Some Good News Out of Somalia

[Annie]

Links at site:

http://austinbay.net/blog/?p=1590

1/8/2007
UPDATED: AC-130 airstrikes on Al Qaeda in Somalia
Filed under:

* General

— site admin @ 6:44 pm

That’s what Fox News just reported. From what I can tell, Somali national and allied forces have the Islamic Courts and its Al Qaeda compatriots trapped in Somalia’s southern corner. Somali national forces (what StrategyPage calls Transitional National Government, TNG, or federal forces) and Ethiopian Army forces pushed the Islamic Courts militia south. The TNG and Ethiopians have the Islamic Courts boxed on land. The US Navy and coalition naval forces are covering the sea. I haven’t read anything about Kenya’s special police and border security units, but it’s reasonable to assume these forces are positioned along the Kenya-Somali border, acting as a blocking unit to stop Islamic Courts exfiltrators.

StrategyPage’s Jim Dunnigan and I discussed the “Ethiopian blitz” last week on StrategyTalk. We’re near-certain the US has provided intelligence data to the Ethiopians (probably real-time Predator imagery and target analysis for airstrikes). We rated it as “highly likely” US Special Forces and other special operations units were (are) on the ground, if only to coordinate with the naval vessels. In my mind the AC-130 attack and another reported helicopter attack confirm the presence of special ops forces — the AC-130 is a special ops airframe and typically special ops troops “in the area” help coordinate the AC-130 strikes.

Another tv follow-up — Fox is reporting that there are casualties in the area struck by the AC-130. This may be one of those rarities, a victory over Al Qaeda that will have releaseable television footage...

 

[shepherdboy]

Links at site:

http://austinbay.net/blog/?p=1590

You got to love those guys who fly the mighty AC-130 gun-ships

Here is some of there work in action.

http://www.globalspecialoperations.com/combatvideos.html

 

[90K]

their ain't enough ammo in the world that could fix or retard the crap in somolia.

 

[Annie]

their ain't enough ammo in the world that could fix or retard the crap in somolia.

But vengence is good. I hope they got them.

 

[90K]

But vengence is good. I hope they got them.

I like special ops. But when you do those operations one has to invest in a lot of out of pocket money and hope that the informer is right. Somethings are better left secret. But yeah I hope we rid the earth of a few scum bags one bullet at a time

 

[Gunny]

I like special ops. But when you do those operations one has to invest in a lot of out of pocket money and hope that the informer is right. Somethings are better left secret. But yeah I hope we rid the earth of a few scum bags one bullet at a time

Last I checked, the Pentagon isn't saying much of anything other thanthey conducted the attacks. If you don't give the MSM anything, it's kind of hard for them to misrepresent it.

Be that as it may, if some info doesn't come out soon, look for the speculation goofs to fill in the blanks for us. Y'know ..."AC-130 targets school buses full of elementary school kids and driven by nuns."

 

[90K]

Yeah or Sally Struthers food trucks were targeted....

 

[theHawk]

The Ethiopians ran the Islamic exteremists out. Pretty impressive they just did what Clinton was too afraid to do.

 

[90K]

The Ethiopians ran the Islamic exteremists out. Pretty impressive they just did what Clinton was too afraid to do.

No balls no blue chips!

 

[trobinett]

No balls no blue chips!

Wait, I can hear Clinton now, define "balls".

 

[theHawk]

Wait, I can hear Clinton now, define "balls".

All he has to do is look under Hitlery's skirt!

 

[90K]

All he has to do is look under Hitlery's skirt!