There is apparently no path blazed by George W. Bush that Barack Obama will not eagerly follow. Surges, assassinations, indefinite detention, defense of torture, senseless wars and rampant militarism -- in just a few short months, we've seen it all.

To this dismaying record of complicity and continuity, we can add an increasing direct involvement in the horrific, hydra-headed conflict in Somalia, whose latest round of fiery hell was instigated by the American-backed invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia in late 2006. Under Bush, U.S. forces were deeply and directly enmeshed in the murderous action, dropping bombs on fleeing refugees, "renditioning" other refugees to the tender mercies of Ethiopia's notorious prisons, and even sending in death squads to clean up after missile strikes and bombings. (For background, see "Silent Surge: Bipartisan Terror War Intensifies in Somalia.")

The result of that intervention has been the deaths of thousands of innocent people, the displacement and ruination of hundreds of thousands, and the creation of what many experts call the most dire humanitarian crisis in the world today. It has also resulted in the empowerment of violent sectarian groups and criminal gangs, who have stepped forth to fill the gaps of the fledgling state that the American-Ethiopian "regime change" operation destroyed.

So what do we see from the administration of "hope and change"? We see -- wait for it -- a new "surge" of direct American involvement in the war, with Obama's most ferocious war hawk -- sorry, his top diplomat -- Hillary "The Obliterator" Clinton leading the charge. As Jason Ditz at Antiwar.com reports, Clinton has pledged to double the recently announced supply of American weapons to Somalia's "transitional government" -- a weak reed cobbled together by Western interests from various CIA-paid warlords and other factions, and now headed, ironically, by the former leader of the aforementioned fledgling state overthrown by Washington. (Yes, it is hard to tell the players without a scorecard -- or even with one. But if you follow the weapons and the money, you can usually tell who is temporarily on which side at any given moment.)

Clinton, bellicose as ever, accompanied the shipment of 80 tons of death-dealing hardware with a heavy dose of the wild fearmongering rhetoric we've come to know so well in this New American Century. As AP reports, she declared that the radical faction al-Shabab, now leading the insurgency against the transitional government, has only one goal in mind: bring in al Qaeda and destabilizing the whole entire world.

Yes, dear hearts, once again the survival of the planet -- not to mention the sacred American way of life -- is under imminent threat from a gang of evil maniacs; a threat requiring the urgent enrichment of the U.S. arms industry -- sorry, I mean the urgent intervention of American know-how. For as the history of American foreign policy in the last 60 years has clearly shown us, there has never been an internal conflict in any country of the world that was not actually, deep down, a direct threat to all the sweet American babies sleeping in their cribs.

The interim Somali president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed -- an Islamist who only a few years ago was considered by Washington as, well, an evil maniac in league with al Qaeda -- agreed with Clinton, saying that al-Shabab aims to "make Somalia a ground to destabilize the whole world." This would be the same al-Shabab that Ahmed has spent most of his presidency trying to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with. (Where's that scorecard again?)

As usual, the AP story buries some of the most blazing, salient facts way down in the uncritical regurgitation of official rhetoric. But credit where it's due, the story does finally note that the new American assistance is not confined to stuff that can kill more Somalis; it also includes - wait for it again -- U.S. military "advisors" to help "train" the forces of the ever-collapsing transitional government.

Clinton also shook a sword at neighboring Eritrea, accusing it of supporting al-Shabab and "interfering" in Somalia's internal affairs. This, while she was announcing the delivery of 80 tons of American weapons to be poured into Somalia's internal affairs. This line is of course just an echo of the continual Bush-Obama warnings against "foreigners" interfering in Iraq. The gall of these gilded poltroons -- denouncing foreign interference while standing on mountains of corpses produced by the endless American "interference" in other countries -- is truly sublime. Clinton said that if Eritrea doesn't start toeing the imperial line, "we intend to take actions." (All you future Gold Star mothers and war widows out there better get out your atlases: your loved ones could soon be dying in yet another part of the world you never heard of.)

