Terrorists Bite the Dust in Somalia
Bill Roggio at the Fourth Rail is carrying a report that Ethiopia is now routing the Islamic Courts Union (Islamic radicals and the Sharia Law they have imposed) all the way to Mogadishu. It appears that Mogadishu will fall in the next day or two.
Nine days after the onset of open warfare between the al-Qaeda backed Islamic Courts and the Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government, the Islamic Courts have surrendered. “After having crucial and urgent meeting tonight in the capital, the leaders of executive and Shura councils of Islamic Courts Union and deputy leader of executive council of ICU, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Sheik Abdirahman Janaqow resigned and issued a joint press statement over the current situation in Somalia particular in Mogadishu,” reports SomaliNet
Of course, SomaliNet is also reporting that the Islamic fighters have put back on their civilian clothes, taken their AK-47’s and “melted into the civilian population” - a euphemism for the beginnings of an insurgency.
Froggy at Blackfive noted that this is the way to wage war - don’t let the media dictate the goals and don’t let the opinions of the weak get in the way of winning.
Off the top of my head, I would say that Ethiopia is not afflicted with a pernicious and defeatist media machine that is capable of manipulating public opinion, and even if it was, it doesn’t look like the Ethiopian president would give a damn in any case. The word that comes to mind is resolve. When a leader resolves to send men into battle, he is obligated to withstand the criticism of the media so that the troops who are withstanding hostile fire from the enemy are able to decisively defeat that enemy. This is the area where the President, Rumsfeld, and the Generals have been found wanting. Wars cannot be won with restrictive ROEs (Rules of Engagement) that allow the enemy to use our self imposed limitations against us.
Froggy notes that the Ethiopians combat power and military capabilities are a fraction of ours, yet they had no trouble decimating the ICU’s so-called “fighters”. Waging an insurgency may be their only hope left for the ICU. It remains to be seen how successful they will be. Or how successful the Ethiopians will be at defeating that which we have had difficulty doing in Iraq.
Just to remind you, there are several links to Iran in Mogadishu - including trading arms fo yellowcake, the primary ingredient for the nuclear fuel cycle.
