The pentagon stated that U.S. airstrikes killed 150 people in Somalia who they believe to be affiliated with al-Shabaab. There is no evidence to support the assertion that all 150 killed were terrorists or militants. This is one of the deadliest attacks in the “war on terror.” The U.S. is not at war with Somalia, but there has been a decade long campaign against al-Shabaab. White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest emphasized that those killed were “fighters,” and posed an “imminent threat,” yet still failed to provide evidence to support that claim. Earnest said the following: “The fighters who were scheduled to depart the camp posed an imminent threat to U.S. and African Union mission forces in Somalia. The removal of those terrorist fighters degrades al-Shabaab’s ability to meet the group’s objectives in Somalia, including recruiting new members, establishing bases, and planning attacks on U.S. and AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) forces.”
In Glenn Greenwald’s Nobody Knows the Identity of the 150 People Killed by U.S. in Somalia, but Most Are Certain They Deserved It, he is rightfully skeptical and sheds a well-deserved light on major inconsistencies: “for mindless authoritarians, the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘militant’ have no meaning other than: anyone who dies when my government drops bombs, or, at best, a “terrorist” is anyone my government tells me is a terrorist. Watch how many people today are defending this strike by claiming ‘terrorists’ and ‘militants’ were killed using those definitions even though they have literally no idea who was killed.”
He continues: “So yesterday the president killed roughly 150 people in a country where the U.S. is not at war. The Pentagon issued a five-sentence boilerplate statement declaring them all ‘terrorists.’ And that’s pretty much the end of that. Within literally hours, virtually everyone was ready to forget about the whole thing and move on, content in the knowledge — even without a shred of evidence or information about the people killed — that their government and president did the right thing. Now that is a pacified public and malleable media.”
What are your thoughts on the drone strikes in Somalia? Comment below.
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