The piracy fight: What role should the U.S. military play in Somalia?
STUTTGART, Germany — It’s arguably the most dangerous country in the world and a place that seethes with hostility toward the United States, but as the White House mulls how to deal with Somalia and the pirates who operate there, it must determine whether U.S. troops have a role to play in bringing stability.
If the U.S. military were to get involved, it could be in the form of helping Somalia’s fledgling transitional government build its own security forces — U.S. Africa Command’s specialty.
U.S. troops as trainers with boots on the ground in Somalia?
That would be a disaster, according to some Somalia observers, who contend it would delegitimize in the eyes of the Somalis the very transitional government the U.S. is trying to support.
However, AFRICOM’s deputy for military operations, Vice Adm. Robert T. Moeller, disagrees. While emphasizing that there is no decision or plan at the moment to launch such a training initiative, Moeller said Friday, “I think we can work our way through that and have an ongoing dialogue with the government as well as the population overall.”
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