Time for another HE smack-down
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/wo...omalia.html?hp
NAIROBI, Kenya — American naval forces fired missiles into southern Somalia on Monday, aiming at what the Defense Department called terrorist targets.
Residents reached by telephone said the only casualties were three wounded civilians, three dead cows, one dead donkey and a partly destroyed house.
Eritria/Djibouti Friction
Eritrea army 'entered Djibouti'
Quote:
Djibouti has accused Eritrea of violating its border by sending troops into its territory.
"The two armies are facing each other. The situation is explosive," said Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh.
Eritrea has denied accusations that its soldiers had dug trenches on the Djibouti side of the border.
As geographic locations go I think Djibouti has a strong case for holding the shortest straw. Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia with Yemen across the gulf - rather them than me.
HOA - What are the goals?
Gentlemen-
If one had to choose the top ten things a person might attempt to accomplish in a relatively short tour to HOA, what does the collective brain think they might be?
Just wondering...
Lostcomm
Unfinished Peace in the Horn of Africa
Horn of where? Ethi-what? Bueller?
Ethiopia/Eritrea: "Unfinished Peace in the Horn of Africa",
Daniela Kroslak in The Daily Star
August 8, 2008
Interlocking Crises in the Horn of Africa
This paper is from the UK House of Commons. Similar to the Congressional Research Service.
This paper looks at recent developments in the Horn of Africa, where there are a number of protracted and interlocking crises at work, and briefly discusses some of the main factors that have been described as ‘root causes’ of conflict in the region. The insurgency against the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian forces in Somalia is rapidly gathering momentum as efforts continue to form a more inclusive and viable government. There is a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions, with about 40 per cent of the population needing assistance. Almost unnoticed, there are ongoing tensions between neighbouring Somaliland and Puntland over disputed border areas. Meanwhile, the possibility remains of a resumption of hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea over their long-running border dispute. In the Ogaden, which is part of Ethiopia’s Somali regional state, there has also been a humanitarian crisis as a consequence of ongoing fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents. Finally, earlier this year Eritrea launched an incursion into Djibouti and is yet to withdraw its forces.
Piracy is not covered in this paper. For a discussion of piracy issues, including with regard to Somalia, see House of Commons Library Standard Note SN/BT/3794, Shipping: piracy .
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib...8/rp08-086.pdf
IO Backlash Against Rendition on the HOA
I saw this one today on the Ebird and wanted to post it here. Mr, Salopek's article in this gets a thumbs up. Rendition is controversial. I personally question its effectiveness when balanced on the classic scale of risk versus gain. Large scale proxy rendition, especially when the proxy has a dubious human rights record, is asking for the scale to plop solidly on the risk side with little hope for gain. This is very much a case of creating more enemies than you catch.
Tom
Quote:
Renditions fuel anger against U.S.
By Paul Salopek | Tribune correspondent
December 4, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya—Clement Ibrahim Muhibitabo is one of the forgotten ones.
So is Ines Chine. So is Abdul Hamid Moosa.
Rwandan, Tunisian and South African citizens respectively, the three Africans are among the victims of one of the largest if most obscure rendition programs in the global war on terror: the mass arrest, deportation and secret imprisonment of some 100 people who fled an invasion of Somalia last year—a roundup that even included women and small children.
The snatch-and-jail operation was carried out by U.S. allies Kenya and Ethiopia but involved CIA and FBI interrogators, say European diplomats, human-rights groups and the program's many detainees.
All corrections are cheerfully accepted ...
being temporarily stupid is not an issue - being permanetly stupid, is.
So, there is a bit of meat to the story. But, even if there weren't, I expect it would still find a receptive audience. E.g., Soapy Williams' 1964 Congo letter, forged by the Czechs. I expect we could find more than one GWOT operation that, even though arguably legal, resulted in a PR blowback.
Me thinks, you skipped a NOT, here ...
