9/11 - And Starvation in Somalia

The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which have so changed the United States – and world society – will soon be upon us. It will be a time for remembrance for those killed, and, worse, to be on guard for feared Islamic terrorist attacks to mark that anniversary.

The 9/11 anniversary – and what has transpired since – gives rise to the thought that civilized society – One World society – is captive to fanatics – religious and political.

I was preparing a long list of what these fanatics have done to us as of this writing, but, frankly, nothing grabs my attention more than the Islamic fundamentalist Al Qaeda associated group Al Shabab, which has terrorized the people of the horn of Africa, most especially in Somalia.

As I write this, on Tuesday, August 2, the Internet is still buzzing over the graphic front page picture the New York Times ran today of a Somali child dying from starvation.

The best way to see that picture, and the other heartbreaking photos taken of starving refugees by Tyler Hicks, is to go the story by Jeffrey Gittleman and the accompanying slide show of Tyler Hicks’ photos.

Gittleman wrote in part:

“The Shabab Islamist insurgent group, which controls much of southern Somalia, is blocking starving people from fleeing the country and setting up a cantonment camp where it is imprisoning displaced people who were trying to escape Shabab territory.

The group is widely blamed for causing a famine in Somalia by forcing out many Western aid organizations, depriving drought victims of desperately needed food. The situation is growing bleaker by the day, with tens of thousands of Somalis already dead and more than 500,000 children on the brink of starvation. ”

The Associated Press reported from Geneva on August 3, in a story published in the Wall Street Journal online, that:

“The United Nations says famine will probably spread to all of southern Somalia within a month and force tens of thousands more people to flee into the capital of Mogadishu.

U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba said ‘all regions of southern Somalia are likely to be facing famine’ by late August or early September..”

Where are the aid workers, you might ask? Well, many of them have been killed by Al Shabab, which would prefer complete Islamic political control than allow Somalis to survive. Delivering food, clothing and medicine to starving people is now a job so fraught with risk in that part of the world that only a powerful military presence can stop the slaughter. And NO COUNTRY has the stomach for that, especially ours (remember Blackhawk Down?). 

There are African Union troops in Somalia. But so far they have proved no match for the Islamic terrorists.

An Associated Press story reported July 30 :

"Al-Shabab, Somalia's dominant militant group, has sent 300 reinforcement fighters to Mogadishu in recent days, said Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the African Union peacekeeping force.

Col. Ankunda said the AU force believes al-Shabab is trying to prevent aid from reaching tens of thousands of famine refugees who have arrived in Mogadishu this month.

Al-Shabab militants, saying it is better to starve than accept help from the West, have already killed men who tried to escape the famine with their families. The World Food Program said it can't reach 2.2 million people in need of aid in militant-controlled areas of southern Somalia.”

If still photos and sharply worded stories don’t do it for you, head for any of the TV news sites. I recommend NBC’s Kate Snow’s reports from Somalia refugee camps in Kenya. 

Bottom line: this kind of mass murder and terrorism taxes even the most trusting souls who work for world understanding. Sadly, there is NO understanding possible with religious fanatics and mass murderers. They cannot be wished away. They have to be killed before they kill more. Think Hitler, Stalin. And yes, Osama Bin Laden.

And what of the Syrians slaughtering their unarmed protesting citizens with tanks and all the other tools of modern warfare? Or the military standoff in Libya? Or the return of the thugs to Egypt? Or the illiterates in Afghanistan who would rather kill their children rather than see them falling love with non members of the tribe?  

Or the religious rioters in Pakistan. Or the fallen protesters in Iran?

The list exhausts me. We in the United States, and indeed the West, are in a “cutback” mode. No armies to save the starving in Africa. Or the the oppressed in the Middle East. Or the Mexicans terrorized by drug cartel violence south of our border. No, we will preserve our entitlements and to hell with a good part of the world. We’ll try to contain the violence in Afghanistan, and maybe Iraq. But not much more.

Too expensive. In treasure. And lives.

I am not in a One World mood today.