Name Names

Okay. To boil this Somalia business down to a simpler question, I read "American officials acknowledged that they tacitly supported Ethiopia’s approach because they felt it was the best way to check the growing power of the Islamists, whom American officials have accused of sheltering terrorists tied with Al Qaeda." Way back when the Islamists first took over, I read "Already American officials have said that a handful of foreign fighters with links to Al Qaeda are being shielded by Mogadishu's Islamist leaders."

What are the names of these people the Islamists are sheltering? How many of them are there? Who are they? What have they done? What diplomatic efforts has the United States made to get the Islamists to turn them over? Pardon me for being cynical, but in this day and age my suspicion is that names aren't involved in these articles but there's no one in particular the Bush administration is worrying about and this is mostly hype and paranoia. But maybe not. So name some names.

Comments

Appeaser!

Posted by Jim Henley | December 25, 2006 4:08 PM

But if the administration names these terrorists, they'll know that we know their names. Better to trust Cheney, in my opinion.

Posted by Gary Sugar | December 25, 2006 4:22 PM

It's more power ring time.

Saddam Hussein would have been history and Iraq would have been the Middle Eastern Chile if only GHWB would have had the will, so we tried that out and it didn't work.

We never should have left Lebanon, we should have done in Hezbollah somehow, but this time we sub-contracted the thing out to the Israelis and that didn't work worth a shit.

Now we can avenge Blackhawk Down by unleashing the mighty Ethiopian Army, I've got a feeling I don't need to catch the next reel to figure out where this is going.

Is there any Muslims left on the hit list? Any punier allies? Maybe we can get Micronesia to put out a hit on Muhammad Ali for stabbing the army in the back and losing the Vietnam war?

Posted by Ed Marshall | December 25, 2006 4:49 PM

This is the 2007 version of allegations of WMD's. Why should they be believed now?

Posted by Randy Paul | December 25, 2006 8:25 PM

Pardon me for being cynical,

No! The age demands its requisite cynicism!

but in this day and age my suspicion is that names aren't involved in these articles but there's no one in particular the Bush administration is worrying about and this is mostly hype and paranoia.

Tsk. They are worried about some one in particular. Each and every one of those Islamicists are terrorists or potential terrorists, or may know a terrorist, or may have, in fact, blown a terrorist, or may have been in the vicinity of a terrorist or may have watched a terrorist on TV (assuming they could afford a TV), or if they can't afford a TV, they would watch a terrorist on TV and that'd be enough. Face it, if they've inhaled more than few molecules of the same air that a terrorist has breathed they're probably already infected and are, even now, turning into something like you've seen on the SciFi channel. With like, terroristy tentacles and giant spaceships and lots of makeup and really deep voices.

So clearly, the Bush administration is right to do something, because virtually every Somalian is already a terrorist and they are all probably already trying to acquire or make weapons of mass destruction such as poisoned Slinkys, and deadly defective Big Wheels, and deliver them to American children for Xmas. Via a giant red and white UFO.

m, look to the skies!

Posted by max | December 25, 2006 9:55 PM

. . . or may have, in fact, blown a terrorist . . .

It's not about sex. It's about trust.

Posted by David Tomlin | December 25, 2006 10:01 PM

" . . . or may have, in fact, blown a terrorist . . .

It's not about sex. It's about trust."

Assuming that we're mostly talking males here, are you sarcastically implying that the terrorists are gay? Because Bush and his allies never said that, only that both threaten the American people in seperate but equally terrifying ways.

Posted by aleks | December 26, 2006 12:39 AM

You mean you wanna know what your government is up to and why?

How quaint.

Posted by ran | December 26, 2006 10:02 AM

Muslim radicals ask Arabs to come to Africa to kill Black Christians and Animists, like some sort of racist safari, and we're really going to argue as to whether or not America should support the only country willing to stand up for the non-Muslim Somalis?

When there were Europeans dying in a "holy war" in Bosnia, did you ask the same questions? Did you support war there because the victims were Muslim, or white?

Don't bother answering, I already know.

Posted by Rob Taylor | December 29, 2006 9:41 PM

CT blog just named a bunch and did all your homework for you. Enjoy.

http://counterterrorismblog.org/#012572

Posted by Purple Avenger | January 1, 2007 2:01 AM