A Somalia Primer

The crisis in the horn of Africa is a big concern, and of course, it is too bad that the U.S. is distracted by WMDs that don’t exist to really face it. But we need to keep track of what goes on in this region.

What’s happening in Somalia these days is that fundamentalist Islamic militants are about to take over and perhaps trigger a regional war in the process.

Don’t feel too badly if you didn’t know that.

Between all of the recent shocking celebrity news (Mel Gibson doesn’t keep a chauffeur? Lance Bass is a singer?!?!) and the, oh, 15 or so humanity-threatening major crises around the world right now, poor Somalia is easy for the public to ignore.

Though Somalia isn’t an “A-list” White House worry like Iraq, gay baiting or flag protection, you can rest assured that the White House is indeed paying attention.

U.S. policymakers have long feared that Somalia could turn into an African version of Afghanistan, i.e., an incubator for militant Islamic terrorists, including al-Qaeda. The United States even went so far as to set up a military base in neighboring Djibouti in 2002. After we whacked the Taliban in late 2001, Somalia was actually on many a Bushie’s “To Invade” list for 2002.

Posted by atrain
Ari Paul has written for The American Prospect, In These Times, Tikkun, Z, Punk Planet, openDemocracy.net, Reason and other newspapers and magazines. He is also a reporter for The Chief-Leader, a New York weekly covering labor in the city.