US bombers go after al Qaeda terrorists in Somalia

It appears that the al Qaeda incursions from Somalia into Ethiopia have been, from their side of things, misguided.

On Christmas Eve, Ethiopia threw their hands in the air and said "Enough." It invaded Somalia and chased the Islamists from the Somali capital city, Mogidishu.

Shortly before his departure as General Secretary of the United Nations, Kofi Annan asked for a halt to the violence. Presumably, Annan was silent about al-Qaeda's recent activities on the Horn of Africa until Ethiopia took matters into their own hands.

Of course, Ethiopia could've appealed to the UN about al Qaeda--which of course would've been as worthwhile as having an ice cream stand on the surface of the Sun.

Perhaps if they could've introduced a resolution on the problem blaming Israel, it might've gotten somewhere.

The invasion has some unintended but welcome benefits to the United States, as you'll read below.

From CBS News:

A U.S. Air Force gunship has conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports exclusively.

The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reports. The AC-130 gunship is capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, and sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike, but there is as yet, no confirmation of the identities.

The gunship flew from its base in Dijibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reports, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.

Once they started moving, the al Qaeda operatives became easier to track, and the U.S. military started preparing for an air strike, using unmanned aerial drones to keep them under surveillance and moving the aircraft carrier Eisenhower out of the Persian Gulf toward Somalia. But when the order was given, the mission was assigned to the AC-130 gunship operated by the U.S. Special Operations command.

Austin Bay offers some expert analysis here.

Related post: (With commmentary on Somalia.) The Sanity Squad podcast on the execution of Saddam

Technorati tags: Ethiopia Somalia UN War On Terror terrorism Air Force