Barack Obama and Somalia: Prelude
January 13, 2009
by William P. Meyers

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What will Barack Obama do? Will he continue the disastrous United States policy of imperialism in Somalia?

This week the U.S., or at least the George W. Bush Administration, was pushing in the U.N. for further military intervention in Somalia [See US Calls for Decision on UN Force in Somalia, Associated Press, January 12, 2009].

You will recall that the U.N. (United Nations) is the successor to the League of Nations, which was formed during World War I to maintain the global power of the white imperialist nations (See Barack Obama and Woodrow Wilson). The U.N. is not a democratic organization, but has always been controlled by the United States, its allies, and puppets. It has never protected a small nation against U.S. (or English, or French, or even Russian) military or covert interference. It has been used by the U.S. to give international sanction to military adventures in Korea (See The U.S. Conquest of Korea), Vietnam (See Vietnam notes), the former nation of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among others.

So it should have surprised no one that the U.N., a war crimes organization, sanctioned U.S., Ethiopian, and African Union military invasions of Somalia this past few years. This remarkable example of human viciousness and stupidity has largely gone unnoticed even by peace activists in the United States because of the ongoing wars against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Somalia adopted a tribal, non-centralised form of governance in the 1980's. There is nothing illegal about that. The Somalians invaded no foreign nation, so there was no legitimate pretext for any other nation to make war upon Somalia.

Throughout the 1990's and the new millennia the U.S., working mainly through the CIA, supported one of more factions in Somalia. It even got the world press to call the factions it supported a "Provisional Government." A few years back the people of Somalia, tired of fighting between tribal war lords, decided to set up a just, democratic, trans-tribal but decentralized governmental structure called the Islamic Courts. This system was based on Islamic Law. Not how I'd do things, I prefer a just non-sectarian government, and but note they did not attack any foreign nation. They were trying to bring peace and justice to their nation.

The Bush Administration went ballistic. Why weren't the people supporting the perfectly good CIA-trained puppet government in Baidoa? Time to invade. The Ethiopians (Christians) were hired to do the job, but the U.S. shelled Somalia from battleships and with high-tech fighter bombers, and dropped in some special ops guys to do some wet work.

The Islamic Justice Courts were unable to immediately repel Ethiopian tanks and heavy artillery. For about 3 months. Somalians just hated the U.S. puppet "Provisional Government" even more after the occupation by the Ethiopians. The Islamic Courts (often now called "moderate Islam") and new, more radical Islamic factions, soon began eating away at the CIA's tenuous hold on the country. Come December 2008 and the Ethiopians were in full retreat back to their homeland.

Now the CIA wants to get the moderate Islamic Courts that they overthrew a few years ago to cooperate with the "Provisional Government" to prevent the "radical" Islamic factions from gaining power.

How about this: we hold war crimes trials. We hang every U.S. policy maker who is found to have made it a policy to use military force against Somalia.

Oh yes. We stop interfering in Somalia. In any way.

Will this just policy that might make Americans think twice before committing war crimes and crimes against humanity be pursued by the Obama administration? Will he usher in a New Era of Hope and Peace and Justice? What do you think?