US Strikes in Somalia, Libya Target Terror Suspects

War on terror continues

Reason

Whatever you'd prefer to call it, the war on terror continues .

From the Washington Post:

U.S. Navy SEALs carried out an overnight raid on the Somali seaside home of a leader of the al-
Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab, U.S. officials said Saturday, an operation that suggests how worried Washington has become about the threat posed by an organization that recently launched an attack on a shopping mall in neighboring Kenya.

A U.S. official said the aim of the raid, which took place Friday, was to take a "high-value" al-Shabab militant into custody, but the militant was not seized.

"U.S. personnel took all necessary precautions to avoid civilian casualties and disengaged after inflicting some al-Shabab casualties," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a covert operation. "We are not in a position to identify those casualties."

The US also says it captured a suspect in the 1998 East African embassy bombings in a separate operation in Libya.

Locals reported a predawn foreign strike in southern Somalia earlier today; Kenya also identified the four gunmen in the Nairobi mall terror attack. Al Shabab has taken responsibility for the attack.

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Comments

[Agammamon]

"U.S. personnel took all necessary precautions to avoid civilian casualties and disengaged after inflicting some al-Shabab casualties,"

In other words, they ran in and shot some civilians.

[Old Man With Candy]

Were any dog shot? You know, soldier safety, procedures were followed...

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

We weren't big dog shooters - that is a civilian police thing. Not really civilian shooters either, Ag's sneering aside.

I think they landed - the "target" got away, but they got a few low level gunmen. This was a militarese way of saying "he got away, or wasn't there in the first place".

[SomeGuy]

actually you ever talk to vets of Iraq war they will tell you they shot dogs all the time. Granted, they are known to lie so take it with a grain of salt.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

LOLwut?

[Redmanfms]

SomeGuy is an anti-military griefer.

He's full of shit.

[Gray Ghost]

From what I've read, shooting them is counter-productive---they often don't die immediately, yelp, etc... and you're compromised anyway. What was far more effective was blowing a dog whistle. This got all of them barking, everywhere, which the poster I read this from thought was more helpful to his job of getting somewhere unobserved. He claimed to be in Iraq when he did this, FWIW.

OTOH, the S&W 39 modified, suppressed subsonic 9mm was called a "Hush Puppy" for a reason...

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

Um, that would be me, as one of them... In Afghanistan, we were asked to shoot some feral dogs around good old FOB Salerno, but fewer than the Elgin, IL PD pops in a year.

[Zakalwe]

My tank company's attached infantry platoon went on dog massacres all the time in the Mosul sheep market. They proudly told me about how many they'd shotgun in a day. (They were effectively infinite and immediately replenished in that area.)

I didn't put up with that stuff, but I found out that one of my guys was shooting them for target practice down by the river adjacent to the shooting range whenever I was in meetings with the Iraqi army at one of their bases.

[Agammamon]

I don't mean to imply that our guys go in and deliberately target civilians - just that when the government is going out of its way to mention how they followed procedures to avoid killing civilians, its a good bet its because some civilians were killed.

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

Were there drones involved?

/Disposition Matrix

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Does Kenya not have a military capable of doing this themselves? They're right next to each other!

I'm not entirely sold on the Wag the Dog theory, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more of these raids making news in the coming weeks.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Of course "wag the dog" means some piddling little action by a Dem POTUS while "protecting America" means some GOP POTUS asshole has launched an absurd war on the wrong country for the wrong reason.

[Agammamon]

Yah know - its funny how the conservatives like to defend Bush's policies while denigrating Obama's. Maybe you should go post that to a conservative site that denigrates Obama's policies while defending Bush's.

[everyone]

We agree with you, Shrike. But, it's no longer official since we've been furloughed.

Palin's Buttplug| 9.2.13 @ 5:57PM |#

If everyone agreed with me I would quit posting.

[Acosmist]

Yes, any person who attacks Iraq to distract from his impeachment is an asshole.

