Al-Shabaab

U.S. Marines load ammunition and weapons seized in a raid on Mogadishu, Somalia’s, Bakara Market December 2006. A Marine stands holding a M60 machine gun, left, pointing it at a crowd of Somali civilians standing at the right. (Photo/Expert Infantry via Flickr)
In October 1993, during the Battle of Mogadishu (the Black Hawk Down incident), 18 US soldiers were killed and 73 wounded, with a pair of Black Hawk helicopters shot down. The US responded by ceasing military operations, and within a few months had withdrawn all troops from Somalia. Today, they are headed back.

(ANTIWAR) President Trump’s recommendations from the Pentagon are starting to trickle in, and they seem to everywhere involve more escalations of US involvement and increased flexibility for the Pentagon to order airstrikes in various countries to target “apparent threats.”

The timing is particularly unusual.

By JASON MUELLER | CounterPunch | April 6, 2015 On April 2, 2015, al-Shabaab carried out a major attack on Garissa University College, Kenya, killing nearly 150 people—almost entirely students [1]. In response to this attack, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta immediately called for the training of 10,000 new police officers and “urged Kenyans abroad to […]