Posted on 12/28/2006 10:03:42 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
December 29, 2006
Somalia Forces Retake Capital From Islamists
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 28 — Just hours after Islamist fighters abandoned Mogadishu, the capital from which they ruled much of Somalia, thousands of troops of the transitional government marched into the city on Thursday in a stunning reversal of fortune.
The government soldiers and the Ethiopian infantrymen who have been backing them poured in from the outskirts, residents said. The only gunshots fired were long celebratory bursts into the air.
In a country with such a troubled recent history, including famine, anarchy, isolation and war, a potentially viable government has suddenly emerged.
In a matter of five days, the internationally recognized government, a fledging authority that had been so weak it was marooned in a provincial market town, captured the formidable capital and most of Somalia — with more than a little help from Ethiopia.
The Islamists, whom many Western nations had considered a grave and growing regional threat with terrorist connections, were vanquished faster than anyone had expected, or at least removed from power.
“We always knew these Islamists weren’t all they were cracked up to be,” said Abdirizak Adam Hassan, chief of staff for the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. “And now we are where they used to be, in control of Mogadishu — well, as much as anyone can be in control of Mogadishu.”
On Thursday morning, before most of the troops arrived, the city exploded in anarchy as armed bandits rushed into the streets and fragmented militia units began to fight each other for the spoils of war.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Most excellent news. Another terrorist regime has been destroyed.
MONK this new capiton hey is Looter guy around
Heh - this makes at least four times they have taken the capital today. Good news every time it has happened!
I suspect this would not be the last time it is taken. Probably a few more coming in 24 hours.:-)
All in all, the War on Terror is going quite well:
1. Al Qaeda has failed to hit the US in 5+ years(If you had done a poll on this question on 9/12/01 you would have gotten 100% saying impossible)
2. They really haven't hit Europe that much either, aside from the 7/7 London thing which was as much homegrown as it was AQ directed
3. Abu Sayyaf in the Phillipines, Islamic terrorists in Indonesia and elsewhere have been devestated. The body of the leader of Abu Sayyaf was recently discovered
4. Zarqawi and his top leaders all dead
5. The ICU in Somalia is finished
6. The Taliban is largely done for, at least as far as affecting the US is concerned
7. All of the Arab regimes that AQ has dedicated themselves to toppling(KSA, Egypt, Jordan, Morrocco, the GCC states, are all stronger than ever and have totally resisted any attepts at AQ subversion
8. The WMD programs of Iraq and Lybia are no more
9. Bin Laden and Zawahiri have largely lost face to Nasrallah, who himself isn't exactly sitting pretty at the moment
10. The US buildup in the Gulf has continued unabated
If President Bush would emphasize the positive more, and get the message out to the people, he and the GO Pwould be in much better shape.
Hopefully we learn from the Ethiopian example that going in, not kowtowing ot the UN, the media and the left, and killing as many as possible until they surrender and leave, is the right thing to do.
All this hardly matters. We haven't finished in Iraq yet. That is all the voters care about.
Islamists on the run. Heh,heh. Drop the pigs on them now.
This shows what can be accomplished when your troops are not hamstrung by political correctness.
Imagine.
Imagine when the rest of the World wakes up and decides to take action......
Imagine....... a World without terrorism...........
It's kind of a pity that the Islamists didn't decide to stand and fight. Frankly, I was hoping to see Mogadishu pounded into rubble as a form of revenge-by-proxy for what happened there in 1993 - and as a way of enacting what should have happened there in 1993.
without Islam and its attendant baggage
Well said
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.