Quote:
In an emergency situation regular LE does [NOT] have to comply with the regular routine such as Miranda before interviewing and or search warrants.
As to this:
Quote:
Expanded to a Terrorist would be something like expanded detention say 7 days because the information he/she may have could effect not just one life but conceivably thousands. The Standard would be reduced to reasonable suspicion as opposed to having to establish probable cause. At the end of 7 days either you have probable cause to file formal arrest charges or they walk.
Back when I was a little boy in law school (which was just before Miranda), a serious proposal was made (IIRC by Fred Inbow and others) to allow US police interrogation for a limited period of time before arraignment, under some conditions - one was audio recording the entire interrogation. Today, we have video.
The idea was to allow cops some leeway to cement probable cause and, frankly, develop actionable intelligence to other perps. Since the entire interrogation would eventually be before the trial court, the judge would be in as perfect position as possible to decide admissibility (and fruit of the poisoned tree) based on the "totality of circumstances".
I had NO issues with that proposal then, or now. Miranda put end to what were some innovative concepts in juxtaposing police TTPs, the judicial process and the rights of the accused.
I think we are thinking along the same lines. Make it point 1A in my outline.
PS: My God - at least part of my memory still remains (except for spelling "Inbau" as "Inbow"). Fred E. Inbau et al, Criminal Interrogation and Confessions, which is here.
This is a more recent version of the 1962 version, which was my reference above.
Quote:
Product Description
The fourth edition of Criminal Interrogation and Confessions presents the Reid Technique of interviewing and interrogation, and is the standard used in the field. The Fourth Edition presents interviewing and interrogation techniques, based on actual criminal cases, which have been used successfully by thousands of criminal investigators. This practical text is built around simple psychological principles and examines interrogation as a nine-step process that is easily understood by students.
I think my profs (Kamisar & Israel)'s case book may have some excerpts from Inbau's plan. I'll look.
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PS #2 - did talk with Circuit Judge re: the Astan HTT case. His nephew is assigned to one of them - so, he knew the drill. Chuck was a defense attorney before going on the bench. Bottom line. "Boy, handcuffed - that's a tough case. Come on, Chuck, you can do better than that. Boy, those handcuffs, - that's a real tough case." We then got off into Anatomy of a Murder and John Voelker, who tried the real Anatomy case, but who only talked fly fishing in his fairly often bar room conversations with Chuck when Chuck was a rookie lawyer. He then had to go onto the bench and put someone in Jackson or Marquette - I didn't stick around for the sentencing.
wanna be startin' somethin' - RE: the next "small war"
.
hey.
I hope to get some discussion going on our next "war," the one in Somalia.
I consider our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan to be military successes, but overall failures. Reason: we divorced politics from the martial, and lost sight of Mission, Vision, Values. Our Prussian patron would disapprove.
I've collaborated with two sanctioned authors, TX and Janine, before she became Madam Deputy Assistant Secretary, on the Global Strategic Assessment 2009 published by INSS, NDU.
Infantryman. SF. Constitutionalist. Perhaps best known for suing the Army in Federal Court to stop the employment of Mercenaries.
Loser.
I don't like the term "long war;" these aren't really wars in the historical sense. But our next one, whatever we call it, will be in the Lower Shabelle, and Garacaad.
Maybe instead of focusing exclusively on explaining why, despite the evidence, we haven't lost the first two, we can shape strategy so that #3 is actually winnable.
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Well, I won't hold against you the collaboration with
Hammes or losing a suit. I won't even argue that we will not go to Somalia.. I will state that we should not simply because there is no important US interest at stake that cannot be better sorted in other ways.
We 'lost' the first two in one sense because we decided to stay; as to whether we really lost -- way too early to tell. Check back in 2030 or so. Even that may be too soon...
So rather than going directly to shaping the "... strategy so that #3 is actually winnable" why not tell us why we should commit forces there and should have a strategy element that says that's necessary, much less a good idea?