Workers League - Behind the US invasion of Somalia - Mehring Books

Gulf, northern Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
The toll of disease and death in Somalia is the end product of more
than a century of colonial oppression, carried out by the British,
French and Italians, followed by the semicolonial enslavement of the
country through such institutions as the United Nations, the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The Stalinist bureaucracy in the former Soviet Union played a no
less reactionary role, helping in the late 1960s and early 1970s to
impose the brutal dictatorship of Siad Barre on the Somali masses and
even proclaiming his regime to be a "socialist state."
The United States played a crucial role in preparing the present
catastrophe, backing Siad Barre since the mid-1970s as a counterweight
to the Soviet influence in neighboring Ethiopia. With the
disintegration of the Soviet Union, Washington withdrew its support
for the Barre regime, leading to its collapse in early 1991.
But Somalia is only one of many countries in Africa where
American imperialist intervention and intrigue led to social disaster.
As part of its Cold War struggle against Soviet influence on the
continent, the US deliberately fomented civil war and backed counterrevolutionary
mercenary forces in one country after another.
Among its most notorious proxies were RENAMO in Mozambique
and UNIT A in Angola. Hundreds of thousands are today starving in
these two countries alone as a result of US policies.
Bush has managed to cram two bloody invasions of small and
oppressed countries into his single term, killing hundreds of thousands
for the ostensible purpose of putting down dictators in Panama
and Iraq.
Now, with the elections out of the way, and with the full support
of the incoming Democratic administration, he plans to end his term
of office with another military onslaught against a defenseless people.
American imperialism has always justified its acts of military
aggression on the noblest "humanitarian" grounds. This was the case
from the Spanish-American War of 1898 to the war in Vietnam.
Reagan occupied Beirut and bombed Libya supposedly to combat
"terrorism," and he invaded Grenada to "save American lives."
In every one of these wars, the official explanations given at the
time — from the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor to
the defense of "tiny Kuwait" — have subsequently been shown to be
a pack of* lies. 1
In reality, the United States is preparing to carry out the military
occupation of Somalia so it can install a puppet regime and establish
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