Maryland Conservatarian

U.S. Sees Growing Threats In Somalia was front page on the Washington Post today and included this observation:

“Somalia descended into chaos after U.S. and U.N. troops withdrew in 1994, with warring clans competing for power and the rest of the world turning away. When the Islamist push began several years ago, the Bush administration started paying attention -- and funding locally unpopular warlords to gather intelligence and gird for battle.”

For which Senator Joe Biden had these enlightening comments:

“"By making a bad bet on the warlords to do our bidding," incoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) charged last week, "the administration has managed to strengthen the Courts, weaken our position and leave no good options. This is one of the least-known but most dangerous developments in the world, and the administration lacks a credible strategy to deal with it."

…and then Senator Biden lays out a well-reasoned strategic alternative to the Administration, displaying the scholarship skills that one would expect of one who did so well in law school.

Ha!! C’mon now – he was clearly identified as a US Senator…and a Democrat.

Now the last time we were in Somalia, our credible strategy was to get out and basically turn over everything to the UN. And we stopped looking for Aidid. Senator Biden was not a forceful critic of that strategy and for all I know that now might be his preferred course of action. The Congress of our immediate future looks a lot like the one we had back in ’93-94 and that failure to act back then certainly hasn’t haunted those pols still with us. – including the erudite Joe Biden. But that last time allowed Osama this recent taunt:

“In a taped statement released in July, bin Laden called on Somalis to begin preparing for regional war. He recalled the 1994 withdrawal of U.S. military forces after a warlord attack killed 18 U.S. troops, saying, "This time, victory will be far easier."

Bin Laden should never be proved correct. We need to win this war. Any ideas you might have, Senator Biden, are mighty welcome.