April 22
GUEST: Nick Alexandrov, teacher, activist and author of articles in Counerpunch Magazine, Asia Times, History News Network, Pakistan Today, Truthout and CovertAction Magazine, talks about the recent history of Somalia with a focus on US bombings and invasions.
Covert Action Magazine
Nick and I explored the history of Somalia, with a focus on US invasions, bombings and drone assassinations. Not a pretty picture, and certainly not one presented to the American public by its media.
There are the genocidal policies of General Barre in the 1980s, all supported by the CIA. Then came the US invasion of 25,000 troops. After that there were catastrophic US special forces invasion that were always deadly when the "collateral damage" was measured. One such military adventure turned bloody for US troops as well, killing 18 soldiers and wounding hundreds of civilians. The made for Pentagon propaganda movie "Black Hawk Down" presents the empire's point of view quite well. How could those Africans attack US special forces that were sent in to help the Somali people. Those barbarians!
Pictures of the more recent US drone strikes tall another story of suffering and devastation. We talked about the oil, which is probably why the US cares about Somalia at all. But when the empire "cares" for another country, there is always carnage, especially when that country is in the Third World and its people are brown.
