The young fighters of the Shebab, the backbone of the Islamists’ army, whose name comes from the Arabic word for youth, are deserting in droves.
“We can’t resist,” said Musa Abdullahi, 18, who quit his unit after half his comrades were cut down by Ethiopian helicopter gunships. “We thought this fighting would be like the others. It’s not.”
Bummer. Not like shoving around women and people who want to watch soccer games on TV.
Residents in one of Mogadishu’s slums threw rocks at the Islamists’ pick-up trucks today.
Ahmed Nur Bilal, a retired Somali National Army general, said the war had been a horrible miscalculation. What made him especially mad, he said, was the Islamists’ reliance on adolescent boys to do most of the fighting. One of the first things the Islamists did after the fighting started was to close all schools in Mogadishu to send more young people to the front. Witnesses to some of the battles said the teenage troops were no match for the better-trained, better-equipped Ethiopian-backed forces who summarily mowed them down.
“They’ve misled our children to their deaths,” Mr. Bilal said.
None of this solves Somalia's problems.
But growing criticism of the Islamists does not necessarily translate into enthusiasm for the transitional government. Thousands of people in Mogadishu have begun to pack up and leave, saying they fear not only the possibility of heavy urban fighting but also a return to warlord rule, which kept Mogadishu in anarchy for years.
It's a start. Can't have everything. Now let's see the African Union, which is after the Ethiopians to leave, do something about it. Or maybe the UN. Or maybe the Europeans. Or maybe ... never mind. Maybe the Somalis will just have to beg the Ethiops to stick around and see if they can't sort this out themselves. The Arab League by the way wants everyone out of Somalia, too. Wonder why.
Update: Islamist jihadi terrorist scum vanish. If it could only be so.
Hot Air: There should be no allowance for any cease-fire talks until the Islamists are well and truly crushed. Keep the UN and the Arab League as far from this fight as possible until it’s truly finished. .
Bill Roggio's roundup of reports from Mogadishu.
6 comments:
The word on SomaliNet is that the ICU has resigned and vanished, and the Islamists are turning in their weapons to clan leaders and beating feet.
The theaters are reopening and you won't get executed for watching TV anymore -- its "Morning in Mogadishu"
It's no fun being an Islamist crusader when people insist on fighting back.
Any chance of getting the Ethiopians to take a trip to Iraq?
Gary
Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Seriously, isn't some understanding of the situation necessary to be able to offer any sort of useful opinion on the subject?
First of all, the fighters for the ICU are not "terrorist scum." They're Muslims, which is not quite the same thing except perhaps in your book.
Secondly, are you even remotely aware that Ethiopia is helping the warlords who tormented Somalia back into power, in the guise of aiding the supposed "national government"? I'm sure the people of Somalia are truly grateful to the warlords for giving them the freedom to watch soccer and also be killed randomly in the street.
The ICU is not "vanishing", nor will they be "crushed." They are making a deliberate decision not to battle Ethiopias forces (because they are outgunned.) They will go to ground, and then proceed to wage a guerilla war against Ethiopia and the warlords, and many people in Somalia will support them because they are also Muslim and the ICU brought peace.
And even if you support this, what exactly do you think will replace the ICU? It won't be peace, I promise you that. But who cares, so long as it's only Somalias dying for our little proxy "war on terror" right? Who cares if these guys don't even pose a threat to us, so long as right-wing bloggers in America are satifised that "jihadist scum" are being crushed?
Seriously. Get a clue. And try to figure out what you're talking about before your fingers touch your keyboard again.
We might ask the same of you, Alexander. Why don't you ask some Afghanis how they felt about living under Taliban-style sharia law? Or do you just unquestioningly buy the Islamist line?
First of all, the fighters for the ICU are not "terrorist scum."
Of course not. Executing people for watching TV is perfectly normal.
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