I had several reactions to the Monday strike in Somalia by a AC-130 gunship against members of al-Qaeda.
My first thought was: yeah, that’s the way you go after terrorists. Cultivate intelligence, isolate the target, and then call in special ops forces to prosecute it.
But as I read the accounts in the Washington Post and the New York Times, one word jumped out at me.
The targets of this air strike were “suspected” al Qaeda members.
The Post says the operation “may” have hit a senior terrorist figure.
Reuters reported “A U.S. attack plane killed many people with barrages of gunfire in a remote Somali village occupied by Islamists thought to be hiding at least one al Qaeda suspect,” and that “…an AC-130 plane rained gunfire on the desolate southern village of Hayo.”
A senior source told Reuters “I understand there are so many dead bodies and animals in the village.”
We can’t, of course, put together an accurate picture of what actually happened based on early media reports, but from what we think we know, perhaps we should ask the question:
Did we just blow a whole village to smithereens to get at targets we think are al-Qaeda members and whom we may or may not have hit?
MSNBC reports that further air strikes were conducted in Somalia on Tuesday, and multiple news outlets state that the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower has deployed to the area.
What are we doing?
We may have become numb to the reality of using air strikes to summarily execute individuals we “suspect” of being bad guys. No matter what kind of “precision” weapons we use to conduct these strikes, the likelihood is that they will kill someone other than the intended targets. Moreover, we’ve seen numerous instances of similar operations in which the intended targets turn out not to have been at the site at the time we struck it. And even when we do hit the intended targets, we’re summarily executing them without trial.
I’m not endorsing this position, but an argument can be made that these sorts of air strikes are the equivalent of walking into a restaurant with a machine gun and blowing everybody away in hopes that you’ll rub out a mob boss.
Under what legal authority are we conducting these kinds of strikes?
Is this the sort of thing we can justify under the Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed in September 2001? The Somali government reportedly gave its approval for U.S. air strikes in that country–but does that make it okay?
We have to accept that our war on terror is going to involve ugly acts that we otherwise would prefer not to dirty our hands with. I just hope that someone, somewhere has worked out how these operations jibe with U.S. and international law.
And I hope that someone isn’t Alberto Gonzales.
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Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read his commentaries at Pen and Sword.
I live in a large Senior apartment building and have several Somalian neighbors who do not speak English, so I cannot know what they were saying, as I passed by a small group of them in the lobby this morning. All I can tell you is that my neighbor was weeping and another was holding her.
It brought all of the horrendous hell of “over there” right smack to me and shoved it right in my face. All I could THINK of what what if I had family over there, that maybe lived in that village that we just bombed? I had to sit down quick, it hit me with such an impact.
I finally offered her a wordless hug:she clung to me and we both cried. We cannot understand each other words, only each others hearts.
…thanks so much for contributing it.
Best,
Jeff
A good background on the topic from one of our own, esteemd Soj. Read the diary – U.S. and Ethiopia v. Somalia War and
my comment citing analysis – Times of London, UK: “U.S.airstrikes in Somalia could backfire.”
Excerpt from analysis:
And to be cynical, Bush is setting up the mic for tomorrow sales job.
It seems we are going to spread ‘shock and awe’ around the world for the flimsiest of intelligence sources and to bolster up georgies manly ego no matter how many innocent civilians get killed. Sooner or later we just might be experiencing ‘shock/awe’ here by other countries determined to reign in our out of control government.
No, no. We’re spreadin’ democracy. Yep.
…through precision bombing!
precision bombing? only if you consider it more accurate than, say, a 1000 lb. bomb. C-130 gunships aren’t snipers…3rd generation of Puff the Magic Dragon AKA: spooky, from the vietnam era.
Hell from the skies…raining gunfire doesn’t begin to describe the havoc these winged merchants of death can wreak.
ITMFA
Your questions make me think about the 1% doctrine. In other words, if somebody thought there was a 1% chance that this Al Queda leader was in the village…bomb them out.
With the history of this administration, not so far fetched.
Wonder how Hitler justified an invasion of Poland.
Scares the shit out of me.
I DO believe Bush is working very hard to bring the Rapture on. We will not prevail there or anywhere else. Doesn’t anyone understand how sick this man is? Please, somebody stop him.
…I’m well past the point where I can respond to everyone, but I certainly do appreciate the interaction and feedback.
Best,
Jeff
image as acountry and people even more if that is possible. Bush seems to have decided to go even more extreme since the Dems won power. Up the stakes in Iraq against all sane advice. Declare war on Somalia. I can only wonder what is next, but one thing is for sure being an American abroad just becomes more dangerous by the day. I wonder if any of those making the policiies ever stops to conside the interests of the normal American who may have to leave the chosen land. I quite understand they probably conside rthose of us who chose to live abroad as traitors or something but just mindlessly following policies that turn every travelling American into what is increasingly seen as a legitimate target worldwide sure aint the way to go.
I still don’t see anything in the msm about the legal justification for this.
Dont we just get our AG to reinterpret it in bizarre ways? Didnt we manage to illegallty launch a war on Iraq? Something the neo-cons call creating your own reality. Oh and we sure make sure we dont sign up to any of that commie interantional law which old Gonzalez cant reinterpret.
I thought you were going to address another meaning to your question.
Why did we station ships off the coast several weeks ago? Why did Ethiopia invade? Did we supply them with intelligence or other support? What are we doing near the Kenya border and why are we helping “mop up” the retreating islamist forces? Where did we get the intelligence to do the air attacks? Do we have clandestine troops in the region or have we been getting information from the Somalis?
This whole series of events has CIA written all over it.
I still think this has more to do with our oil interests in Somalia than anything else.
See “The Oil Factor in Somalia.“