What will be the effect of this new "humanitarian intervention" of weapons and advisers? Same as it ever was: more death, more ruin, more suffering, more extremism, more hatred, more sorrow -- and more money for the war profiteers. That is the point, isn't it? 

Comments (18)

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stras said:

	... Deja vu all over again, isn't it? The old "tour a series of third-world countries, then threaten to kill them, one by one" move is straight out of Rumsfeld/Rice.
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August 07, 2009
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Sean O'Neil said:

The doublespeak... the double-sided nature of foreign leaders... It is no different from Bush/Cheney and Swillary has no problem lying her way to financial security, much like Colin Powell had no such problem. Won't surprise me to see Swillary testify before the Donkey Congress and say, "we must authorize war against ___________ because I have evidence that al Qaeda is likely to possess... ...a DIRTY BOMB!" Media reports on the testimony will be supported by the theme from Fox Broadcasting's hit show "24" to give full Jack Bauer Effect to the scary forecast offered by Swillary. The profit machine will not stop running until the American economy completely crashes. At that point, we will learn that Obama, Clinton, Emmanuel, Biden, the whole fleet of them... absconded with tons and tons of cash that they converted to Yen or something else, ensuring their wealth at the expense of us fools who thought the Fed Govt was innocent, pure, but just a little corrupt. Will a majority of Americans realize the criminality of Obama/Biden? I don't think so. There's still too much stuffed-shirt pride at the accomplishment of transitioning to a post-racism era via our half-Black POTUS.

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August 08, 2009 | url
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Jimmy Montague said:

I get a kick -- I get a kick out of the fact that GOP partisans have taken to crashing Democrat town-hall meetings. They reportedly broke into one in Florida today, yelling and screaming partisan gibberish and roughing people up. The congresswoman at the podium was finally forced to leave by her security detail. This evening on PBS, some Donkey moron is threatening reprisals. According to him, the Donkeys and gonna start busting up GOP town-hall meetings if the GOP partisans don't cease & desist. So what's funny about all of that? It's the idea that neither the Donkeys nor the Elephants are concerned with solving our problems. Neither group has any idea what to do. Neither group WANTS to do anything other than steal whatever hasn't already been stolen. So what's funny is that we have these two groups of activists fighting over the correct way to do nothing. It's like two bums getting in a fistfight because they can't decide whether to drink the pint of wine and go to sleep or smoke the reefer and go to sleep. Only in America, I guess.

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August 08, 2009 | url
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tvbl said:

	... hi chris. i wrote you before on your myspace and requested you take my name off your website, nothing has changed, though you said you would look into it. http://www.chris-floyd.com/focced/ you are sending traffic both ways that have nothing to do with eachother. you can write me at this email address. i no longer have a myspace so i cannot contact you there. please remove my name.
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August 08, 2009
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Sean O'Neil said:

... neither the Donkeys nor the Elephants are concerned with solving our problems. Neither group has any idea what to do. Neither group WANTS to do anything other than steal whatever hasn't already been stolen. So what's funny is that we have these two groups of activists fighting over the correct way to do nothing. It's like two bums getting in a fistfight because they can't decide whether to drink the pint of wine and go to sleep or smoke the reefer and go to sleep. Perfect. Argument about nothing, appearance over substance. Dem vs Repub, arguing points of distraction. Calling each other names. Treating each other like mortal enemies, rather than fellow Americans sharing a problem with organized theft at the Federal level. This is humanity, at work. Tribalist, stupid, lizard-brained. And the self-assuredly Noble and Pure Democrats, they're doing it too. OOPS.

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August 08, 2009 | url
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Yankee 30 said:

... Our slash and burn foreign and domestic policy is in full fruition as all real economic indicators point toward full depression. Never before has a ruling class so exploited its citizens. Never before has such phenomenal wealth flowed to so few. To much of the rest of the world, however, that powerhouse beacon from the city on the hill is dimming. I imagine that the likes of Senator Clinton is finding it always more difficult to look her counterparts in the eye. The rhetoric and lies out of Washington are so much rarefied atmosphere designed for domestic consumption. Society is permanently splintered by disparate voices. I think that, eventually, the Americans will invade America, and, who knows, maybe this time they'll bring some real democracy.

