...And In Our OTHER Dirty Little War - Mogadishu Somalia, "...the really frightening part of it was the lack of people."

BBC as reported by GarroweOnline

Eerie silence in empty Mogadishu
By Mark Doyle BBC News world affairs correspondent, Mogadishu

7 Apr 7, 2008 - 9:45:10 AM

The streets north of the ruins of the Old Parliament in Mogadishu stretch out like alleyways bulldozed through a rubble dump.

Parts of some of the buildings are still standing - a wall here, a section of collapsed roof there.

But the overall impression in this part of the Somali capital is one of massive destruction. I did not see a single house there without shell damage or bullet holes.

However, the really frightening part of it was the lack of people.

After covering several wars, I have come to be wary of empty places.

If, in a war zone, you turn a corner and see no shops open and no people going about their business - beware.

It usually means that some military activity has recently taken place there - so the people have fled - or that the people fear an imminent attack.

And the local people almost always know best.

As I drove through parts of Mogadishu on a patrol with Ugandan soldiers of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force, there was an eerie lack of human beings.
Blasted buildings aside, this ghostly absence of people was a sure sign that this place is going through a period of terrible violence.

The United Nations estimates that in the past year at least half of the population of Mogadishu - or over half a million people - have fled the fighting between the Ethiopian-backed transitional government and its Islamist and clan-based opponents.... In Full

It's obvious to even the uninterested observer that Ethiopian and AU troops are in country, but the main players in this bush war (double entendre absolutely intended) are the Islamic Court Union, the people who tried to put the Somali warlords out of the western extractive industries protection business...

A family photo the CIA's Somali warlord mercenary army leadership.
They were "extracted" by US SEALS the first time their "government" collapsed.


...with air support and advisory services courtesy of DynCorp

Click the image for specifications and history (GlobalSecurity.org)

...and in the near future AFRICOM, the US military command in Africa will be directly involved, upping the US military casualty ante considerably.

Where the same terror and intimidation tactics will be used, as seen by the civilian population of Iraq...

Click for a description via the 361st PsyOps Co. Iraq

Speaking of terror...

This on the latest fashionable mayhem creations specifically designed for the AC130, and (if it DOES work) undoubtedly intended for Horn of Africa deployment... Because if we CALL THEM al Qaeda (and we DO call the ICU that), they are no better than animals in our government's view, subject to torture, EMF radiation strong enough to cook flesh... whatever.

From DefenseTech's archive

Pimp My Gunship 2: Directed Energy

The AC-130U Spectre is a byword for high-precision fire support. But equipping it with directed energy weapons (DE) will take close air support to an entirely new level. The technological breakthrough needed to get there is a radical $22m superconducting generator which the Air Force will demonstrate by 2009 and which is specifically indended to fit on a C-130.
[In Full]

There Have Been

Thanks For Stopping By