Battle for Mogadishu Still Undecided

Image via Wikipedia

The Capitol city of Somalia is currently under siege.  Al-Shabab militants have begun targeting African Union troops and U.N. peacekeepers.  The group is an arm of Al Qaeda, and it has been operating in the area for a number of years.

          Al-Shabab was responsible for downing Blackhawk helicopters in the early nineties.  The loss of several Special Operations personnel and shocked everyone.  The original mission was to capture, or nowadays ‘render’ Farah Aidid, a Somali warlord and charter member of Al Qaeda.

          The mission went horrifically wrong.  The U.S. vastly underestimated the organizational power of the insurgents.  The equipment needed to extract the survivors, simply was not there and this lead to more casualties.

          These insurgents specialize in ambushing Special Forces and catching them flat-footed.  People would have to be idiots if they fail to see the connection between Mogadishu and the mountains of Afghanistan.  People in the Special Operations community do not forget their fallen and tend to hit back way harder than they were hit. 

The United States Marine Corps, Navy SEALS, and Army Airborne Operators meted out some payback.  A team was dispatched this week to liquidate a high-ranking Al-Shabab terrorist.  The mission was successful.

          Paybacks are going on all over the world right now, especially in Somalia, where the government is teetering on the brink of total chaos.  Somalia may be the fourth front in this global war on terrorism.  The third, being Pakistan.  Everyone knows who the other two are.

Image via Wikipedia