Ed Morrissey recalls this article last month about Al-Qaeda in Ethopia:
Analysts are unanimous that a full-scale conflict between the Islamists and Ethiopia, a country with a strong Christian identity, would be disastrous for Somalia, which is already suffering from severe flooding and years of neglect, and for the region as a whole, because neighboring countries may jump in.
Gen. John P. Abizaid of United States Central Command — or Centcom — which has responsibility for American military interests in the region, recently flew to Ethiopia to meet with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who had told American officials that he could cripple the Islamist forces “in one to two weeks.”
And from the same article:
A growing number of Democrats in Congress are urging the Bush administration to change course and deal with the Islamists for what they are: the power on the ground.
“The Islamists aren’t going away, so the sooner we talk to them, the better,” said Representative Donald M. Payne, the New Jersey Democrat who is expected to become the chairman of the House subcommittee on Africa when his party takes control of Congress in January.
That’s are elected leaders giving up if you didn’t notice. Oh, did you notice the party affiliation of that Rep? Things are tough so lets just deal with them. Who cares if they want us destroyed….gotta learn to live with it.
Except the news today:
Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers have captured the last stronghold of the Union of Islamic Courts, the defence minister says.
Col Barre Aden Shire said the town of Ras Kamboni, in south-eastern Somalia, fell after several days of fighting.
Remnants of the militia are now reported to be hiding in dense forest along Somalia’s border with Kenya.
Tells us what can be done when you don’t wait for the fight to come to you, you bring the fight to them. And no pussyfooting around either. Total war means a total win.
Something the Democrats will never understand.
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You’re hilarious. It’s worth quoting specifically from Morrissey, who says: “They showed what happens when a nation commits to actual war against asymmetrical threats: they destroy them.” Interestingly, this was exactly what Ethiopia thought when it tried to suppress the Eritrean secessionist movement in the 1970s. Guess what? 30 years later, independent Eritrea.
It wasn’t an “asymmetrical threat” – the Ethiopians were fighting a conventional war against a conventional force. No surprise, they won – they were better trained, better equipped, better organised – and Morrisey’s comparison with the insurgency is laughably ill-informed.