U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Signals Backing for Ethiopian Incursion Into Somalia
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: December 27, 2006

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 — The United States on Tuesday signaled its support for the Ethiopian offensive in Somalia, calling it a response to “aggression” by Islamists who have since the summer been consolidating power in the country.
(snip)

Ethiopia has long been a strong ally of Washington in the Horn of Africa. The American military has for years trained Ethiopian troops at bases in the eastern region. The training is part of a Pentagon effort to build the Ethiopian military into a bulwark against regional terrorist networks.
(snip)

This year, the C.I.A. began a covert operation to arm and finance the warlords, who had united under the banner of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism. Operated from the intelligence agency’s station in Nairobi, Kenya, the effort involved frequent trips to Mogadishu by case officers from the agency and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to the warlords.

The operation backfired. When the payments to the warlords shifted the military balance of the country in their favor, the Islamists started a strike against the American-backed coalition and ran it out of Mogadishu.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/world/africa/27africa.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Demit]

1. '“The press must not be allowed to make this about Ethiopia,

...or Ethiopia violating the territorial integrity of Somalia,” the guidance said.'

"On Tuesday, a day after an Ethiopian jet strafed the airport in Mogadishu, the capital, the State Department issued internal guidance to staff members, instructing officials to play down the invasion in public statements.

“Should the press focus on the role of Ethiopia inside Somalia,” read a copy of the guidelines that was given to The New York Times by an American official here, “emphasize that this is a distraction from the issue of dialogue between the T.F.I.’s and Islamic courts and shift the focus back to the need for dialogue.” T.F.I. is an abbreviation for the weak transitional government in Somalia."


Good to see that the reporter included that nugget in his report—revealing the attempt to force how the events are spun. Also good to see that someone in the State Dept passed it along.

[Kagemusha]

2. It's not as if the Islamists are good guys here, it's just that..

the US has the 'hegemon that cried Wolf' problem to deal with here...