quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

It seems to me that the Ethiopians have done well. So well that I cant believe that they have managed their success without some outside assistance, put it that way. War by proxy can work out, it seems.

 U.S. ground forces have been active in Somalia from the start, a senior military intelligence officer confirmed. “In fact,” he said, “they were part of the first group in.”

These ground forces include CIA paramilitary officers who are based out of Galkayo, in Somalia’s semiautonomous region of Puntland, Special Operations forces, and Marine units operating out of Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.

...

... that Ethiopia’s use of helicopter gunships capable of targeting the Islamic Courts Union’s ground forces was a decisive factor in the army-to-army fighting against the ICU. A senior military intelligence source says that some of the gunships earlier described as Ethiopian were in fact U.S. aircraft. This has been confirmed by Dahir Jibreel, the transitional government’s permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, who said that U.S. planes and helicopters with their markings obscured have been striking targets since December 25.

...

Jibreel said that the U.S. and Ethiopia planned this military incursion for several months. He said that he saw U.S. military planes and soldiers at Wajer, a strategic airstrip in Kenya, in October 2006.

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

But war nonetheless is still the most shit awful scenario for all concerned, and with this particular enemy is likely unwinnable too. The "terrorists" may all be slaughtered, but there are plenty more angry young men who will take their place, and more likely is that many will escape and bide their time and return at some point, fighting a guerilla war in the meantime.

The only way we as the west will solve this problem is by dealing with all the inequities and hypocrisies in foreign policy that lead to the generation of so many angry new recruits for the foe. Not in a humiliation on our part, but for the sake of the fairness and peace we like to promote. If we resolve our faults and these guys still want to fight, then we should go for it on the basis that right is might.