Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

[Slimprofits]

I continue to predict (since the election of Obama with his team including folks such as Susan Rice) that the U.S. in Obama's first term will invade Somalia.

The pirates, the anarchy, oh my!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...n-1668181.html

"One mortar landed at the airport when Payne's plane was due to fly and five others after he left and no one was hurt," Abukar Hassan, a police officer at Mogadishu airport, told Reuters.

Residents said three people were wounded when one of the mortars hit a nearby neighbourhood.

Somali officials said Payne had held meetings with the interim government's president and prime minister during his short visit. African Union soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in Somalia provided security for Payne.

Payne, 74, a New Jersey Democrat, is in his 10th term in the U.S. House of Representatives and was first elected in 1988. He is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.

Jendayi Frazer, then top U.S. diplomat for Africa, became the first high-ranking U.S. official to visit Somalia in more than a decade when she landed in Baidoa in April 2007.

[sn1p3r]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

Headline on Drudge today was about invading pirate "bases" on Somali land...may be sooner than you think.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aYhvgOfyTmYA


Yay! another war we can't afford! I guess at some point the money has no value so who cares...spend, spend, spend!

[gasull]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

I continue to predict (since the election of Obama with his team including folks such as Susan Rice) that the U.S. in Obama's first term will invade Somalia.

The pirates, the anarchy, oh my!

I would like to recommend this article about pirates in Somalia:

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N. envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no cleanup, no compensation and no prevention.”

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300 million worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia’s unprotected seas.

The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”

This is the context in which the men we are calling “pirates” have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coast Guard of Somalia - and it’s not hard to see why.

In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters … We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas.” William Scott would understand those words.

No, this doesn’t make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Program supplies. But the “pirates” have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defense of the country’s territorial waters.”

One of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters … We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas.”

During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America’s founding fathers paid pirates to protect America’s territorial waters, because they had no navy or coast guard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different?

[World Traveler]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

gasull,

There's always more than one point of view that should be considered.

I don't support pirate activity. But it's important to understand the Somali point of view in order to fashion the best solution. Thanks for posting article.

[rjwjr]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

Payne, 74, a New Jersey Democrat, is in his 10th term in the U.S. House of Representatives and was first elected in 1988. He is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.

The Black Caucus in Somalia, the Black Caucus in Cuba meeting with Raul Castro, at what point did Obama's election become a mandate for the black minority in the U.S. to start dictating U.S. policy?

Before you start calling me a racist (my NASCAR avatar notwithstanding, lol), please trust me when I say that I am wholeheartedly in favor of competence, intelligence, fairness, and a strong moral compass in any individual regardless of their "skin sack" (white, black, male, female, young, old). It is from that perspective that I ask the question that I ask.

Why does the Black Caucus feel they have a more prominent role simply because the current U.S. President is black? How does that change or enhance the standing of the Black Caucus, or the individual members, in any way?

I think this is a disturbing trend that is unlikely to receive any MSM coverage, mostly because it will be perceived as being racist and non-politically correct, but I for one don't feel the Black Caucus has earned any special rights based on Obama's election any more than I think Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should be ignoring Republican input as they have been, simply because they are Democrats and the current President is a Democrat. To me, it's simple minds and inflated egos at work. Most of our current politicians are a freaking embarassment. If they are "representative" of anything, it's of the very worst that our society, and our human traits, have to offer. Are there any other New Worlds left to discover? I don't much like the way this one is heading.

[metalman]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

gasull,

There's always more than one point of view that should be considered.

I don't support pirate activity. But it's important to understand the Somali point of view in order to fashion the best solution. Thanks for posting article.

the portrayal by the msm of the pirates as nothing more than criminals smells like propaganda. thank you for the enlightening article. now know more than i knew before.

[petertribo]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

I would like to recommend this article about pirates in Somalia:

Thanks for posting that. As usual, just lies and propaganda from DC. And the ever reliable ignorance and collaboration from the MSM. Of course, the yahoos suck it all up while the Massive Crime Wave continues unabated and probably accelerating. HOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[don]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

(Having troubling posting either cartoon or link. It's today's entry on pirates)

Bizarro nails it...again

[don]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

There's something about this Somali pirate deal that resonates with frustrated Americanos. I shared gasull's background posting and these are typical responses:

If they dumped waste they couldn't eat the fish. One or the other, not both. In any event waste dumping should be easy to detect assuming anybody cares. What's obviously wrong with Somalia is it's infested with Somalis. They've managed to ruin the land. Let's see, they cut down all the trees, turned the land into a desert by overgrazing. Let's see them blame that on somebody else. At some point they're going to have to take some responsibility. And then there's the constant tribal warfare and narcotics addiction. I'm just not very sympathetic. Here's a thought, turn Somalia into a gunnery range and shot anything that moves. Remember Black Hawk Down? Somalia is a good place to send liberals.

And...

Pirates are Pirates!!---Terrorists are Terrorists!--go in --bomb them--kill them -wipe them out!!. There now, I feel better!!

Hmmmm. Now that's what I call resonating ;)

[Slimprofits]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

The Black Caucus in Somalia, the Black Caucus in Cuba meeting with Raul Castro, at what point did Obama's election become a mandate for the black minority in the U.S. to start dictating U.S. policy?

