Somali Cause Strongly Condemns Latest US Airstrike In Somalia
March 3, 2008 -- The United States (US) military today unleashed missiles on Dhoobley, a small Somali town on the Kenyan border (New
York Times, 03/03/2008). Officially declared as an attack on a single "suspected" terrorist hide-out, the missiles
struck a residence. The neighbors insist that the attack killed and wounded innocent civilians and their livestock. The
Pentagon later confirmed the attack in a press release (American Forces Press Service, 03/03/2008). This is the fourth,
publicly admitted, bombing strike inside Somalia since the US supported Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia in
December, 2006. Dhoobley serves as a home and transit point for many displaced Somali civilians who are trying to escape
shelling and destruction of Somalia's capital city by the US sponsored Ethiopian occupation troops.
Somali Cause strongly condemns the illegal military strike in Somalia and the dubious, yet predictable, reasons given
for it. This missile attack and those that came before it amount to an undeclared war on Somalia. The March 3, 2008
bombing is clearly the latest episode in a long series of policy actions on Somalia that have proven to be colossal
failures. The direct US involvement in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia, has created an ever growing insecurity
and bloodshed that has encouraged despotism, warlords and massive human right abuses. From arming and financially
supporting criminal warlords against the population (New York Times, 06/08/2006) to providing logistical support and
political cover to Ethiopia's illegal invasion and occupation (New York Times, 12/27/2006), the policies of the United
States on Somalia are the very definition of unnecessary insanity: doing the same thing over and over again yet
expecting different results. These policies have contributed to creating the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa worse
than the Darfur tragedy (New York Times, 11/19/2007). Concerns are being raised that "Somalia could be headed toward
another war-induced famine like the one it suffered in the early 1990s" (New York Times, 03/04/2008).
Somali Cause strongly urges the United States to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.
Furthermore, the United States must place the same value on the lives of innocent Somalis as those of its own citizens
and refrain from using arbitrary force to kill or apprehend any Somali citizen. This wanton use of force by the United
States has resulted in the death and injury of innocent civilians, the destruction of their homes and their livelihoods
while not capturing or killing a single terrorist.
Somali Cause urges that:
* The US stop the senseless bombing and killing of innocent people and the destruction of their property based on the
so-called intelligence that has proven to be unreliable in many past incidences.
* The US Congress investigate the undeclared war against Somali population
* The International Community bring an immediate end to the Ethiopian occupation which is terrorizing the Somali
population.
ENDS