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Monday, January 2, 2012

Hijacking Somalia

As published at OpEd News, Dissident Voice, CounterPunch, Intrepid Report and Sri Lankan Guardian, 1/2/12:






Remember Mohamed Osman Mohamud? Of course not, no one does, and I haven’t thought about him myself until yesterday, when Iran’s Press TV solicited my (last) two cents about Somalia.

Somalia, but who’s thinking about Somalia? Yesterday, Americans were burdened with football and a hangover, and in Philadelphia, there was the Mummers Parade, a glorious display of blue collar creativity where plumbers and roofers cross-dressed, played saxophones or banjos, and strutted down Broad Street towards City Hall, the site of Occupy Philly until not that long ago.

Truth be told, the Mummers Parade has gone downhill for a while, ever since its finale was moved into the Convention Center. What was a street carnival became a perfunctory parade followed by an indoors, designed-for-television performance in front of a ticketed audience. Yesterday’s version was particularly listless, with the crowd thin, mirthless, and many floats recycled from years past. Everyone’s budget’s tight. In October, a Mummers Brigade was even busted for renting its clubhouse to a pimp. During the sting operation, undercover cops found nude women walking around, and sex acts performed in the open. Hey, when you’re broke and no longer making stuff, you have to make money with what’s intrinsic... to your person.

Back to Mohamed Osman Mohamud. Just over a year ago, he was lured and entrapped by the FBI, then accused of plotting to bomb a downtown Christmas celebration in Portland. His FBI handler had recorded their conversations, but during the supposedly incriminating one, where he actually stated his desire to bomb and kill fellow Americans, the recording device conveniently malfunctioned. Remember that during the Bin Laden raid, the helmet-mounted video camera also malfunctioned, which explains, supposedly, why there is not even a single image of that most wanted man during the exciting operation, although a much ballyhooed photo, an “instant classic” according to Rolling Stone and the Village Voice, was produced of Obama, Clinton and other big shots sitting in the White House Situation Room to watch the assassination in real time. I know it doesn’t add up. It never does. The next time an audio or visual recorder goes AWOL, perhaps the CIA or FBI can blame it on the Chinese, since it’s a given that everything is made in China these days, even if, like Apple or Dell, it carries an American label. Here’s a ready to use, cut and paste headline, “Commies Sabotage Evidence Incriminating Muslim Terrorist.”

The key photo or evidence is never available, but the staged, massaged, doctored or clumsily-spun proofs overflow, not that Americans are paying close attention to anything besides Tim Tebow’s statistics and throwing motion. Seeing our government going through so much trouble to frame a young Somali-American fool, I had to conclude that it was part of the buildup to invade Somalia, and so it is happening, with American drones zapping Somalis from above, and Kenyan, Ethiopian, Ugandan and Burundian troops killing Somalis on the ground.

With Libya out of the way and Iraq temporarily pacified, our military-banking complex is turning its attention to Somalia, but why? As usual, it is spun as a fight against terrorists, as if Somalis are eager to butt heads with a ruthless empire. Attacked, they will fight back, of course, as happened in 1992 during “Operation Restore Hope,” now immortalized and cheesified in the film, Black Hawk Down. But what about missionaries, don’t Somalis also kill missionaries just for the hell of it?

Let’s scrutinize one incident. Last February, it was reported that Somali “pirates” hijacked an American yacht and killed four American missionaries, but even US AFRICA ONLINE, “THE AUTHORITATIVE LINK,” admitted that there was a US Navy warship “shadowing” this yacht as it headed into Somali waters. This warship was close enough to hear gunshots coming from Quest, the Christian boat, so it promptly killed 14 of these “pirates.” So, yes, Somali Muslims are so crazy, they will shoot at Americans approaching on a warship, even with four Christians stuck to the prow as figureheads. I don’t know about you but, personally, I prefer mermaids.

Washington can brand anyone a terrorist now, as it regularly does with Muslims it wants to attack. Targeting Somalia, the US is again evoking al-Qaeda, terrorism and even a desire to help ordinary Somalis, but the reason, as always, is money, which these days usually means access to oil and natural gas. Did you think it was anything else?

Before the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, he signed over nearly two thirds of Somalia to four US oil companies, Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips, so the world’s biggest and baddest pirate, America, has been trying to reclaim this bounty ever since. As in Libya, Washington is fighting a proxy war, with American grunts saved for Iran, it appears. The year has just begun, but already we have blood on our hands, and we will continue to do so until our empire disappears.




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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

'...admitted that there was a US Navy warship “shadowing” this yacht as it headed into Somali waters. This warship was close enough to hear gunshots coming from Quest, the Christian boat, so it promptly killed 14 of these “pirates.”

This point makes no sense. The pirates, and they are ruthless pirates murdered four innocent people. Whether there was a warship present is not relevant. And considering the pirates did in fact murder the four people, it was a good thing the warship was in fact there.

Linh Dinh said...

The US supported a dictator, then invaded their country. It has attacked them with drones and missiles, and funded troops from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Burundi, primarily Christian countries, to attack them. Further, Western ships have encroached into their waters to fish illegally and dump toxic waste. So how should they react when they see a US warship approaching? Can't you see that these missionaries were used as baits? To use the defense of missionaries as a pretext to invade a country is the oldest trick in the Colonial playbook. What made these missionaries think they can just sail into Somalia on a private yacht and proselytize?! Did they even speak the language?! They were used as baits, and if you can't see that, then I'm sorry.

Linh Dinh said...

I give you an analogy, Anonymous: Imagine an Iranian warship entering San Diego harbor, with an Iranian yacht in front of it. Do you think either one would survive?

iriskriege said...

Read your article first in Counter Punch....they left off the last two sentences of your article.
I wonder if Intrepid Report would have done the same.
Best Regards, Happy New Year. Iris Kriege

Linh Dinh said...

Hi Iris,

I actually added those two sentences after I sent article to Counterpunch, so there's no censorship here. CounterPunch is actually very good at leaving an article, and the writer's integrity, intact!

iriskriege said...

Gotcha!

Linh Dinh said...

Hey, a fussy writer meets a fussy reader. We are nearly as rare as dodos!

Anonymous said...

'What made these missionaries think they can just sail into Somalia on a private yacht and proselytize?! Did they even speak the language?! They were used as baits, and if you can't see that, then I'm sorry.'

So it was okay for the pirates to murder them is what you are saying.
Furthermore, we do not need to use bait. There are plenty of pirates that need to be taken care of in the region. People that are kidnapping, hurting, and killing innocent people.

'I give you an analogy, Anonymous: Imagine an Iranian warship entering San Diego harbor, with an Iranian yacht in front of it. Do you think either one would survive?'
Yes, they would. The missionaries were murdered by pirates. The civilian ship would be detained by the coast guard. The military ship would be ordered to leave and fired upon only if they refused to leave.

Linh Dinh said...

Hi Anonymous,

The only account of this incident comes from the Pentagon, truly a beacon of truth, and nothing but the truth.

All we know for sure is that four Americans died, fourteen Somalis died, with an American warship where it wasn't supposed to be.

It's hard for me to continue this conversation if you simply ignore the wider context and merely repeat the official, Pentagon version.