among the seemingly endless list of bush administration blunders, i expect it's 2006 decision to encourage and then aid ethiopia's overthrow of the islamic courts union in somalia will get lost in the mix. but it really was a major mistake with increasingly disastrous consequences.
the administration's decision, i think, was based entirely upon its islamaphobia. i'm convinced if the group called itself something other than the islamic court union, it would have been allowed to bring order to somalia and may have even gotten american support. but because it used the word "islamic" in its title (which is understandable given the domestic somali audience the ICU was trying to appeal to), the bush administration branded it a radical terror-supporting group. and now we're facing a somalia taken over by a much more radical successor organization. the 2006 group had plenty of moderates in its leadership, it was no taliban. the current incarnation is actually a lot closer to what the bush administration imagined the ICU to be. (e.g. the current group stones to death child rape victims). bush's ignorant short-sighted policies have brought about the very thing he imagined he was stopping two years ago.
plus as an added bonus, we get piracy. thanks george!
(that last link via wossi)
