How we doing on that 'Warron Terra'?

[TriSec]

Let's check out Somalia...

http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/06/06/islamists_claim_rout_of_us_tied_forces_in_somalia/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+World+News

PRETORIA -- Islamic fighters claimed control over the Somali capital of Mogadishu yesterday following weeks of deadly street battles that left hundreds dead and wounded, dealing a major blow to US counterterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa region.

The Islamist militia took up arms several months ago against a secular alliance of warlord-businessmen that had publicly committed to battle terrorist groups in Somalia. Those secular warlords had close ties with Central Intelligence Agency officials, who were pressing to dismantle Islamist factions in a hunt for Al Qaeda operatives, according to analysts and interviews with Somali warlords.

Reports from Mogadishu yesterday said most US-allied warlords had fled or were fleeing.

Somalia has been a critical location for US counterterrorism activities in the Horn of Africa because of the possibility that terrorists could set up base and buy protection in a country that hasn't had a functioning central government for 15 years. The bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the bombing of a hotel in Kenya in 2002 are thought to have been carried out by a Mogadishu-based Al Qaeda cell.

The US government has focused on several potential trouble spots in Africa, including the vast, unpoliced Saharan deserts in west Africa and sophisticated Islamic networks in South Africa that produce counterfeit passports, but none has been as worrisome as Somalia's lawless environment.

``The Islamist takeover means that the policy and the strategy of the United States has gone terribly wrong," said Suliman Baldo , director of the Africa program for the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit that works to resolve conflicts around the world. ``The US will need to think very quickly the alternatives to that strategy" that had depended upon Mogadishu's ousted warlords.

[sutz12]

1. Don't we have someone there.....

we can give a Medal of Freedom to?

"Doing a fine job, a heckuva job." :sarcasm: