Blogs > MORE FROM POST CLINTON SOMALIA

Sep 27, 2006

MORE FROM POST CLINTON SOMALIA



"Somali pirates attacked five ships in the past week in a sharp rise of banditry apparently directed from a mysterious"mother ship" prowling the busy Indian Ocean corridor, shipping experts said on Friday." Read on and consider the implications for the commercial shipping and supplies of oil, grains and iron that past along that coast.

"HEAVY fighting apparently sparked by an Islamic militia's moves to close cinemas and video stores in the lawless Somali capital has killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 21." Read on and discover that the only functionist courts are the Islamist ones.

"Thirteen people have died of measles over the last three weeks in the northern Awdal region of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, medical sources confirmed in the capital, Hargeysa, on Sunday."

And, yes, there is more: Civil Insecurity Continues to Threaten Food Security and Livelihoods in Southern Somalia." The pirates are capturing UN food vessels. So, soon we will see the emaciated bodies that led us to go there in the first place.

Imagine Iraq as another Somalia and then opine.


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Jonathan Dresner - 11/15/2005

There is a direct line between Black Hawk Down and 9/11.

There's a direct line between the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and 9/11. There's a direct line between the support of the Taliban in Afghanistan and 9/11. If there's a connection between 9/11 and Saddam Hussein, then there's a direct line between our support of Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and 9/11.

The job of an historian is to figure out which are the important connections.

The same people who critisize the actions taken by this administration should not be permitted to avoid responsibility for the actions and inactions of the previous one.

The same people who attacked Clinton's every attempt to make progress in foreign affairs as an attempt to distract from his domestic troubles don't have a lot of credibility with me on this score, either.

Judith - 11/15/2005

I agree that Clinton was saddled with Somalia but, then, life is unfair. The role of a President is to deal with the cards he was dealt. The way he dealt with Somalia was disasterous for both Somalia and the US. His cutting and running left the people of Somalia high and dry with only warlord enabling NGOs; it created a black hole in a very strategic region and convinced Bin Laden it was safe to attack the US. Indeed, under Clinton it was more than safe, it was rewarded. There is a direct line between Black Hawk Down and 9/11. In other word, Bush (indeed, all of us) was saddled with post Clinton Somalia and its consequences. The same people who critisize the actions taken by this administration should not be permitted to avoid responsibility for the actions and inactions of the previous one.

Jonathan Dresner - 11/15/2005

This is even more interesting because when Clinton was elected I foresaw (though I didn't write it down anywhere, I'm afraid) that he would be saddled with the blame for the failure of the GHW Bush administration's Somali mission.

I'm not defending the Clinton Administration's Africa policy, but it's awfully hard to see what Clinton could have done differently without radical alterations of the political landscapes (and other realities)

marteen - 11/15/2005

I agree with Jonathan and I posted the same question the last time I saw the "post Clinton Somalia" post.

How do you construct an argument that Clinton’s failed attempt to help that country bestows ownership of that failed state on him?

Again, I feel you are completely overstating the power of the US president. If Indonesia some how deteriorates into anarchy, will Bush some how have responsibility because he directed some aid to that area after the Tsunami?

Jonathan Dresner - 11/15/2005

Why is this Clinton's fault?

How does calling it Clinton's mess suggest a solution?

Which international committments would you suggest we abandon in order to carry out the solution you propose?