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While the United States government and the mainstream media condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine, U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, conducted airstrikes in the Somali area that killed 60 “enemy” fighters, according to a report.
The U.S. said there were no civilian casualties, according to an “initial assessment.” AntiWar.com reported that the U.S. is “notorious for undercounting civilian casualties and there are usually civilian deaths discovered when journalists arrive at the scene.
The U.S. said the strikes were carried out in coordination with Somali forces near Duduble—which is about 40 miles northwest of Mogadishu.
The military said in a statement that the strikes were authorized under the 2001 Authorization of Use for Military Force and the militaries made an effort not to injure civilians, which contrasts “with the indiscriminate attacks that al-Shabaab regularly conducts against the civilian population.”
AntiWar.com reported that the authorization was passed after the Sept. 11 attacks and has remained in place. (See “SENATE COMMITTEE: AMERICA’S MASS MURDER OF CIVILIANS WITH DRONES.”)
The U.S. conducted the strikes with MQ-9 Reaper drones and it was the first military action against the Al Qaeda affiliate since August, The New York Times reported. The strike followed an attack by Shabaab fighters on government forces in the town.
The report said the political instability in Mogadishu has given Shabaab the opportunity to expand. The U.S. government on Saturday announced sanctions for Somali officials after there was another delay in the country’s parliamentary elections, Al Jazeera reported.
Officials in Mogadishu moved the elections from 25 February to 15 March due—in part—to a political clash between the country’s president, Mohamed Abdullahi, and prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said about 4.3 million Somalis—out of a population of about 16 million—have been impacted by drought, including 271,000 who have been displaced, Reuters reported.
The report of the drone strike occurred shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine. Moscow was internationally condemned, but nobody batted an eye after the U.S. aggression.
“The fact that the U.S. bombed Somalia this morning but all the empathy is directed to Ukraine only,” Judicaelle Irakoze, an African feminist, tweeted. “Yemen, Syria, Somalia for years have been existing under bombings, invasions and whatnot!”
Jason Bassler, the co-founder of the Free Thought Project, also posted: “The U.S. bombed Somalia this week but I bet you didn’t hear about it from the U.S. media, just like you haven’t heard about the U.S. facilitated genocide in Yemen the past 6 years.”
“But don’t worry, they will tell you the truth about Ukraine just like they did with COVID,” he posted.
TRENDPOST: While the U.S. media blasts allegations of China committing genocide against Uyghurs and that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing war crimes with his action in Ukraine, the Presstitutes have essentially been silent when it comes to America’s long history of slaughtering innocent civilians with drone strikes—justified under a decades-old act that has outlived its usefulness.
TREND FORECAST: The U.S. will continue to use killer drone despite concerns being raised in Congress. The Navy just announced last week that it will launch a fleet of unmanned drones in the Middle East with other “allied nations” to counter Iran. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said the fleet will consist of 100 unmanned drones that will be both sailing and submersible.
“It’s been well established that Iran is number one in the primary regional threat we are addressing,” Cooper said. “There’s the ballistic missile, cruise missile and UAV [drone] component, both in their capability and their mass proliferation, as well as the proxy forces.”
We saw what happened after the 29 August 2021 drone strike in Kabul that resulted in the deaths of 10 innocent people—including seven children. The New York Times called the strike “a tragic blunder that punctuated the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan.”
The Pentagon announced in December that there will be no charges and the heads of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command did not recommend any “accountability actions” for anyone who was involved in the strike.
“Process improvements absolutely will occur, but in this particular case, there was not a strong enough case to be made for personal accountability,” according to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.