BLACK BLOGGAH

With the rise of the Islamic Courts in Somalia there's been chatter in the mediasphere about a "Taliban-like" regime coming to power in Mogadishu. It's an alarming possibility, but is it really plausible. To get a handle on what is happening Foreign Policy spoke to Craig Timberg who reports on Africa for the Washington Post.

A couple of choice quotes from the article Seven Questions: Somalia’s Struggle...

FOREIGN POLICY: Since 1991, Somalia has been torn apart by rival secular warlords. Why has this Islamic militia risen to power in the capital now?

Craig Timberg: I don’t think anyone knows for sure why it has happened now. One factor was the U.S. support for secular warlords. When it was discovered that the United States was backing warlords who were widely hated, support for the Islamic militants increased.

When I was in Mogadishu recently, I clearly sensed a popular frustration with the United States for having backed lawless warlords. They used to shoot people and rape girls with impunity. They drove around the capital in fancy trucks and flaunted their wealth. For the Americans to have associated with and supported these guys . . . it made Somalis angry and frustrated with the U.S. government.

Just great...another American foreign policy that creates support for radical Islamists, alienates and angers ordinary people, and shreds moral legitimacy...hecuva job.