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| Africa Horn |
| US willing to extend olive branch to Islamic courts in Somalia |
| 2006-06-07 |
| The Bush administration has decided to extend an olive branch, at least for the moment, to Islamic forces that this week seized control of Mogadishu, capital of the lawless East African country of Somalia, a senior administration official said yesterday. "We think that there is room for discussion with any viable political actor in Somalia," the official said, including the forces loyal to the religious movement and militia known as the Islamic Courts Union. "The situation is still in flux . . . but in terms of our strategic objectives," including preventing Somalia from becoming a haven for al-Qaeda operatives and addressing the country's severe humanitarian problems, "we've got to deal with the political realities on the ground." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #10 OTOH - could simply serve to calm and concentrate the targeting choices. |
| Posted by: Angotle Threretle5507 2006-06-07 22:56 |
| #9 Feelings, nothing more than feelings. This is WaPo. Read the story. They quote one bit, then insert, unquoted, the bits about Sharia Courts and other idiocies. Not one actual quote supports the headline. Trash. WaPo. Nay, my son. Thou art of a far greater intelligence than thy comments. May be thy baggage doth drag thee down into the fevered swamps of WaPo. Chilleth thyself. Think upon the still waters of truth. Buyeth not the spin. Raise thyself up, yea, unto the heavens, and rejoice! Cuz this is just typical WaPo Shit posing as reporting. Halleluja! Thou art healed! |
| Posted by: flyover 2006-06-07 22:55 |
| #8 Welcome to the wide wonderful world of charcuterie and lawmaking. Quite the ugly spectacle and about as appetizing. Lending the least credibility to Islamic "law courts" is simply suicidal. I feel this is yet another case of Bush's faith-based sandbag coming home to roost. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-06-07 22:45 |
| #7 lets not forget, we offered the Taliban a deal way back in September 2001, before we started Op Enduring Freedom. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-07 13:24 |
| #6 its not clear to me if A. The guys the AQ guys are sheltering with are the same folks running these Islamic Courts, or B. If the Islamic courts crowd is united, or is ridden by factions with different agendas. In either case, assuming they ARE keeping the AQ guys, and they ARE a united group (like the core of the Taliban were) its still worth offering them a deal - just like we offered Qaddafi a deal. If they take it, we get the AQ guys. If they turn it down, well then its on to plan B. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-07 13:23 |
| #5 Too late LH. There are reports of quite a few Arabs fighting with the Somali taliban. The Somali islamists are already sheltering those responsible for the US embassy attacks in Tanzania and Kenya. They are also sheltering those responsible for the attacks on the Kenyan Jewish vacation resort and El-Al airliner, and who knows what else. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-06-07 11:51 |
| #4 US willing to extend olive branch to Islamic courts in Somalia U.S. agrees to talks with Iran on nuclear program Now all he's to do is resume relations with Paleos, and we'd have an unholy trinity. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-06-07 11:42 |
| #3 Or, more ideally, turn over al-Qaeda operatives in return for friendly relations and aid. |
| Posted by: Odysseus 2006-06-07 11:30 |
| #2 1. There may not be a viable alternative and 2. They may agree to keep out AQ. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-06-07 09:19 |
| #1 Why? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-06-07 08:46 |