America Brings Hell to Somalia

ZNet, May 19, 2008

By Margaret Kimberley

What does the word "Islamist" mean? The millions of people around the globe who practice Islam are called Muslims, but this new term has crept into the language without question or investigation. It seems to apply to Muslims who fight against the occupation of Iraq, or Somalians who don't take kindly to the U.S.-backed Ethiopian government invading their country and killing their countrymen and women. In short, an Islamist seems to be any Muslim who has the nerve to act in opposition to the American government. Like anyone else deemed an enemy, a new word has to be invented in order to dehumanize. If Somalian resistance fighters were called just that, then Americans might question their government's decision to keep killing them.

America's intervention gave Ethiopia license to invade Somalia and begin a horrific cycle of violence. According to Amnesty International, more than 600,000 Somalis have fled from their homes, at least 6,000 are dead and 90,000 children in refugee camps are in danger of death from starvation and lack of hygiene and medical care.

The so-called war on terror is in fact a war of terror practiced against millions of people all over the world. The Muslim religion is used as a convenient scapegoat to further the aims of that war and Somalia is just one of the victims. Somalia is now in the grip of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, and it is all happening under the direction of George W. Bush. In a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and all international human rights standards, a U.S. naval vessel sent cruise missiles into the city of Dusa Mareb to commit an extra judicial killing, an assassination, of Hashi Aden Ayro, the leader of al-Shabab. Al-Shabab is dedicated to fighting the American backed Ethiopian occupation and is therefore tagged as "Islamist," "terrorist," and "linked to al-Qaeda."

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