Wait that was...oh.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Actually Bubba did that before the impeachment, and the House Dems tried to use it as an excuse to put off the vote until the new House was sworn in (as they had picked up several seats).

[Sevo]

Palin's Buttplug|10.5.13 @ 11:03PM|#
"Of course "wag the dog" means some piddling little action by a Dem POTUS while "protecting America" means some GOP POTUS asshole has launched an absurd war on the wrong country for the wrong reason."

Hey, shitstain! When did Obo change parties?

[Mike M.]

Nice tweet the other day Weigel. You're the scum of the earth, just in case nobody has told you that yet.

[LynchPin1477]

Right now the news cycle is being dominated by the shutdown, and I suspect the WH would like to keep that in the headlines since it thinks it can and will win the PR battle. So I don't think this really fits into the Wag the Dog theory.

[Pathogen]

The "shutdown?" is the only place this administration might get a little traction, two covert assassinations were a soothing ointment for the gaping wound known as foreign policy, and the hemorrhoids known as ACA..

[The Immaculate Trouser]

This shouldn't be taken for support for intervention, but Kenya is already the main contributor to Somali counterinsurgency efforts. To the extent that those efforts need to be stepped up, Kenya really can't be asked to do more than it is already doing.

[Sevo]

At least:
"WASHINGTON (AP) ? Police in Washington are reviewing the use of officers' deadly force in the killing of a woman who tried to ram her car through a White House barrier, a shooting her family says was unjustified."

Yeah, blasting a woman in a car with no weapon with how many rounds?
Well, she was black, so she must have scared hell out of our brave LEOs in DC, right?

[SForza]

But how would Jack Daddy Frap feel about that? I'm guessing he wouldn't like it.

[VG Zaytsev]

And some people still say that the US isn't an empire.

[Brett L]

That was my exact thought. Jesus, we can just land commandos in two countries for FYTW?

[VG Zaytsev]

Pretty much.

I saw somewhere else that we were attacking the group that pulled of the Nairobi Mall attack.

And I thought Why???

Not that they aren't cocksuckers that should be killed, but it's really not any of the US government's concern. Or if it is, then literally everything is.

[Agammamon]

"Or if it is, then literally everything is."

*Now* you're starting to get it. Its a base principle of modern American government.

[Ted S.]

They'll claim universal jurisdiction if an American was killed.

[Cytotoxic]

People who actually understand what an empire is say that the US isn't an empire.

[wwhorton]

That's as maybe, but until Spanish commandos carry out a raid in my neighborhood against a suspected ETA member, it's a distinction without a difference in my book.

[Brett L]

I was told that the shutdown would make us less safe. You'd think they would hold off on these raids and then say, "we had to let the dude get away because of the obstructionist Republicans." But no, they're too busy trying to keep citizens off the Mall.

[Warrren]

Why is the military attacking Al's Kabab?

[Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!]

They shorted some SEAL on his order of naan?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Wow! Sending small groups of American commandos into Somalia on raids in order to kill/capture leaders of tribal factions. Clearly, there's no way this could blow up into something major.

[Pathogen]

Obama's poll numbers are in the shithouse, can't you just let him have this?

[Hollywood]

+1 UH-60

[Pathogen]

Puerile, petty, and vindictive, O is suck a cock...

[ludovikazaleskas]

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[Cytotoxic]

This is excellent. Good day for freedom.

[wwhorton]

Pardon me, did you say, "freedom?" I'm very happy to hear that AQ members died, but I fail to see how this in any way affects my freedom. I still will have to pay a penalty for not purchasing health insurance if I choose not to do so, I still have to pay taxes to fund a government that restricts what I put into my body, whether or not and which firearms I can or can't purchase, and claims the right to read my mail, email, tap my phone, and search my home without even doing me the courtesy of showing me a search warrant. So I fail to see how this in any way whatsoever did anything positive for the cause of freedom. I must be missing something.

Please don't tell me, "Because terrorists and Sharia law," because I'd be happy to take care of my own defense on that front, thank you very much.