Not really, some people would just like you to think so.
Today, a rebel group with connections to the Islamic court overthrew the warlords governing Somalia. Yes these would be the same warlords responsible for the whole "Blackhawk Down" fiasco, and the same warlords whom everybody but the White House claims have support from the U.S. This support seems to be based on the idea of "We don't care how bad you govern or how many of your own citizens you randomly kill, as long as you keep killing those Islamic wakos." All of this is on top of a provisional government based in Balad (a city a little ways north of Mogadishu), which is technically the real government, and it's not made up of warlords. If Bush really wanted to stabilize the region (which would be the best route to keep terrorists out), wouldn't he support this government intended to do just that, instead of one made up of the warlords who started the civil war 14 years ago?
But any of that's better than a country ruled by Islamic extremists, right? Well, the place hasn't been ruled by Islamic extremists in the recent past, but I'm sure this pack of warlords would give anybody a run for their money. As for the provisional government that might as well not exist, I'm sure it beats extremists hands down. This point is nullified, though, because this new group of victors aren't extremists as far as I can tell. They have connections with Islamic courts (courts that enforce the rules of Islam). I don't know how extreme these courts are, but the few news reports I've read on the issue say that Somalians are a secular people who aren't likely to allow Islamic law to be put in place.
And these guys might not end up running the country. Now, the new set of rebels takes the warlords' place at the negotiating table with the provisional government. Certain people are just getting ahead of themselves when they call this the new government of Somalia.
What I still can't get my head around is how supporting warlords who committed acts of terror against their own people (routinely) is going to help the war on terror. What it does help is the war on Islamic terror. But wait! I thought this wasn't a war against Islam, that the anti-U.S. clerics are just saying that to make trouble! Then you can understand why nobody will admit to taking this tactic to win the war on "terror." If Somalia had large oil reserves, we'd have just as much justification to invade them as we did Iraq, if not more. Saddam Hussein didn't have a government based on Islam, but he was in the right region of the world where most Americans just assume everything is Islamic. One could argue that we're a terrorist state because we supported this carbon copy of Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
A group of rebels with ties to Islam wrestling control of a country out of the hands of murderous warlords is not a setback in the war on terror. Rather, it's a setback in George Bush's war on Islam.
9 comments:
how do you know your little "cost of war" billboard is right or even roughly close to what the cost of the war is. Someone is probably just making all that crap up.
If you'll click on the links under the board, the ones about Project Billboard and the Center for American Progress they explain how they reach their accurate estimations.
Dan, the cost of the War in Iraq has gone up over $2 billion since you last posted. Come on!
Any comments about the CinC's trip to Iraq?
I am not so sure about that cost thing either
The cost ticker goes up constantly, but the government only approves spending in huge chunks a couple times a year. So, if thrice a year, congress approves 75 billion, the ticker would go up 75 billion over two months. Does that make sense? And did any of you actually read what the project billboard sight says?
I realize my math was wrong. In that scenario, the ticker would go up 75 billion over the course of 4 months.
And would keep going up even though only 75 billion have been given making the "Cost of war in Iraq" wrong. And you said liberals liked truth...
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