US Launches Airstrikes in Somalia
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6243459.stm

SBG

Hitting 250 terrs should make a significant difference; unless most of them are just people, as reported by the BBC. Does anyone know how BDAs are conducted for such events? Do they insert a team to examine the effects?

I think the '250 dead' refers to the people killed in the Embassy bombings. It will be interesting to see the US official statement later today!

SBG

Excellent, lets all go to another war now! This was really not the best idea that they have had:ugh: .

I think all this will have done is stir up a hornets nest in east Africa. Do they not learn from their mistakes, they have been here before and did not do all that well. Mind you, now with all their operational 'succsesses' they might fancy having another crack of the whip. I really do despair, lets finish the two wars we are fighting just now before we go headlong into another one (we would probably go along with our american cousins as our political masters think we are not that busy just now):ugh:

I guess the US will do ok in Somalia- as long as they don't land.

Q. How do you turn an innocent civvy into a terr?

A. Smoke him.

BDA after an AC-130 operation will be somewhat tricky - all that's likely to be found is hamburger..........

So they weren't in Iraq all along?

Apparently, the US has had 1500 troops in the region for some years to prevent such a gathering of terrorists. One has to ask what they've been doing? Dunkin donut anyone?

Doubt there will be much of that in a Muslim country, unless it comes from McDonalds, in that case there would be no trace of ham, meat or anything of nourishment value.

The US has a major base in the region. The Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) has been there for years along with French troops and others. Their base is Camp Lemonier in Djibouti and its purpose is to provide security for the region if conflict breaks out (which it has), Food and Medical aid for the region, water projects etc etc and to get rid of terrorism in the region, which it is doing. Along with that, NATO and the French are also out to sea getting rid of the Somali pirates.

So the US are doing what they are supposed to be doing in the region, stamping out terrorism. Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti all contribute troops to the CJTF.

I can't believe this news. How stupid is the american government. There killing innocent people with the only consequence of them gaining more enemies. Are they looking to start another war because what gives them the right to just bomb Somalia.:mad:

Don't worry - you should not find "Ham" in any "Hamburger", what with it being a beef patty named after the city of Hamburg.

You should not find anyone called Frank in a Frankfurter (unless he upset the Mafia!).

Well, after their success in doing that in Somalia last time and Iraq now, who could blame the USA for wanting to continue a winning streak.

What a shambles.

Note to Bliar and Brown - "STAY OUT OF THIS ONE, PLEASE!"

Sad but not unexpected that this apparently successful USAF operation has led to such an outpouring of anti-American vitriol on Pprune.

I went to the Virgin Islands once....very much let down.:(

The U.N. recognised Somali government...

"The U.S. were trying to kill the al-Qaida terrorists who carried out the bomb attacks on their embassies in Kenya and Tanzania," Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed told The Associated Press. "They have our full support for the attacks."

Well, I'm not normally known for being much of a supporter of Uncle Sam, but if these operations have successfully taken out more of those worthless pieces of $hit who plague the planet with their terrorist extremism, then Good Show, I say!



"Don't worry - you should not find "Ham" in any "Hamburger", what with it being a beef patty named after the city of Hamburg.

You should not find anyone called Frank in a Frankfurter (unless he upset the Mafia!)."

And I know what you most certainly wouldn't want to find in 'Spotted Dick'....:eek:

I'm with L-H on this one.
The USAF team are there to do jobs just like this, they have the backing of the Somalian President and when a decent target of oppurtunity presented itself they took the neccessary steps. There is no mention of ground forces being sent in, the Somali 'government' troops with Ethiopian backing seem to be doing a good job on this one already.

BBC: .......In other developments:

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says foreign fighters from Canada, Eritrea, Pakistan, Sudan, the United Kingdom and Yemen have been captured in Somalia.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana tells the BBC that the EU is ready to help deploy troops in Somalia and casts doubt on the ability of the African Union to send a peacekeeping force........

Somalia's head of state seems to welcome this US action. If the terrorists they have taken out could have been planting bombs around London later this year then we owe the US a vote of thanks.

I am slightly troubled by this approach.

I think that we could save a whole lot of money in court fees in this country if we adopted this approach in the UK and sentenced all people 'suspected' of a crime immediately. This would do away with the need for a tiresome and silly trial. The fuzz has caught them so obviously they are guilty....

but don't we operate within the law? this is why we can hold our heads up in the world and say "We are considerably better than thou" to Tommy Taliban.

I'm not clear why/if International Law allows us to kill suspects without trial, even when they are not shooting us, or about to shoot us (aka ROE).

So maybe this is just another example of 'illegal military action'.