Friday - December 29, 2006

Operation Crushed Nuts: Day 4

Here it is ... in a nutshell ....

Somalia Forces Retake Capital From Islamists

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 28 (NY TIMES) — Just hours after Islamist fighters abandoned Mogadishu, the capital from which they ruled much of Somalia, thousands of troops of the transitional government marched into the city on Thursday in a stunning reversal of fortune.

The government soldiers and the Ethiopian infantrymen who have been backing them poured in from the outskirts, residents said. The only gunshots fired were long celebratory bursts into the air.

Oh ... when the Saints ... go marchin’ in ... 

The Islamists, whom many Western nations had considered a grave and growing regional threat with terrorist connections, were vanquished faster than anyone had expected, or at least removed from power.

“We always knew these Islamists weren’t all they were cracked up to be,” said Abdirizak Adam Hassan, chief of staff for the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. “And now we are where they used to be, in control of Mogadishu — well, as much as anyone can be in control of Mogadishu.”

Run away, little girls! Cowardly IslamoNazis! None of them are worth a bucket of warm spit.

By Wednesday, the Islamist military had been decimated by Ethiopian airstrikes and mass desertions. Clan elders, traditionally the pillars of Somali society, pulled their troops and firepower out of the Union of Islamic Courts, or U.I.C., after a string of back-to-back military loses in which more than 1,000 fighters, mostly teenage boys, were quickly mowed down by the better-trained and equipped Ethiopian-backed forces.

“Our children were getting annihilated,” said Abdi Hulow, an elder with the powerful Hawiye clan. “We couldn’t sustain it.”

That pretty much sums it up. The kids were cannon fodder. Typical IslamoNazi strategy.

Even before the government troops had planted themselves in downtown Mogadishu, the political negotiations began. Mr. Hulow and other elders said they had asked transitional leaders for positions in the new government in exchange for support. Ali Mohammed Gedi, the prime minister, told the elders that first he needed help in disarming the militias.

Mr. Gedi also gave a short news conference on the outskirts of Mogadishu in which he reached out to the Somali diaspora, saying: “We need your help. It’s time to come home.” One group was noticeably absent from all these talks: conservative clerics, who seemed to have overplayed their cards.

You mean the Ratbag IslamoNazi Imams who preach jihad were suddenly silent? Go figure.

It seems that many people, inside Somalia and outside, overrated the Islamists’ strength and popularity. Part of the reason, analysts now say, is that the Islamists had an excellent propaganda machine, controlling most media outlets in Somalia.

Translation: these weren’t “holy warriors” - they were bullshit artists.

On Thursday, to celebrate the departure of the Islamists, many Mogadishu residents stuffed their mouths with khat, a mildly narcotic plant that the Islamists had outlawed, and cranked up Western music, which some clerics had tried to ban.

Things are now back to normal. Every body must get stoned.   

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/29/2006 at 01:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Africa •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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