The reinvasion of Somalia

While Trump’s national security adviser, General H.R. McMaster, pushes for a full-scale invasion of Syria, Trump is quietly sending our military back into Somalia.

The new deployment, which US African Command (AFRICOM) is presented as a simple training operation, will be the first time US ground troops are officially deployed to Somalia, though of course the US has had some special forces present on the ground on and off, conducting occasional operations and spotting for US airstrikes.
AFRICOM also insists the new deployment was at the request of the Somali government, though indications in recent weeks has indicated that military officials have been pushing for an escalation of US intervention in the country at any rate, aimed at fighting al-Shabaab.

This didn't happen overnight. Trump has been preparing this escalation for weeks.

President Trump has relaxed some of the rules for preventing civilian casualties when the American military carries out counterterrorism strikes in Somalia, laying the groundwork for an escalating campaign against Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa.
The decision, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations, gives commanders at the United States Africa Command greater latitude to carry out offensive airstrikes and raids by ground troops against militants with the Qaeda-linked Islamist group Shabab. That sets the stage for an intensified pace of combat there, while increasing the risk that American forces could kill civilians.

Which is just what Somalia needs - more bombs. I wonder what would be the reaction in Somalia if we dropped loaves of bread instead of high explosives?

Fatumata's story is shared by millions of Somalis -- the country is on the edge of a catastrophic famine, according to the United Nations.
Over six million people are in need of food assistance -- more than half the country's population -- according to recent figures from the UN.
But even inside the camps, food is scarce.
The drought, impending famine and the presence of Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group, have left the country and its people in a desperate situation.
"The situation is critical in Somalia. People are dying of hunger and there is no water," Ibrahim tells CNN.
"This drought is even worse than 2011. We haven't seen any food aid yet."
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warning: link to my old DKos diary

But it's a real good diary

And this Docudharma essay from 2011

You might have read something about Somalia as the U.N. prepares to declare the nation in a “full phase-five famine” situation. Translated, that means when a ‘humanitarian emergency’ tips into ‘famine/humanitarian catastrophe’.

  Malnutrition wards are filling up. The crisis is already worse than the situation that led to U.N. intervention in 1991. We are staring into the face of a regional famine the world has not seen since Ethiopia in 1984. There are millions of people currently at risk.

 This is generally a situation that calls for people and nations to come together to prevent a catastrophe of epic proportions. Human decency and civilisation requires it. So what is our government doing in Somalia in the name of America and humanity in general?

  For starers, we are increasing our bombing campaign of Somalia. After all, if they are dying anyway we might as well help them along.

  However, let us not be said that we don’t have something special for the ones that are living – torture cells.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

@gjohnsit @gjohnsit

time.

The people of the African, like those in the Middle East, are sitting on OUR assets and we do not intend to allow them to think otherwise. It is what it always is, military madness in support of ' our American Empire'.

So how many U.S. military bases are there in Africa? It’s a simple question with a simple answer. For years, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) gave astock response: one. Camp Lemonnier in the tiny, sun-bleached nation of Djibouti was America’s only acknowledged “base” on the continent. It wasn’t true, of course, because there were camps, compounds, installations, and facilities elsewhere, but the military leaned hard on semantics.

Take a look at the Pentagon’s official list of bases, however, and the number grows. The 2015 report on the Department of Defense’s global property portfolio lists Camp Lemonnier and three other deep-rooted sites on or near the continent: U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, a medical research facility in Cairo, Egypt, that was established in 1946; Ascension Auxiliary Airfield, a spacecraft tracking station and airfield located 1,000 miles off the coast of West Africa that has been used by the U.S. since 1957; and warehouses at the airport and seaport in Mombasa, Kenya, that were built in the 1980s.

That’s only the beginning, not the end of the matter. For years, variousreporters have shed light on hush-hush outposts -- most of them built, upgraded, or expanded since 9/11 -- dotting the continent, including so-calledcooperative security locations (CSLs). Earlier this year, AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez disclosed that there were actually 11 such sites. Again, devoted AFRICOM-watchers knew that this, too, was just the start of a larger story, but when I asked Africa Command for a list of bases, camps and other sites, as I periodically have done, I was treated like a sap.

“In all, AFRICOM has access to 11 CSLs across Africa. Of course, we have one major military facility on the continent: Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti,” Anthony Falvo, AFRICOM’s Public Affairs chief, told me. Falvo was peddling numbers that both he and I know perfectly well are, at best, misleading. “It’s one of the most troubling aspects of our military policy in Africa, and overseas generally, that the military can’t be, and seems totally resistant to being, honest and transparent about what it’s doing,” says David Vine, author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.

