Nir Rosen, freelance writer and fellow at the New America Foundation is excellent on Iraq and America's wars to restore warlords to power in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. The following is from a January 6 CNN interview by John Roberts (below Rosen, the news in the Reuters article on the airstrikes and Somalia war that's not in the AP):
ROBERTS: Nir Rosen, what about that? I mean Somalia is the poster child for the words "failed state." Is there any way it's ever going to be stable?
ROSEN: It was getting stable. The Islamic courts were not radical. It actually succeeded in doing something amazing for Somalis, bringing peace to Mogadishu, getting rid of the warlords, letting people be able to walk in the streets at night without getting robbed or killed [emphasis added] and they brought stability not only to Mogadishu, ...
but it was spreading throughout much of the country. What we have done by focusing solely on this terrorism or radical Islam aspect for our foreign policy for an entire country is actually to destabilize the country, introduce foreign troops who invaded the country who are extremely unpopular. I think this is actually a horrible situation. The Islamic courts were the answer for Somalia. They managed to unite many different clans. They managed to provide stability. They had the backing of Somalis very important business community. They had the backing of many of the original powers and we've actually destabilized Somalia by allowing the Ethiopians to do this.
ROBERTS: So you think it was better off, before the Ethiopians backing up the warlords went back in there.
ROSEN: Well I was in Mogadishu when the Islamic courts took over and there were massive celebrations throughout the entire city, because neighborhoods had been closed off. Suddenly you can go throughout the entire city. Somalis were very, very happy. There were parades. There were festivals. Businessmen who had been exiled for many years came back. There was really a sense of optimism. The one fear people had is that the Ethiopians are going to come in with backing from America and ruin all of this and bring the warlords back and bring a government in name only. It's not really government, back into Somalia and this is indeed what happens happened. Now Somalia's destabilized where there was a little bit of hope a few months ago.
REUTERS vs AP ON THE SOMALIA AIRSTRIKES/WAR
First, here are the headline and first three paragraphs. Note the description of the victims, what was attacked and where, all in contrast to the descriptions in the AP excerpt directly following (all emphasis added):
U.S. strikes at al Qaeda in Somalia, "many dead"
Tue Jan 9, 2007 5:24am ET
By Guled Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - 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, a Somali government source said on Tuesday.
In the first known direct U.S. military intervention in Somalia since a failed peacekeeping mission that ended in 1994, an AC-130 plane rained gunfire on the desolate southern village of Hayo near the Kenyan border late on Monday.
"I understand there are so many dead bodies and animals in the village," the senior source told Reuters.
Compare with paragraphs one and two from AP (Yahoo):
U.S. launches 2 airstrikes in Somalia
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
MOGADISHU, Somalia - At least one U.S. airstrike in Somalia that targeted an al-Qaida cell wanted for two 1998 U.S. embassy bombings killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials said Tuesday.
The attack came after the terror suspects were spotted hiding on a remote island on the southern tip of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border, Somali officials said.
Only for the AP did the U.S. missiles not strike a village or villages. The word is completely missing from the story!
Continuing with Reuters, it also allows the Islamists to deny the accusations against them:
The Islamists deny any al Qaeda links, saying the accusation has been invented to justify intervention in Somalia.
And, finally, these helpful Reuters paragraphs on the invasion/occupation of Somalia:
The presence of troops from traditionally Christian Ethiopia has stirred both nationalist and religious fervor in mainly Muslim Somalia, with a series of protests and small attacks on Ethiopian troops in recent days.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, who on Monday entered Mogadishu for the first time since his appointment in 2004, insisted the Ethiopians were not occupiers and would leave soon.
But at least AP deviates momentarily from its Somali and US government sources for the following:
Separately, a witness told the AP that a gunship hit targets about 30 miles east of Afmadow town, 155 miles north of Ras Kamboni.
"My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike," Mohamed Mahmud Burale told the AP by telephone from the outskirts of Afmadow. "We also heard 14 massive explosions."
Burale's claim couldn't immediately be confirmed.
AP, what's with the final sentence above being provided for Burale's report only? I'm concerned: do you realize almost NOTHING in your report can be confirmed? Are you implying that when you quote U.S. and Somali officials their reports are magically 'confirmed', while a bereaved villager's report that (mildly) deviates from those officials' 'narrative' doesn't possess that magic? Anyway, my bet is that it's more likely Mr. Burale's 4-year-old boy was really killed than this latest war is really a war on terror.
Apologies to Mash for some similarity with his fine diary posted last night. And thanks to Gorette for pointing me toward Nir Rosen in his excellent diary of a few days ago.