Agence France-Presse:
The US military launched an air strike against members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Somalia, but it is unclear whether the operation was a success, US media said.
"Sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike," CBS News said.
"The targets included the senior Al-Qaeda leader in East Africa and an Al-Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa," in Kenya and Tanzania, CBS said.
Our involvement so far has been quiet and behind the scenes. Earlier today, USA Today reported that the US has been backing Ethiopia in the Somali war.
he United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.
A Christian-led nation in sub-Saharan Africa, surrounded almost entirely by Muslim states, Ethiopia has received nearly $20 million in U.S. military aid since late 2002. That's more than any country in the region except Djibouti.
Last month, thousands of Ethiopian troops invaded neighboring Somalia and helped overturn a fundamentalist Islamic government that the Bush administration said was supported by al-Qaeda.
The U.S. and Ethiopian militaries have "a close working relationship," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter said. The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training that gives the Ethiopians "the capacity to defend their borders and intercept terrorists and weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Notice the 'freak out!' term, 'weapons of mass destruction.' It's absurd to believe that anyone involved in the conflict in Somalia has WMD.
Tags: news | politics | war | Somalia | Africa | terrorism | Ethiopea | Eritrea
