Stretching Military Limits Beyond Capacity

U.S. Airstrike Aims at Qaeda Cell In Somalia

Given the reports from various think tanks, the DOD, the various branches of the military, and the generals clamoring for recruitment, it doesn't make sense to launch yet another military expedition or mission in another foreign nation. Additionally, given the number of fronts we are currently working, as well as the number of threats from significantly militaristic nations like Iran and North Korea, one would think we would want to keep our military close to the chest... so to speak.

We currently have troops serving in Bosnia (whether anyone wants to speak about this reality or not), Iraq, Afghanistan, as well as troops stationed in Germany, Japan, the UK, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Diego Garcia, Guam, Okinawa, South Korea and elsewhere. While the Army is meeting some of its recruitment goals according to internal reports and assessments, the Marines, Navy and Air Force have missed the mark in 2006, according to my sources. The trouble with recruitment reports and assessments is that the objectives shift and there really isn't an accurate or objective metric for assessing whether recruitment is meeting the needs of the military.

Thusly, we cannot really assess how stretched our military resources really are at the present moment. We can't ask congress because under the GOP leadership the reliability of oversight efforts was at best questionable (not that we can really predict that the Dems will do any better). We cannot rely upon the White House, the DOD, or any Bush administration officials to give us anything but a "stay the course" and a "trust me to do what's best for the nation" answer. Given the unreliability of the vast majority of statements coming from the Bush administration, we ought not to trust much of what President Bush or his gang has to say (especially in the scheduled speech on the "new plan" for Iraq).

Then we have to consider our last effort in Somalia. We did exactly what we have done in Iraq and Afghanistan. We went in with an overwhelming force and had no after invasion plan to establish the peace, restore order, curtail terrorists or warlord militias, or provide for restoration of the infrastructure.

Now we have provided a so-called surgical strike approach on the grounds that there are Al-Qaeda cells running loose in Somalia. But what evidence is there that such is the case? Given the chaos that has been the norm in Somalia, and the warlords that have run the place in a manner that was essentially constant gang warfare and criminal enterprise, how do we determine which gang is an Al-Qaeda cell and which is merely a gang of thugs seeking to loot, rape and pillage?

We need to seriously re-assess the thinking on this "war on terrorism." We are using military forces to conduct what is essentially law enforcement duties. It is like using a hand grenade to swat a fly. It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't make military sense. It doesn't make foreign policy sense. More importantly, it doesn't make sense in terms of costs, the number of lives lost or the number of wounded and disabled we are creating in the process.

A United States Air Force gunship carried out a strike Sunday night against suspected operatives of Al Qaeda in southern Somalia, a senior Pentagon official said Monday night.

The attack by an AC-130 gunship, which is operated by the Special Forces Command, is believed to have produced multiple casualties, the official said. It was not known Monday night whether the casualties included members of a Qaeda cell that American officials have long suspected was hiding in Somalia.

Special Forces units operating from an American base in Djibouti are conducting a hunt for Qaeda operatives who have been forced to flee Mogadishu, the Somali capital, since Islamic militants were driven from there by an Ethiopian military offensive last month.

The American attack was first reported by CBS News.

The Special Forces attack is the first military action in Somalia that Pentagon officials have acknowledged since American troops departed the lawless country in the wake of the infamous “Black Hawk Down” episode in 1993, when 18 American soldiers were killed in street fighting in Mogadishu.

American officials have long suspected that a handful of Qaeda suspects responsible for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania have been hiding inside Somalia, a country that has not had a central government since 1991.

The search for the terrorist suspects has driven American policy toward Somalia for several years.

Earlier this year, the Central Intelligence Agency began making cash payments to a group of Somali warlords who pledged to help hunt down members of the Qaeda cell.

After Islamist militias took control of Mogadishu in the summer, officials in Washington charged that the Islamists had ties to the terror suspects, and made demands for their handover to American custody.

The Ethiopian military offensive that began last month recently drove the Islamists from the seaside Somali capital, raising hopes within Washington that the Qaeda operatives might surface as they fled the protection of the Islamists. The Islamists have retreated to areas around the southern port city of Kismayo. Ethiopian officials have said they have intelligence reports that members of the Qaeda cell were hiding near the city.

The AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed propeller plane that, because of its slow speed, operates primarily at night and can direct an immense barrage of gunfire onto a target as it circles overhead.

The attack against suspected Qaeda operatives is the sort of targeted operation that senior Bush administration officials have been pressing the Special Operation Command, based in Tampa, Fla., to undertake in recent years.

But officials have said that Special Operations forces have had difficulty carrying out targeted strikes in the past because of the difficulty establishing the whereabouts of wanted terrorists or getting forces in place when a suspected militant is located.

The Central Intelligence Agency has killed a small number of suspected Qaeda members, using a pilotless drone armed with a missile. Among them were five people killed in Yemen in 2002.

It seems that we have escalated the attacks in Somalia as well as in Iraq.

Official: New U.S. Airstrikes Launched In Somalia

Another front in the U.S. war on terror could be opening in Somalia.

A Somali official said U.S. helicopter gunships launched new attacks against suspected al-Qaida terrorists Tuesday.

The new attacks came a day after forces launched airstrikes in the first offensive in the African country since 18 U.S. troops were killed there in 1993.

U.S. Special Operations forces launched at least three attacks. More strikes are likely.

The U.S. Navy is flying surveillance aircraft overhead. An aircraft carrier has joined two other warships with 6,000 crewmembers off the coast.

A witness said earlier that helicopter gunships launched new attacks close to the scene of Monday's U.S. airstrike. At the time, it was unclear whether they were Ethiopian or American helicopters.

The witness said helicopters fired several rockets toward the road that leads to the Kenyan border.

Earlier, an official and a witness said there were at least two U.S. airstrikes on different locations against terror targets in Somalia.

And Somalia's president said the United States has the right to carry out airstrikes against al-Qaida suspects in his country.

Officials said the targets were al-Qaida figures wanted for the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which killed more than 200 people.

A Somali government spokesman said there were "a lot" of casualties but exact numbers aren't known. He said most of the victims were Islamic fighters. But witnesses said civilians were killed. Unverified accounts by witnesses said 31 people have been killed, including a newlywed couple. One man told The Associated Press that his 4-year-old son was among them.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that the attacks took place Monday afternoon on an island on the southern tip of Somalia and close to the Kenyan border. The area is believed to be a suspected terror training base.

More U.S. ships are moving into the waters off Somalia to reinforce the military effort there. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet has dispatched the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower to join four other U.S. ships in the region.

"Due to rapidly developing events in Somalia, U.S. Central Command has tasked USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to join USS Bunker Hill, USS Ramage, USS Anzio and USS Ashland to support ongoing maritime security operations off the coast of Somalia," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain.

The press release said that U.S. ships will stop vessels and search them for al-Qaida terrorists attempting to escape from Somalia.

A press release from the U.S. Department of Defense said that the Ethiopian military entered Somalia Dec. 24 with the mission of neutralizing the Council of Islamic Courts. That military said that is a Muslim extremist group that took power in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The Ethiopian forces took the capital in 10 days and the suspected terrorists allegedly moved south toward the border with Kenya to escape.