Somalia: US Military Strikes Against Civilians

Pepperspray Productions' "Indymedia Presents": While all eyes have been on the horrors of the US involvement in Iraq, and the potential for US aggression against Iran, there are other places where US forces have been conducting military strikes against civilians. One of those places is Somalia. After many years without ANY central government in the Horn-Of-Africa country Somalia, a calm moment and a ray of hope for a peaceful future came to Somalia ...More Pepperspray Productions' "Indymedia Presents": While all eyes have been on the horrors of the US involvement in Iraq, and the potential for US aggression against Iran, there are other places where US forces have been conducting military strikes against civilians. One of those places is Somalia. After many years without ANY central government in the Horn-Of-Africa country Somalia, a calm moment and a ray of hope for a peaceful future came to Somalia, brought by the Islamic Courts, Somali church folks, not terrorists by everyone's estimate—everyone except the US government, that is. The Islamic Courts ran out the warlords, opened the port, established order, ended the violence, made sure relief aid got to the people, and mobilized a large portion of society to join in on the effort to rehabilitate Somalia, with plans to reopen schools, hospitals and provide all the support networks needed for a functioning society. Rampant crime and the rule of the gun disappeared, and most Somalis seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after so many harsh years of chaos. Some of the old warlords did a flanking maneuver, though, and got themselves appointed as a "government in exile," and now they are back, not as war-lords this time, but as the "internationally recognized government." They arrived with the tanks and planes of the Ethiopian Army, the historical enemy of Somalia. They were also backed not just politically by the US but backed by US military firepower as well. When the heavily armed and mechanized Ethiopians ran right over the unfunded volunteers of the Islamic Courts, the US established a naval blockade to keep the leaders of the Islamic Courts from escaping the Ethiopian clutches. Then, in an even more blatant move, US airpower struck several Somali villages, killing many. The aircraft used, the AC130 was developed during the US War against Viet Nam, and was nicknamed then "Puff the Magic Dragon." It is not used for surgical strikes, but for putting a massive amount of firepower into a small area. I remember well that back then it was said that in a three second burst "Puff" could fill an area the size of a football field with one big round in every square inch. Who knows what it is capable of now, but when used against a village, this sort of weapon doesn't make friends, it makes a lot of dead civilians. Meanwhile, Warlords and criminals rule the street in Mogadishu, the historic capital of Somalia, and life for the people has descended once again into hell. With this background in mind, "Indymedia Presents" this week takes on the question of Somalia. First we present a piece made by PepperSpray Collective member Mahdy Maaweel, a Somali-American film maker and producer of "Somalisan TV" here in Seattle. The American Somali community has been holding demonstrations in various places around the country protesting against the invasion of Somalia. There has been almost no media attention to their pleas. Most Americans don't even know that their government is shooting things up in Somalia, so in covering this issue we feel we are once again giving voice to those the corporate media would leave voiceless. To prove the points being made in that first piece, we finish the show with a piece made by the United Nations in the early stages of the Ethiopian invasion. As Maaweel says to the camera, as you watch the UN report, remember that it was the UN that said over and over again that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. To paraphrase an old blues song, who you gonna believe, George Bush or your damn lying eyes?

Channel: People & Blogs
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: IndymediaPresents

Length: 27:45
Rating: 3.65
Views: 44118

Tags: Military  Somalia  US  

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