Research by TomDispatch indicates that in recent years the U.S. military has, in fact, developed a remarkably extensive network of more than 60 outposts and access points in Africa. Some are currently being utilized, some are held in reserve, and some may be shuttered. These bases, camps, compounds, port facilities, fuel bunkers, and other sites can be found in at least 34 countries -- more than 60% of the nations on the continent -- many of them corrupt,repressive states with poor human rights records. The U.S. also operates “Offices of Security Cooperation and Defense Attaché Offices in approximately 38 [African] nations,” according to Falvo, and has struck close to 30 agreements to use international airports in Africa as refueling centers.
https://www.blackagendareport.com/node/4844

Research by TomDispatch indicates that in recent years the U.S. military has, in fact, developed a remarkably extensive network of more than 60 outposts and access points in Africa. Some are currently being utilized, some are held in reserve, and some may be shuttered. These bases, camps, compounds, port facilities, fuel bunkers, and other sites can be found in at least 34 countries -- more than 60% of the nations on the continent -- many of them corrupt, repressive states with poor human rights records. The U.S. also operates “Offices of Security Cooperation and Defense Attaché Offices in approximately 38 [African] nations,” according to Falvo, and has struck close to 30 agreements to use international airports in Africa as refueling centers.

There is no reason to believe that even this represents a complete accounting of America’s growing archipelago of African outposts. Although it’s possible that a few sites are being counted twice due to AFRICOM’s failure to provide basic information or clarification, the list TomDispatch has developed indicates that the U.S. military has created a network of bases that goes far beyond what AFRICOM has disclosed to the American public, let alone to Africans.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_america's_empire_of_african_bases


http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/us-military-bases-africa

EDIT: added link for map

NOTE: : the site accepted this post without problem originally. When I added the link for the map (from Mother Jones) it wouldn't accept it because it said my first line was too long. NOTHING HAD CHANGED and it's done this a few times now. Not complaining because it's not a big deal to get around. Just making a note of the event's occurance.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

detroitmechworks's picture

While sending poor bastards to be shot at.

I'm starting to wish we could just start putting Generals in a nice little bubble where they THINK they're bombing people, and get all the shiny baubles they think they deserve.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks

A nice little padded bubble and nice, soft bombs to toss around, so that they can't hurt themselves.

Oh, great, HP is claiming that my computer needs to restart - and I suspect that HP isn't supposed to be operative, since everything expired... except that it said recently that I could no longer get replacement parts for my several-years-old computer, dated as of several months earlier. and now there's a message to disable apps to improve performance... Hope I can get back on without any problems, says the computer illiterate...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

@detroitmechworks an inescapable luxury island where we could trap all of those wackos.

I bet the population across the entire world would be happy to contribute to the luxuries needed to keep these gluttonous warmonger greedheads sated and out of our lives.

But yes, a nice war room for them to play in would be perfect.

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dfarrah

TheOtherMaven's picture

@dfarrah
but change the displays on the video screen to what would have happened if the commands were real.

They can play "Global Thermonuclear War" ad infinitum while the rest of us get on with our lives.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Cassiodorus's picture

The same things happen regardless.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Azazello's picture

@Cassiodorus
Somalia was one of the countries on the Deep State To-Do list according to Gen. Wesley Clark.
Clinton would have done the same damn thing.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

ggersh's picture

@Cassiodorus

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@Cassiodorus

... Jill Stein as President.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

I wonder what would be the reaction in Somalia if we dropped loaves of bread instead of high explosives?

Caring about desperate people gets in the way of enjoying all that machinery, which Brian Williams calls "beautiful", and which brings ever more desperation to these poor people.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Timmethy2.0 @Timmethy2.0

that machinery, which Brian Williams calls "beautiful"

I need to relocate that video and bookmark it. Should I accidentally swallow antifreeze, it will be the perfect thing to watch.

EDIT: Especially since you can't get ipecac any more.

Bad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Words fail me.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@dkmich

Don't worry, the other half will be bombed shortly, too. Bomb production will be ramped up as the military expands - although pay will have to be eliminated for the lower ranks. But food of some variety will be available for those active at the moment in combat duty. Turnip is good for you.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Socialprogressive's picture

I'm so confused.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

k9disc's picture

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu