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

Why Is the US Invading Somalia?
Almost overnight the United States has dispatched 1,800 marines
to the eastern African country of Somalia and another 30,000
troops are on the way.
The occupation of Somalia has been undertaken with virtually no
explanation from the Bush administration and without even the
pretense of a public debate.
Only the flimsiest of reasons for the sudden dispatch of troops are
being offered. Meanwhile the American people are being overwhelmed
by a hypocritical and cynical media barrage which depicts
the invasion as a noble act of humanitarian aid to the starving Somali
people.
Its object is to politically chloroform US public opinion so that the
occupation of Somalia is a fait acompli before the masses of people
have even had time to consider its implications.
A moment's reflection, however, makes clear that the huge deployment
of troops, ships, planes and supplies to the Indian Ocean,
which began within a few days of the first public disclosure of the
proposed operation, is the product of many months of intensive
planning and preparation.
A human tragedy of incalculable dimensions is indeed unfolding
in this poverty-stricken country in the Horn of Africa. Thousands of
men, women and children are dying of starvation. But one would have
to abandon all critical faculties to accept as good coin the assertions
First appeared in the Bulletin on December 4, 1992
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