An interesting military operation revealing that the difference between Obama and Bush on counter-terrorism is insignificant. It is the first intervention by US commandos into Somalia in quite a while and the target is interesting. Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan, allegedly organized attacks against an Israeli airplane and a hotel in Mombasa in 2002 that killed three Israelis and a number of Kenyans. No Americans were targeted and, as far as I can tell, Saleh Nabhan has never attacked Americans though he has been linked to the possible terrorist training of Somalis which is alleged to include some Somalis raised in the United States who returned home to Somalia and might return to the US in the future. Three others were killed together with Saleh Nabhan.
I guess I have a problem with extra-judicial killing when someone is neither caught in flagrante carrying out a terrorist act nor has a history of killing Americans. By what legal authority do we send helicopters to blow up cars and then land commandos to pick up the bodies? I guess it all comes down to whether one believes there is a “global war on terrorism” or not. I think the military approach is a bit like using a sledge hammer to swat a fly and would prefer to treat terrorists as criminals and go after them with police resources backed up by effective intelligence, And I am not sure how wise it is to be expanding military action into countries where we don’t appear to have a clear interest in doing so – it’s a bit like poking a stick into a hornet’s nest.
I am naturally suspicious of the tales of Somalis being trained as terrorists to return to the US to wreak havoc in any event because we have heard similar stories before and they have always turned out to be bogus.
An interesting military operation revealing that the difference between Obama and Bush on counter-terrorism is insignificant. It is the first intervention by US commandos into Somalia in quite a while and the target is interesting. Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan, allegedly organized attacks against an Israeli airplane and a hotel in Mombasa in 2002 that killed three Israelis and a number of Kenyans. No Americans were targeted and, as far as I can tell, Saleh Nabhan has never attacked Americans though he has been linked to the possible terrorist training of Somalis which is alleged to include some Somalis raised in the United States who returned home to Somalia and might return to the US in the future. Three others were killed together with Saleh Nabhan.
I guess I have a problem with extra-judicial killing when someone is neither caught in flagrante carrying out a terrorist act nor has a history of killing Americans. By what legal authority do we send helicopters to blow up cars and then land commandos to pick up the bodies? I guess it all comes down to whether one believes there is a “global war on terrorism” or not. I think the military approach is a bit like using a sledge hammer to swat a fly and would prefer to treat terrorists as criminals and go after them with police resources backed up by effective intelligence, And I am not sure how wise it is to be expanding military action into countries where we don’t appear to have a clear interest in doing so – it’s a bit like poking a stick into a hornet’s nest.
I am naturally suspicious of the tales of Somalis being trained as terrorists to return to the US to wreak havoc in any event because we have heard similar stories before and they have always turned out to be bogus.
[...] Sep 15 GOVERNMENT MAKING THINGS WORSE, Obama is the worst, Quagmire, TWO PARTY HOAX, Torture, WAR Somalia none Leave a comment [...]