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| Africa Horn |
| Somali warlords on the run in the wake of the fall of Mogadishu |
| 2006-06-06 |
| After months of fierce fighting, Islamic militias declared Monday that they had taken control of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, defeating the warlords widely believed to be backed by the United States and raising questions about whether the country would head down an extremist path. The battle for Mogadishu has been a proxy war, of sorts, in the Bush administration's campaign against terrorism, with the warlords echoing Washington's goal of rooting out radical Islam and the presence of Al Qaeda in the region. But as the warlords who have ruled over Mogadishu for the last 15 years went on the run on Monday, it appeared that Washington had backed the losing side, presenting the administration with a major setback at a time of continued sectarian violence in Iraq and the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #11 And the goats a seven. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-06-06 13:20 |
| #10 On the freedom scale, the women should achieve a zero, the men a four with perks (little girls and goats). |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-06-06 13:19 |
| #9 should be "or cutting off" |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-06 12:01 |
| #8 dan, what we more do we know about these islamic courts guys? 1. Are they salafists? where on the Sunni spectrum do they fall? 2. what links to AQ are there? Do all of them have said links, or just a faction? 3. What are there plans for Sharia? garden variety family law, of cutting off hands, state imposed veils, etc, etc In other words, apart from the parallels in how theyve come to power, how much like the Taliban are they really? |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-06 12:00 |
| #7 Well, we know who won. Now flatten the place... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-06-06 11:38 |
| #6 Not a peep out of Italy through all this. Curious. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-06-06 10:57 |
| #5 It's just a pity they both can't lose... |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2006-06-06 10:08 |
| #4 Whoever is the loosing side at the time, Mike. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-06-06 09:47 |
| #3 Warlords . . . Islamofascists . . . who do I root for? |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-06-06 07:49 |
| #2 Well no worries, Somalia wasnt exactly not a terrorist safehaven before this battle.. or the last 15 years... |
| Posted by: bgrebel 2006-06-06 06:04 |
| #1 ...a major setback... Typical NYT hyperbole. I'm not losing any sleep over the previous tenants, and I doubt if GWB is either. In fact, now that AQ types are in control I hope he feels free to send 'em a JDAM or Hellfire postcard from time to time... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2006-06-06 01:51 |