Just read this mind-boggling post from the Jawa Report:
“Even as Ethiopia has troops on the ground in Somalia fighting al Qaeda forces, the Democrats in Congress are preparing to end aid to that country. Ethiopia is fighting a proxy war on our behalf, and the Democrats want to cut off aid? Great timing.”
Democrats strong on national security? Yeah right. That’s like saying O.J. Simpson is an advocate of womens rights.
Update: There’s more posted over at HotAir.com…
There is a pattern to what the Democrats are doing, whether they acknowledge it or not. I griped a bit a week or so ago at Democrat calls to cut off the Pakistanis for similar reasons. Whatever problems we have with Musharraf’s imperfections, cutting military aid from him objectively helps al Qaeda. I also opposed the Armenia genocide resolution for similar reasons; spitting in the face of useful allies is no way to go about winning a war. The Democrats are now cutting off funding to the troops in Iraq, which will a) force lacerations in the way the DoD can operate in Iraq and Afghanistan and will b) help every enemy we have on the face of the earth by directly weakening our military’s readiness. Democrats routinely let the perfect become the enemy of the good, especially if the imperfect good happens to be a US ally.
And while this is going on, Democrats and their allies routinely prop up Hugo Chavez as a swell chap in spite of (or because of?) his over the top anti-American rants.
Good point indeed!
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November 20, 2007 , by
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From CNSNEWS.com:
Strategic Outpost
Iran is OPEC's second-largest oil producer. Sudan also has significant oil reserves and, with the end of a two decade-long north-south civil war is becoming an increasingly important source.
Bashir seized control in a 1989 military coup and under him Sudan followed Iran's 1979 example by declaring itself an Islamic regime.
Bashir's Sunni Muslim regime soon established good relations with Iran's Shi'ite government. Researchers say the link-up in late 1991 resulted in members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard training fundamentalist militias set up by Khartoum.
"In early 1992 Sudan emerged as a strategic outpost and key part of the infrastructure for Iran's export of the Islamic Revolution throughout the Near East and Africa," according to counter-terrorism expert and author Yossef Bodansky.
Relations between the two later cooled, in part because of theological differences.
Under President Mohammed Khatami (1997-2005), Iran pursued less openly extremist policies, while Sudan in the second half of the 1990s sought to ease tensions with the West, for instance negotiating the departure of al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who was based in Sudan from 1991 to 1996.
Now, with both governments under fire in the international community, they appear to be moving closer together again.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki during a meeting with Bashir this week praised what he called positive trends in bilateral relations.
He said the two countries could also contribute to ensuring greater effectiveness of the two blocs to which both belong - the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement.
Read the whole story: Under Fire From the West, Iran and Sudan Cozy Up.
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September 21, 2006 , by
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From CNN World: Somali minister assassinated
With Ethiopian troops said to be in Somalia to support the government, and Eritrea believed by many to be arming the Islamists, many Somalis are bracing for war.
In Mogadishu, another mysterious plane landed on Friday, fuelling suspicions the Islamists were receiving weapons deliveries. Their militia blocked roads near the airport as unidentified cargo was unloaded.
Residents said several trucks came to collect the delivery from the airport. "The people couldn't enter the airport because security was so tight," resident Hawo Hussein said.
"The Islamists are arming themselves and now we have to wait for fighting," said another resident, Abdullahi Ali.
Read more about Eritrea in the CIA World Fact Book.
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July 28, 2006 , by
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From CNN World:
War looms as Islamists strengthen, old foes back opposing sides
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) — Gunmen shot dead a Somali government minister outside a mosque on Friday in a killing sure to exacerbate tensions in the violence-plagued Horn of Africa nation.
The attackers opened fire on Constitution and Federalism Minister Abdallah Deerow Isaq as he left prayers in the provincial town of Baidoa, witnesses and officials said.
"It looks like an organized assassination," Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayr told Reuters from Baidoa, seat of the fragile interim Somali government.
"So far we do not know who did it. They shot him as he was leaving the mosque then ran off. Police are chasing the gunmen."
Formed in 2004 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since the 1991 ousting of a military dictator, the government's authority has been challenged by the rise of an Islamist movement that took Mogadishu and other towns in June.
Read the whole story.
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July 28, 2006 , by
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CNN Reports:
Ethiopians want to save government; Islamists in control want them out
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Residents reported hundreds of Ethiopian troops in armored vehicles patrolling the central Somali town of Baidoa on Thursday, less than a day after Islamic militants reached the outskirts of the strategic town that is home to a largely powerless U.N.-backed government.
A leader of the Islamic group controlling large parts of southern Somalia demanded that Ethiopian troops withdraw.
"We will declare Jihad if the Ethiopian government refuses to withdraw their troops from Somalia. They must withdraw as soon as possible … We will wait for some time to see if they respect our demands," Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told The Associated Press.
Last week I posted an excerpt and link to another CNN story about the Somali city of Mogadishu falling to militant Islamists.
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July 20, 2006 , by
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From CNN World News:
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) — One of Mogadishu's last holdout warlords surrendered to powerful Islamists after losing most of his territory in two days of fighting that killed more than 140 people, militia sources said on Tuesday.
"It has become necessary to surrender and give peace a chance," a militiaman loyal to warlord Abdi Awale Qaybdiid told Reuters.
Qaybdiid is the last of an alliance of U.S.-backed warlords who called themselves an anti-terrorism group. He kept fighting after the Islamists routed the other warlords and seized the Somali capital last month.
Not good. al-Qaeda has just gained control of a major trading hub along North Africa's east coast.
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July 12, 2006 , by
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From AFP via Breitbart.com:
(Mogadishu, Somalia.) Hardline Islamic courts shut cinema halls and barred residents from watching the World Cup, prompting scores of civilians to protest the ban in which two people were killed, court officials and residents have said.
The gunmen loyal to the Joint Islamic Courts (JIC), cut electricity, cleared cinema halls and warned residents against watching the football tournament in areas they control, forcing a violent protest late on Saturday in which two people were killed, residents said Sunday.
The JIC deputy chairman AbdulKadir Ali Omar said the Islamic tribunals would crackdown on halls that defy the order to show western films and video, including the World Cup.
"This is war against all people who show films that promote pornography, drug dealing and all forms of evil," Omar told AFP.
"We shall not even allow the showing of the World Cup because they corrupt the morals of our children whom we endeavour to teach the Islamic way of life," he added.
Islamic courts officials said they were against some elements of World Cup, notably the advertisements for alcohol.
One interesting note, aside from the obvious, is the war against drug dealing. This is ironic because the drug trade comprises a large percentage of funding for the Jihadi movement. Particularly from the poppy crop in Afghanistan and the drug trade routes in South America that fund Hizbullah's presence there.
Read the rest of the article: Two die as hardline Islamists ban World Cup.
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June 11, 2006 , by
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