http://www.chris-floyd.com/There is more travail in Somalia, the land that time forgot – but the War on Terror did not. As reported copiously here, Somalia is the third "regime change" operation of Bush's globe-devouring Terror War. (Check out at least some of the stories gathered here to get an idea of the death and suffering spawned by the American-backed upheaval.) This blood-red op was conducted largely by proxy, through the invading armies of Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi and Somali warlords on the CIA payroll.
But Bush, as we all know, is a hands-on kinda guy, so there was direct U.S. participation in the carnage as well, in the form of bombing raids on fleeing civilians, rendition of refugees (including American citizens) to Ethiopian torture chambers, and the use of what could only be called American death squads in the aftermath of the war. As we noted here in a June post about a very pro-Pentagon article in Esquire:
Barnett reveals that the gunship attacks on
refugees were just the first part of the secret U.S. mission that was "Africa Command's" debut on the imperial stage. Soon after the attacks, "Task Force 88, a very secret American special-operations unit," was helicoptered into the strike area. As Barnett puts it: "The 88's job was simple: Kill anyone still alive and leave no unidentified bodies behind."
That line may yet prove to be the credo of the entire Terror War.
From this violent genesis, the regime installed by Bush and Meles has tottered on, more dead than alive, presiding over the further crumbling of Somali society. Hundreds of thousands of people fled or were driven from their homes in the initial invasion and "mopping up" by the regime changers. The inevitable insurgency arose in response to the invasion, and the usual several-sided conflict is now raging across and within clan, religious and regional lines. Resistance among ordinary people to the continuing occupation by foreign invaders and the corrupt, cack-handed government of CIA warlords and hand-picked satraps is growing. And that cack-handed government is now falling apart.
Demonstrations against the iron-fisted Ethiopian occupation broke out in Mogadishu over the weekend – and were met with deadly fire from the "liberators," who gunned down several civilians, the BBC reports:
The AFP news agency reported that a young boy and two other people died when troops opened fire at a demonstration. The firing began after crowds threw stones and set tyres ablaze. "They have started firing again and I have no way to move my family," said Sahra Osman, a widow with five children, quoted by Reuters as clashes erupted earlier on Sunday.