Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan
Looks like American commandos have killed wanted terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. This is one of the guys whose presence in Islamic Courts Union-controlled was cited as a reason for U.S. support for the December 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia that plunged the country into chaos leading to the deaths of huge numbers of people. That didn’t work in terms of dislodging our key suspects, but now we’re managing to kill terrorists anyway.
The risk in Somalia, however, is that as a consequence of the invasion and the ensuing insurgency, the Somali Islamist movement is now a lot more radical and al-Qaedaish. One doesn’t want this country to turn into a new recruiting grounds for international jihad at just the moment that al-Qaeda’s global appeal is on the wane.
14 Responses to “Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan”
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September 15th, 2009 at 11:34 am
They prefer to be called qat-baggers.
September 15th, 2009 at 11:44 am
So you condone the Obama administration, not only murdering people without a trial, but also boasting about it like the lasts of the Bush-type administration? Isn’t this the really important issue? American forces act like they are no better than Blackwater?
September 15th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Arrogance of it all. Mindboggling.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Let’s compare and contrast.
Ethiopia executes military action in Somalia, which Bush silently condoned. Al Qaeda and affiliates are outraged – at Ethiopia. Yglesias horrified!
Obama executes military action in Somalia. Al Qaeda and affiliates now outraged at the US. Yet Yglesias applauds.
So, why the difference? Oh, right, to some people Obama is infallible.
(On the other hand, some of us are consistent. I applaud this action just as I applauded the Ethiopian invasion, which saved the internationally backed (by the UN and AU) Transitional Government. Yglesias would rather have seen the internationally backed government destroyed by the Islamist militants, since isolationists like Yglesias hate the idea of the US backing any action to save an internationally backed government in Somalia.)
September 15th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Al is right. I think the US Left was foolish to complain about the Ethiopian presence (invasion, whatever) of Somalia, which was very promising and should have been supported. These intra-third-world interventions have a good track record–Vietnam removing the Khmer Rouge, Tanzania removing Idi Amin, ECOWAS (Nigeria, basically) removing Charles Taylor and staving off Foday Sankoh–but some people insist on treating them like garden-variety imperialism. But then, I’m still lamenting the Soviet failure in Afghanistan.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
The internationally backed Transitional Government controlled, like, three blocks of Mogadishu when the Islamic Courts Union arose? I think we’d have been better trying to figure out what the northern Somalilanders were doing right and seeing if we can find people in the rest of Somalia who might be able to pull off the same thing than cling to the official Transitional Government. (Even if it meant dropping — at least temporarily — the idea of a unified Somali state; if three “Somalilands” were to be established which were reasonably successful in establishing stable governments, then maybe they could try reuniting in a federal system later.)
September 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
It is apparent from initial reports that US Special Forces operating from American warships in broad daylight killed several enemy combatants in an open gun battle. I’m ok with that.
What I’m not ok with is assembling assassination teams and then coordinating their activities from the United States Naval Observatory, i.e. the Vice President’s residence. Such activity strikes me as not only illegal and unAmerican but treasonous as well.
September 15th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
To those above critical of this action, citing ‘International Law’, I say grow the hell up. There is no such thing as ‘international law.’ It is a completely invented term. The only law, internationally is who has the power to project their interests at the expense of those who don’t. If Somalia or some other failed state cannot prevent the US (or Ethiopia or China or Russia for that matter) from carrying out limited military operations in their territory to kill/capture people they don’t like, they have no arbiter of ‘international law’ to run to.
The lesson for Somalia here is get a functioning government and an effective military so you can defend yourself. They also might want to consider not allowing trouble-making assholes to reside in their country.
The lesson for the US was learned on September 11th. That is, don’t let silly things like borders and jursisdiction and ‘international law’(hah-hah) get in the way of killing bad guys.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
When will Americans learn that killing terrorists is a waste of time – if each dead terrorist generates two further terrorists then you are fucked.
September 15th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
I can’t help but marvel at how that guy in the pic kinda favors Obama. I probably sound like a secret Muslin conspiracy theorist for saying so, but damn….
September 15th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Re: Al is right. I think the US Left was foolish to complain about the Ethiopian presence (invasion, whatever) of Somalia, which was very promising and should have been supported. These intra-third-world interventions have a good track record–Vietnam removing the Khmer Rouge, Tanzania removing Idi Amin, ECOWAS (Nigeria, basically) removing Charles Taylor and staving off Foday Sankoh–but some people insist on treating them like garden-variety imperialism. But then, I’m still lamenting the Soviet failure in Afghanistan.
Rich in PA,
Mirabile dictu, I agree with you 100%. And you said it much more pithily than I could. Don’t forget Ms. Indira Gandhi’s liberation of Bangladesh, which ended the genocide of 3 million people at the hands of the Pakistan Army.
I’m not surprised that Yglesias opposed the Ethiopian intervention, though. Yglesian hipsters tend to like Jihadists, and they tend not to like Christians. Oh, they might be OK with the hipster-liberal sort of Christians, but not the Ethiopians who actually take their faith seriously (to the point of fasting from meat, fish, and dairy over half the days of the year). The border between Ethiopia and Somalia is the dividing line between civilisation and barbarism, but as usual, Yglesian hipsters prefer the side of barbarism.
September 15th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Shorter Hector: if Muslims are getting killed, I’m all for it.
September 16th, 2009 at 9:16 am
I would have been outraged if this was done under Bush, but that was when dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Now that it’s the lowest and most repugnant form of racism, I have no choice but to applaud as long and as enthusiastically as possible.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Shorter Kropotkin: As long as it’s dark-skinned teenage rape victims who are being stoned to death by the Jihadists, go to town.
I have said it before and I shall say it again: it is Ethiopia’s historic duty to rescue the Somali people from the barbarism and savagery of the Jihadists.