Hot Air: It’s been tough over the past couple of days not to stand up and do a little dance of joy over Ethiopia’s so far masterful efforts in Somalia. Ethiopia very correctly recognized that the United Islamic Courts, the al Qaeda-backed Islamist movement that took control of Mogadishu and most of Somalia this past summer, represents a threat. So Ethiopia acted. And now Bill Roggio reports that Mogadishu has fallen to the Ethiopian and transitional Somali government forces.
Nine days after the onset of open warfare between the al-Qaeda backed Islamic Courts and the Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government, the Islamic Courts have surrendered. “After having crucial and urgent meeting tonight in the capital, the leaders of executive and Shura councils of Islamic Courts Union and deputy leader of executive council of ICU, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Sheik Abdirahman Janaqow resigned and issued a joint press statement over the current situation in Somalia particular in Mogadishu,” reports SomaliNet.
The biggest lesson to be learned from this tempest in a teapot in East Africa is that there is never a substitute for victory, and we must have the resolve to truly win, and not compomise our effort with a willingness to just get by (read “keep the peace”).
What we and the Israelis seem to lack right now, and which the Ethiopians apparently have, is the political will to win without worrying overmuch what the so-called internation community thinks.
Balls to the wall. That is how you defeat Islamic Totalitarianism, anywhere, anytime.
As you may remember, Mogadishu was the location of the infamous "Blackhawk Down" incident. President Clinton withdrew all troops from Somalia by 3/94.
