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From: Haile Beyene (hbeyene@gmail.com)
Date: Thu Dec 02 2010 - 10:38:11 EST
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/wikileaked-cable-confirms-u-s-secret-somalia-op/
It was an off-hand compliment during a January 2007 dinner
meeting<http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2007/01/07ABUDHABI145.html>
between
Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, plus staff, and
then-U.S. Central Commander boss General John Abizaid. But Al Nayhan’s
jocular praise, as reported in WikiLeaks’ trove of leaked diplomatic cables,
is a rare admission that the United States played a central role in the
disastrous December 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, a move that
ultimately emboldened the very Islamic extremists the U.S. and Ethiopia had
hoped to squash.
“The Somalia job was fantastic,” Al Nahyan interjected between discussions
of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the prince’s desire to buy Reaper drones for his
air force. At the time of Al Nahyan’s comment, the dust was just settling
from Ethiopia’s *Blitzkrieg*-style
assault<http://www.warisboring.com/2007/01/16/behind-the-ethiopian-blitz/>
toward
Mogadishu. Some 50,000 Ethiopian troops, supported by T-55 tanks, Hind
helicopters and Su-27 jet fighters, had cut a bloody swath through the
lightly-armed forces of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of mostly
nationalist Islamic fighters that prior to the invasion had controlled much
of Somalia.
The Somali attack had surprised outside observers. Ethiopia and Somalia had
been rivals a long time, but no one had expected such brutal fighting, and
so suddenly. It was fairly obvious that Ethiopia had received significant
help — even urging — for its invasion. For one, Ethiopia’s air force did not
appear capable of coordinated air strikes in support of on-the-move ground
troops; it seemed likely that the Su-27s were piloted by Russian or
Ukrainian mercenaries — a time-honored
tradition<http://www.warisboring.com/2009/07/22/world-politics-review-mercenary-air-forces-underpin-afghanistan-africa-operations/>
in
Africa. What’s more, Ethiopia’s army didn’t possess the intelligence or
logistical skill for long-range operations. Those, not coincidentally, are
particular American strengths.
Washington certainly had a motive to get involved in Somalia. There was
growing concern in the White House and the Pentagon that Somalia’s Islamists
might ally themselves with Al Qaeda and turn to international terrorism.
Already with two escalating wars on its own plate, the U.S. was in no
position to openly lead its own large-scale attack on Somalia. It’d have
been far simpler to simply sponsor somebody else to do the dirty work. Enter
Ethiopia.
In early January following the invasion, *USA Today*’s Barbara Slavin
reported on Washington’s extensive behind-the-scenes
support<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-07-ethiopia_x.htm>
for
Ethiopian troops. “The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and
training,” Slavin noted. A couple days later, *The Washington Post*’s
Pauline Jelinek, citing anonymous sources, described U.S. Special
Forces<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011000438.html>
accompanying
Ethiopian troops. CBS news revealed that U.S. Air Force
gunships<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/08/world/main2335451.shtml>
were
active over southern Somalia during the Ethiopian blitz. Through all the
reporting, U.S. officials remained vague or silent on the subject of
Washington’s involvement. All the same, evidence was mounting that the U.S.
had played a leading role in the Ethiopian invasion. Journalists only
strongly suspected it, but Abu Dhabi prince Al Nayhan apparently knew it for
certain, if his praise of “the Somalia job” was any indication.
Three years later, it’s clear the Ethiopian invasion was a bad idea. The
attack rallied Somalis<http://www.warisboring.com/2009/07/22/world-politics-review-mercenary-air-forces-underpin-afghanistan-africa-operations/>
of
all stripes and politics against the invaders, ultimately boosting support
for fringe Islamic groups that now had a clear enemy in the Ethiopians and
their suspected American puppet-masters. Violence mounted as the Ethiopians
settled in for a bloody, two-year occupation.
When the Ethiopians withdrew in 2009, the Islamists rushed to fill the
vacuum. A year later, the Al Shabab Islamic group, successor to the Islamic
Courts, conducted its first international terror
attack<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/once-an-extremist-importer-somalia-now-exporting-terror/>.
Last month, a Somali-born American teen plotted to explode a
bomb<http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/28/nation/la-na-portland-bomb-plot-20101128>
in
Portland. Today, U.S. Special Forces continue to target terrorists in
Somalia. There are arguably more of them than ever, thanks in part to the
botched Ethiopian invasion. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and Ethiopia’s
entry in 2006 was not a really good idea,” U.S. diplomat Donald
Yamamoto<http://www.mshale.com/article/News/News/Ethiopian_Invasion_of_Somalia_a_Debacle_US_Official_says/18468>
said
in March.
Fantastic job, indeed.
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