Thursday, March 20, 2008
The One Hand Tied Dodge
In fact, many of these self-styled military strategists went as far as to suggest that our officers could learn a thing or two from their Ethiopian counterparts. Alas, it was acknowledged by our would-be adivsors with a wistful sorrow, our society has lost its stomach for such brutality due to liberal indoctrination, and thus the lessons would likely go unlearned. The sighs were audible.
So how are our putative mentors doing some 15 months on in their campaign?
And if it wasn't for those meddling do-gooders, we too could be enjoying a counterinsurgency operation every bit as successful. When will we learn.Islamist insurgents cut off the heads of three Somali soldiers south of the capital on Thursday and the U.N. special envoy said he would try to set up peace talks between the opposition and government.
It was the first case of beheadings since the government and its Ethiopian military allies ousted the Islamists from power in late 2006, sparking a bloody insurgency characterized by roadside bombs and hit-and-run attacks.
"This morning the mujahideen attacked the so-called government troops guarding the roads for the Ethiopian forces. We killed three of them," said Muktar Ali Robow, a senior commander of the Islamists' Shabab youth wing.
"We did what we promised to them. People traveling in that road can be asked how we killed them," he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. [...]
At least 7,000 people have died, and hundreds of thousands been displaced in the 15-month insurgency, creating what aid workers call one of the world's worst yet most ignored humanitarian crises.
