating
the al-Qaeda elements.
A count by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism claims that
the US-conducted drone attacks have so far at least 112 Somali militants.
This treacherously dubious number excludes the 60 civilians who were killed
in the killer drone attacks. Washington’s method of distinguishing between
the civilians and non-civilians is understandably strange. Those who are
adults are non-civilians and those who are not, are civilians.
Interestingly, the US used to prefer a policy of denial regarding the drone
attacks until a few months ago when the CIA acknowledged that the drone
attacks in Somalia and other parts of Africa were carried out under the
supervision of the espionage agency.
Further to this, there is an active CIA station in Mogadishu. In August,
Jeremy Scahill reported on the CIA’s compound at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde
International Airport, sating, “the facility looks like a small gated
community, with more than a dozen buildings behind large protective walls
and secured by guard towers at each of its four corners. At the facility,
the CIA runs a counter-terrorism training program for Somali intelligence
agents and operatives aimed at building an indigenous strike force capable
of snatch operations and targeted “combat” operations against members of Al
Shabab.”
According to Scahill, the CIA is not in the least interested in dealing
directly with Somali political leaders, who they say are corrupt and
untrustworthy. Instead, the United States has Somali intelligence agents on
its payroll. Somali sources with knowledge of the program described the
agents as lining up to receive $200 monthly cash payments from Americans.
“They support us in a big way financially,” says the senior Somali
intelligence official. “They are the largest [funder] by far.”
What is the US really doing in Somalia?
A look at the natural resources of this country is enough to provide an
answer to this question.
An LA Times article reveals that nearly two-thirds of Somalia’s resources
were allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and
Phillips
<http://articles.latimes.com/1993-01-18/news/mn-1337_1_oil-reserves> in the
final years before Somalia’s pro-US President Mohamed Siad Barre was
overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry
sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising
concessions are hoping that the Bush Administration’s decision to send U.S.
troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their
multimillion-dollar investments there.
Officially, the Administration and the State Department insist that the U.S.
military mission in Somalia is strictly humanitarian. Oil industry spokesmen
dismissed as “absurd” and “nonsense” allegations by aid experts, veteran
East Africa analysts and several prominent Somalis that President Bush, a
former Texas oilman, was moved to act in Somalia, at least in part, by the
U.S. corporate oil stake.
According to a report issued by Range Resources, there are some huge oil
seeps in north Somalia (Somaliland) and in the southwest where Ethiopia,
Kenya and Somalia meet.
New estimates of the country’s oil reserves, onshore and offshore, run as
high as 110 billion barrels
<http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/03/01/Somalias-oil-p
rospects-add-new-dangers/UPI-81601330635213/> . According to the reports,
there are likely vast natural gas reserves in Somali waters in the Indian
Ocean. Add to that a series of fields which have been found off Mozambique
and Tanzania and which contain an estimated 100 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Under the banner of combating terrorism, the ghoul of imperialism
intervenes and vindicates its spree killer drone attacks and other inhuman
black operations and spares no efforts in reaping the ill gotten benefits of
its military lust in the Muslim lands.
somaliaMap
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