Before you start calling me a racist (my NASCAR avatar notwithstanding, lol), please trust me when I say that I am wholeheartedly in favor of competence, intelligence, fairness, and a strong moral compass in any individual regardless of their "skin sack" (white, black, male, female, young, old). It is from that perspective that I ask the question that I ask.

Why does the Black Caucus feel they have a more prominent role simply because the current U.S. President is black? How does that change or enhance the standing of the Black Caucus, or the individual members, in any way?

I think this is a disturbing trend that is unlikely to receive any MSM coverage, mostly because it will be perceived as being racist and non-politically correct, but I for one don't feel the Black Caucus has earned any special rights based on Obama's election any more than I think Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should be ignoring Republican input as they have been, simply because they are Democrats and the current President is a Democrat. To me, it's simple minds and inflated egos at work. Most of our current politicians are a freaking embarassment. If they are "representative" of anything, it's of the very worst that our society, and our human traits, have to offer. Are there any other New Worlds left to discover? I don't much like the way this one is heading.

From a review of news clippings about trips in the past, I think that nothing about the role of the Congressional black caucus has changed, accept that it is receiving more coverage by the mainstream and non-mainstream media alike as a result of the election of Obama.

[rjwjr]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

From a review of news clippings about trips in the past, I think that nothing about the role of the Congressional black caucus has changed, accept that it is receiving more coverage by the mainstream and non-mainstream media alike as a result of the election of Obama.

I didn't go back and check, I just noticed the recent coverage of some rather high profile trips. Thanks for your input.

[mfyahya]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

Headline on Drudge today was about invading pirate "bases" on Somali land...may be sooner than you think.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aYhvgOfyTmYA


Yay! another war we can't afford! I guess at some point the money has no value so who cares...spend, spend, spend!

Didn't they give up already? The Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia only because the Americans couldn't afford the mercenary fee they were demanding.

[petertribo]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

Didn't they give up already? The Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia only because the Americans couldn't afford the mercenary fee they were demanding.

This is another thing Americans are famous for: lack of attention span (some have stopped reading this already) and an inability to connect one fact with another. Life occurs ad hoc for them. This is generally known as a lack of critical thinking. It has always caught my attention when I see all this blather about Attention Deficit Disorder and how the docs pump out the Ritalin for kids. Having read a number of books on the physiological affects of TV watching, one suspects that Hollywood Babysitter as Suspect #1 in the decline of the American brain, such as it was anyway.

As for "Didn't they give up already?" some are still Armchair Fighting the Vietnam Disgrace and Disaster. They win every time.

[halcyon]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

Thanks for posting that. As usual, just lies and propaganda from DC. And the ever reliable ignorance and collaboration from the MSM. Of course, the yahoos suck it all up while the Massive Crime Wave continues unabated and probably accelerating. HOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Ehh... care to elaborate?

I'm not sure how to read your statement.

If you're saying the linked to article ("pirates in Somalia") is DC propaganda, then I respectfully disagree.

The dumping of radioactive waste esp. from Italy to African shorelines has been a 'known issue' for several years already.

It's been investigated and reported by such NON-governmental organisations as:

- Legambiente (IT)
- Greenpeace (UK)

No to mention the governments of Italy, Nigeria, Somalia, etc.

There's even a whole book about this, detailing many of the practises of dumping stuff in Africa (Faces of environmental racism, Laura Westra & Bill Lawson).

You can even find scientific papers about this issue:

Toxic Trade with Africa, Arti K. Vir, Environ. Sci. Technol., 1989, 23 (1), pp 23–25

It's all real, has been happening for decades and continues to accelerate.

The 'problem' for the US/EU official propaganda is the Internet, raising awareness of people and ability to circumvent the MSM message and get your message across.

This stuff is real. It is sad how deeply Italy is run by the Mafia. They do pretty much whatever they please there when it comes to waste disposal business. And the government pays lip service, that's all.

And btw, 'control' of Iran, Iraq, UAE, Oman, Yemen, KSA, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt is crucial for SA tanker oil flows, and esp. for USA.

Just follow the money (or in this case geopolitical pain due to oil flow routes) and it all becomes clear.

I agree that with the 'pirate' activity in Somalia, it's just a matter of time before US 'oil protection service' (aka army) is deployed.

It has to happen before the next oil supply/demand crunch, which by current developments is due sometime between 2011-2013.

[wayiwalk]

Re: Somali insurgents fire mortars at US congressman

Very informative thread - certainly this is ignored by MSM....I'm still trying to figure out how the heck these merchant ships are so easily overtaken by the pirates....

Personally, I'm of the position that MSM (internationally, too) has destroyed their credibility by being unable to remove their own biases from telling a story.

If you'd like to dispute that statement, then why the heck are we all playing on this website? Did MSM do a good job reporting the story of the coming danger of the gov't/spending/complicity with financial giants enough that more than a handful of the population were aware before it was too late? Nah - they just created financial TV infomercials starring Cramer and others as it was good for ratings (ok, rant over).

But what do we do by going into Somalia? Start a war on the side with Italy? Where does that lead? Somewhat shocking and sad in this day to learn that a nation like Italy does not do a better job managing its industrial waste.

Interesting premise that going back into Somalia is something that people have anticipated, I would have thought going into Sudan more likely as it has some support from a humanitarian perspective here.