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August 08, 2009
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Yankee 30 said:

	... "Senator Clinton" was inadvertent. That's right, now she's Secretary of State. Anyway, she still looks like "a pensioner going shopping".
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August 08, 2009
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Donald L. Smith said:

The mud pit wrestlers... I was asked by a commited right winger while we were attending a public meeting if I were a Democrat, or a Patriot. Under his definitions, I am neither, so I responded with, "Well. I am not a Democrat." This brought a knowing look of recognition as he now saw me as a fellow rightard and one of the "elect". I no longer attempt to discuss issues with most of the people I meet in public places, my scepticism is too deep now.They seem willing to defend health care reform which is not reform, defend a war on Terror which has nothing to do with the safety of the Republic, and draw very hard lines as to which people are on the "right" side. It does distract the mob from any substantive reflection upon the true nature of the criminal system in place, though I do sense that many are very suspicious that it is all the lefts'/rights' fault. Something is wrong, and somebodies gonna pay! Bread and circus- with damned little bread.

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August 08, 2009
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Kick Me Kike Me said:

The Man Behind The Curtain Is Always Benjamin Linus I don't understand all this anger about how Obama is continuing many of W's policies. Did anyone really expect any different? Have you not read any of the history of this country? The corporate oligarchy bought this country a long time ago. A long time ago. It is ridiculous to stand up and proclaim Obama "just as bad as Bush!" as if this is a profound statement. The parties are two sides of the same coin with marginal differences on many issues... well, duh. What are we trying to prove with this? Hillary is taking a hard-line interventionist stance with Somalia? Well I never, I am completely shocked, it is only a country right across from the Arabian peninsula and every President for the past god knows how many decades has held interventionist policies with regards to the Middle East. But, by all means, continue to rant about Hillary and Obama as if they are the entirety of the problem, the casually right-wing average American will be all to happy to file that away in their mind and use it to justify their endless attacks on "liberalism" in decades to come.

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August 09, 2009
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Dr Zen said:

	Well... What do you want him to do? Not even notice. It needs people to keep pointing at the Emperor's nudity, because it may be obvious to you, but there are a ton of people who seem to think Obama is fully clothed.
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August 09, 2009 | url
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wolynski said:

... Chris, as much as I am a fan of your writing, your tone is getting too shrill and strident - go read some Mencken for how to get important points across with lightness. If Hillary is a war criminal, what does that make Cheney - a naughtier war criminal? You know all things Soviet Union... Gorbachev didn't become head of the Communist Party by being a nice guy. There has to be quite a bit of thuggery in his past - has to. Yet when push came to shove, he became the greatest leader of the 2oth century. The Soviet Union disintegrated bloodlessly, as did the British Empire. It's going to take an empire man/woman to start dismantling this sham of ours, a person with an iffy past. Yes, Hillary is a corporate whore - not quite the whore of Cheney dimensions and not nearly as narcissistic, self-aggrandizing and inept as Obama. We have to go with a whore. I quite like the whores who stole Obama's thunder this week.

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August 09, 2009 | url
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Coldtype said:

Oh how unseemly! "Yes, Hillary is a corporate whore - not quite the whore of Cheney dimensions and not nearly as narcissistic, self-aggrandizing and inept as Obama" -Wolynski Ahh, yes! Lessor Evilism, the gift that keeps on giving. Sure, Team Bush was comprised of swine from top to bottom but now that the Donk is in charge reading from the same playbook there's certainly no need to get "strident" or "shrill" about anything is there? I'm curious, if the Donk asked you to eat a plate of steaming shit would you at least hesitate before diving in?

