FOREVER WARS – Part 3: Somalia
Not content with destroying Afghanistan and Iraq in the GWOT, US/NATO set its sights on certain African countries.
On 3 October 2023, the USA commemorated the 30th anniversary of the deadliest firefight U.S. military forces had faced since Vietnam; the Battle of Mogadishu.
THREE: SOMALIA (2007 – Present)
Also known as the Black Hawk Down incident, the brutal clash claimed the lives of 18 Task Force Rangers and hundreds of Somali militants and civilians. The battle brought the hitherto “hidden war” in Somalia to the world’s attention – especially after it was immortalized by Ridley Scott’s 2001 blockbuster, BLACK HAWK DOWN.
More than thirty years after that bloody and devastating firefight, the U.S. military is still conducting operations in Somalia, to this day. Initially, it was to eliminate the Union of Islamic Courts – a grassroots political movement. More recently, it was to attack the ISIS and AQ-affiliated terrorists, al-Shabaab.
HOW BUSH STARTED THE SOMALIA WAR
Post-9/11, the Bush administration – wary of an Islamic government coming to power in Somalia – backed an attempt to overthrow the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in 2005. The CIA’s effort failed and in June 2006 insurgents from ICU began seizing large parts of Somalia. The U.S. government responded by backing an Ethiopian military invasion of Somalia in July 2006, to support the Somali TFG against ICU – which ultimately kicked off the Somalia War.
During Ethiopia’s brutal two-year invasion of Somalia, many members of the ICU were killed or chased out of Mogadishu. This gave rise to the splinter group, al-Shabaab, which became the leading Islamist insurgency in the country – and publicly aligned itself with al-Qaida in 2007. During 2007 and 2008, al-Shabaab recaptured the majority of territory lost by the ICU.
OBAMA AND TRUMP RAMP UP THE AIRSTRIKES
Since the first known US airstrikes in Somalia took place in 2007 under Bush, there have been at least 282 U.S. counterterrorism operations in Somalia – including drone strikes and other aerial bombardments. After Obama took office in 2009 he substantially ramped up the drone and airstrikes. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, the number of US strikes in Somalia surged after 30 March 2017, when Trump signed an Executive Order declaring southern Somalia an “area of active hostilities”.
US forces carried out 34 strikes in Somalia in the last nine months of 2017 – more than the entire five years from 2012 to 2016. This increased again to 71 strikes over 2018 – 2019. According to Time, 14 Aug 2020; “In the first seven months of 2020, the Trump administration conducted more air strikes in Somalia than were carried out during the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, combined.”
Towards the end of his presidency, after a three-decade presence in Somalia, Trump’s administration moved to withdraw 700 American troops from the war-torn country in late 2020.
TRUMP WITHDRAWS, BIDEN GOES BACK – AND BOMBS AGAIN
Soon after the Biden administration came into office it reversed the Trump move, and in May 2022 the president approved a plan to redeploy troops to Somalia. The reason given for the reversal was to reduce the threat from al-Shabab. Despite Congress not having declared war in Somalia, the Biden administration has used the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to bypass restrictions, and increased military assaults in Somalia that target al-Shabaab insurgents.
In May 2022, Biden agreed to send about 500 U.S. Troops to Somalia, then approved dozens of airstrikes in 2023. On 6 September 2023, the U.S. military reportedly provided “remote assistance” to an aerial strike conducted by the Somali government that killed five civilians. Between June and September this year, US Africa Command (Africom) conducted several airstrikes that reportedly killed at least 50 al-Shabaab terrorists.
THE (HUMAN AND FINANCIAL) COST OF US INTERVENTION
A study released in 2023 by Brown University revealed that between 2007 and 2020, the U.S. Spent at least $2.5 billion on counterterrorism operations in Somalia. This does not include unknown expenditures by the CIA and DOD. According to WBG data, an estimated 28 000 Somalis have died in battle between 2005 and 2020.
U.S. efforts to develop political stability and eliminate terrorism have achieved the very opposite and have not brought an end to political violence in the war-torn country.
Al-Shabaab is still regarded by the West as one of the largest and deadliest insurgency militias in the world. But the GWOT axis was not done with Africa yet…
What say you, SA? Is the US helping to curb terrorism in Somalia, or making it worse?
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