Article

2022-12-25 Africa Horn

US military conducts a self-defense strike in Somalia

[ShabelleMedia] At the request of the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command conducted a self-defense strike, on Dec. 23, in support of Somali National Army engagements against al-Shabaab

...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
248 km northeast of Mogadishu near Cadale, Somalia.

The command’s initial assessment is the strike killed six al-Shabaab Death Eaters and that no civilians were maimed or killed.

Garowe adds:

This is the third such strike in 10 days, and it occurred in the same area of Somalia near the city of Cadale, about 150 miles northeast of the capital of Mogadishu.

The first was on December 14, and AFRICOM said seven al-Shabaab
...... Somalia's version of the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
holy warriors were killed. The second strike came three days later and killed eight Al-Shabaab militants.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-12-25 01:38|| || Front Page|| [11140 views ] Top
File under: al-Shabaab (AQ)

#1 We have absolutely no business in Somalia.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-12-25 03:25|| 2022-12-25 03:25|| Front Page Top

#2 If we didn't transport young, strong, angry, active people to violent, armpit of the world, shithole nations...they would be here. /nosarc

Posted by Skidmark 2022-12-25 05:13|| 2022-12-25 05:13|| Front Page Top

#3 We got there because of the media showing starving children night after night on the tv screen. We knew what was going to happen next.

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-12-25 07:54|| 2022-12-25 07:54|| Front Page Top

#4 Nuke Iran and everything will calm down!

Posted by Ho Chi Gurly-Brown5202 2022-12-25 12:14|| 2022-12-25 12:14|| Front Page Top

#5 What in God's Name are we doing in Somalia? Killing people at the request of the local fake government, essentially a mercenary act for a foreign power. Somehow the defending the United States military use of force fig leaf is getting really, really thin.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2022-12-25 14:27|| 2022-12-25 14:27|| Front Page Top

#6 Having experienced a painful extraction from 20+ years of military involvement in Afghanistan, and before that Iraq, minor involvement in Somalia appears harmless. Forgetting of course, that most foreign misadventures begin as 'minor involvements.'

I believe the field of psychophysics labels the term perceptional contrasts.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-12-25 14:59|| 2022-12-25 14:59|| Front Page Top

#7 Responsible Statecraft - Pentagon doesn’t know if it trained Burkina Faso coup leader

Capt. Ibrahim Traore deposed the last guy who overthrew the government — Lt. Col. Sandaogo Damiba — who did extensive training with the Americans.

n Burkina Faso late last month, Capt. Ibrahim Traore overthrew Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a fellow military officer who had seized power in a January coup. Last week, Traore was declared “Head of State, Supreme Head of the Armed Forces,” according to an official statement.

Prior to his putsch, Damiba took part in at least a half-dozen U.S. training events, according to U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM. In fact, since 2008, U.S.-trained officers have attempted at least nine coups (and succeeded in at least eight) across five West African countries, including Burkina Faso (three times), Guinea, Mali (three times), Mauritania, and the Gambia.

Is Traore the tenth West African officer to add to the growing tally? The Pentagon has no idea.

Since late September, Responsible Statecraft has sought answers from AFRICOM and the Office of the Secretary of Defense without success. “We do not have information for you on Capt. Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso,” a Pentagon spokesperson, who refused to provide their name, responded via email after nearly a week of repeated queries. AFRICOM is also in the dark.

“This is something we will have to research and get back to you,” said AFRICOM spokesperson Kelly Cahalan, noting that there did “not appear to be any linkages” between Traore and U.S. training exercises, while leaving open the possibility that he could have been connected to “other engagements” with the United States.

Damiba, who fled to neighboring Togo after being deposed, had taken part in many U.S. “engagements.” In 2010 and 2020, for example, he participated in Flintlock, an annual Special Operations Command Africa exercise focused on enhancing the counterterrorism capabilities of West African nations, including Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger. In 2013, Damiba was took part in an Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance course. In 2013 and 2014, he attended a U.S.-sponsored Military Intelligence Basic Officer Course. And in 2018 and 2019, Damiba participated in engagements with a U.S. Civil Military Support Element in Burkina Faso. And he was hardly an outlier.

In 2020, Col. Assimi Goïta, who attended U.S. training exercises and a Joint Special Operations University seminar at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, headed the junta that overthrew Mali’s government. Goïta stepped down to take the job of vice president in a transitional government tasked with returning Mali to civilian rule, only to seize power again in his second coup in nine months.

Last year, a Guinean special forces unit led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya took time out from training with U.S. Green Berets to storm the presidential palace and depose the country’s 83-year-old president, Alpha Condé. Doumbouya soon declared himself Guinea’s new leader.

A key reason that the U.S. military is unsure of whether it has mentored Traore is a lack of record-keeping. AFRICOM does not keep tabs on what becomes of the officers it trains, nor does it know which have conducted coups. “AFRICOM does not actively track individuals who’ve received U.S. training after the training has been completed,” Cahalan told Responsible Statecraft, noting that the command does not maintain a list of African officers who have overthrown their governments or even keep a count of how many times its occurred. “AFRICOM does not maintain a database with this information.”

The Office of the Secretary of Defense was hopeful that the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Pentagon research institution, or the State Department might have information about Traore. The State Department refused to comment on the record. The Africa Center did not respond to multiple inquiries by Responsible Statecraft.

But of course our government does know.

Posted by Besoeker 2022-12-25 15:13|| 2022-12-25 15:13|| Front Page Top

#8 Maybe they were just prescient in choosing to train the next "up and coming guy"?

/yeah, I know

Posted by Frank G 2022-12-25 15:19|| 2022-12-25 15:19|| Front Page Top

Oh WAIT !

Posted by Besoeker 2022-12-25 15:27|| 2022-12-25 15:27|| Front Page Top

08:52 Matt
08:38 Gleng Whaick2262
08:35 Gleng Whaick2262
08:35 Gleng Whaick2262
08:33 Gleng Whaick2262
08:32 Gleng Whaick2262
08:31 Gleng Whaick2262
08:28 Gleng Whaick2262
08:24 Matt
08:20 SteveS
07:43 Procopius2k
07:42 BrerRabbit
07:42 Procopius2k
07:39 Procopius2k
07:36 Procopius2k
07:35 Procopius2k
07:34 trailing wife
07:31 Procopius2k
07:30 NN2N1
07:22 NN2N1
07:18 trailing wife
07:14 Richard Aubrey
07:10 NN2N1
07:09 Besoeker