Islamic Courts seek to expand war

[oberliner]

A Somali Islamic Courts defence chief has for the first time called on foreign Muslim fighters to join his movement's war against Ethiopia.

"We're saying our country is open to Muslims worldwide. Let them fight in Somalia and wage jihad, and God willing, attack Addis Ababa," Yusuf Mohamed Siad, known as Inda'ade, said.


"We want anyone who can help remove the enemy to come in," he told a news conference in the Mogadishu, the Somali capital and an Islamic Courts stronghold.


Ethiopia said the call for fighters proved the "extremism" of the movement Addis Ababa accuses of being run by al-Qaeda linked fighters.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AE1E58BD-5FA8-41FE-8A3C-6AEF40B5BAF7.htm

[Turbineguy]

1. If they only had oil...

we could go in and "help".

[INDIA]

2. We already tried to "help"....

during the Clinton years. Apparently it wasn't worth it.

[Eugene]

3. Somalia is close enoungh to the tanker routes to concern Bush.

Having tried and failed to "help" by proxy,
the Bushies want an international force.
Another front in the "War on Terror."

[alfredo]

4. But Poppy Bush said Somalia is of "no Strategic Value."

He still sent forces in there right before he left office.

What is going on is Somalia is a proxy war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, just as Iraq is becoming a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

[Briar]

5. "Help", of a sort, is being rendered

This is a proxy conflict reminiscent of the bad old Cold War days, with the US backing Ethiopia's intervention.

""The U.S. is basically trying to legitimise the Ethiopians' presence in Somalia as part of an effort to preserve the transitional government and prevent the ICU from taking over the whole country," according to one diplomatic source who declined to be identified.

"The problem, however, is that this TFG enjoys very little legitimacy within Somalia and is increasingly seen by Somalis as an Ethiopian proxy," according to this source. "So a U.N. Security Council resolution that authorises a foreign deployment with Ethiopia in it will actually strengthen the ICU, which will be able to rally nationalist sentiment behind it. It may not even have to attack Baidowa; the TFG could just implode."

"The one thing that unites Somalis is their animosity and hatred toward Ethiopians," said Dagne. "Ethiopian support for the TFG confirmed Somalis' suspicions that Abdullahi Yusuf is a proxy of Ethiopia and not a true leader of Somalis."

Indeed, Washington's gambit has spurred consternation at the United Nations, among U.S. allies in Europe and even within the administration, particularly the Pentagon, according to various sources."

From:

U.S.-Backed U.N. Resolution Risks Wider War
Jim Lobe

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35635