When Islamists Try To Rule

Does anyone remember happy days in Somalia? Didn't think so.

There was a brief moment of hope in December 2006 when Ethiopian forces, backed by US air power, drove out the Islamists, but this is an enemy that doesn't go away when driven out. It's a cockroach that needs to be squashed flat to keep it from coming back.

The Union of Islamist Courts has been coming back, as witnessed yesterday when the UIC raided the town of Jowhar, held it briefly until they could free UIC prisoners (read: terrorists) held there, and withdrew, leaving 5 soldiers and 2 civilians dead.

In their drive to push Somalia into a totalitarian Islamist state, the Islamists have cared little about the humanitarian consequences, and it shows, according to BBC:

"It continues to deteriorate by the day," the UN refugee agency's Guillermo Bettocchi told the BBC.

"There are no signs of improvement on the ground, and those who are suffering the brunt of the conflict are the civilians, who are being either killed or displaced, and are in the middle of suffering that is unacceptable," he said.

"In terms of child malnutrition, access to education, lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities, indeed the situation in Somalia is the worst in the world... to be a child in Somalia today is something that means lots of suffering and a grim future."

Record food prices, hyper-inflation and drought in many parts of the country have made the situation worse and seasonal rains due to start soon are also predicted to fail.

"For too long, the needs of ordinary Somalis have been forgotten," the agencies said.

Our commitments in Iraq make our intervention in Somalia difficult, but the real stumbling block to use involvement is Clinton's disastrous handling of Somalia, in which he timidly fled the country at the first sign of difficulty (and in the process doomed our fallen fighting men there to dying for nothing). No route remains for re-entry.

Now the UN is considering stepping in, as a proposal to send 27,000 peacekeepers there (Mothers, guard your children!). Wishful thinking, probably. The African Union has only been able to muster 2,400 troops after promising 8,000, and given the dismal progress of peacekeepers in other African war venues, approval and recruitment will be a tough slog.

Of course, the Islamists could turn the whole thing around by simply embracing other's opinions and allowing some sort of representative government to be formed.

When pigs fly ... to the mosque.