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August 09, 2009 | url
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Human said:

Responsible For some reason, there is a missing dimension here. What about the role of the US in the invasion and ocupation of Somalia? What about the role of the CIA in the formation of and financing of the warlords that prevented the the TNG (the one formed in Kenya)from relocating to Somalia? What about the arms embargo violations by the US and Ethiopia…not to mention the arms brought into Somalia by dealers such as Victor Bout who was on the US payroll until his arrest last year? Just want kind of “evidence” is out there that can prove Eritrea’s involvement in Somalia? The so-called “U.N. Monitoring Group” report has already shot itself on the head by detailing the involvement of “2000 Eritrean soldiers in Somalia” during the 2005 naked Ethiopian invasion. After such a naked lie designed to cover-up on a naked invasion, no amount of “evidence” can convince any sane person about Eritrea’s non-political involvement. So no amount of accusation against Eritrea can save such a gigantic, endless debacle. The question should be what is best for Somalia….Clearly, for there to be peace; Somalis must decide what is best for them. To date there have not been any transitional government of Somalia that allowed all parties and people to participate in forming their own government. Every transitional government that came was formed in exile and it was dictated by special interest groups. Eritrea, however, is advocating for a approach that is inclusive of all groups and political affiliations and thus it has nothing to gain by militarily supporting any group. Ethiopia and America for that matter have been fueling that flame by calming this group is linked to terrorist and that group is radical and thus causing the suffering of the peoples continue without an end in sight. And that is the truth.

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August 09, 2009
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Biniam said:

... It's funny that we get punked everytime something dirty scandal happens. What i wanna say right now is about Hillar's visit to 5-6 african coutries who are the most corrupted and the most widespread where the sstem failed. But as a liberal citizen of this world one might ask WHY THIS COUNTRIES? I can try to spell out some:- for the first all the time the west alleis with a leader of developing country whom they can easily manupulate with political and financial help. And it's those leaders who destroy AFRICA with a malicous scandal from their west alleis. Here in the west we talk we we hear a lot about democracy, helping the poor and how disgusting leadership and system in the third world. This is a question to all who think the west is doing its moral obligation as they should! What is the need to give aid when you see it hadn't worked, especially to those where corruption prevailed openly???

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August 09, 2009
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scott douglas said:

... Chris has almost single handedly spotlighted the ongoing American-sponsored atrocity unfolding in Somalia. I have written one or two over-long, anguished comments about the travesty of hundreds of thousands of poor, urban Somalis forced out into the desert to beg from UN trucks for DRINKING WATER while being terrorized by theives, radicals and militants drawn to, and profiting from, the vulnerability and discontent bred in refugee camps. Long the invisible front in the War on Terror, Mogadishu is suddenly honoured by an horrific visitation in the form of The Obliterator! That is not insignificant, and Chris is right to point it out. They are going to expand into the Somali theatre just as they have Afghanistan and Pakistan! Damn you, gullible Democrats! Open your eyes! Obama is just another smooth-talking Corporatist pissing on your expectations and what little is left of the Constitution. And, just so everyone is clear -- you grotesque Republican racist thugs - who would like to use my words in your own sick cause -- you can all kiss my ass, too.

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August 09, 2009
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Sean O'Neil said:

	... Wolynski's fidelity to a master that beats him... impressive.
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August 10, 2009 | url
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christian said:

Eritrea and US base in Djibouti Isn't Clinton preparing to sell a war against Eritrea, using the usual pretexts since Vietnam (meddling, while only US and their servile allies are allowed to meddle), because of a US military base in Djibouti, which's bad situaded location makes an easy target for it from a hill in Eritrea ? And hadn't the US the shutzpah to ask the SC for a resolution demanding that Eritrea withdraw their armed forces from Eritrea's own territory ? Hope you understand my bad english !

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August 12, 2009
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hidflect said:

The Service of Somalia Every time I read the scree of some Trust-Fund Kiddie Libertarian who wants to government to "hands off" his inherited Billions from Pappy and rants an argument to end to all taxes and government I always suggest to them that they move to a place that has instituted their Libertarian Paradise ideology; namely Somalia. No property taxes there, buddy. You wanna carry a handgun? Go right ahead! Oh, and you'll probably wanna bring a few Exocet Missiles and 200 or so landmines for your compound, not forgetting at least 3 petrol generators. No tiresome police force but the Marines tend to drop in every few years or so...

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August 14, 2009
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