Blog of Doom: Somalia Attacks Bad For Islamists, But Good For You

as·sas·si·nate (ə-sās'ə-nāt')
tr.v. as·sas·si·nat·ed, as·sas·si·nat·ing, as·sas·si·nates

1. To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons.
2. To destroy or injure treacherously: assassinate a rival's character.

as·sas'si·na'tion n., as·sas'si·na'tive adj., as·sas'si·na'tor n.

In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford issued Executive Order 11905 to clarify U.S. foreign-intelligence activities. In a section of the order labeled "Restrictions on Intelligence Activities," Ford concisely but explicitly outlawed political assassination:

5(g) Prohibition on Assassination. No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.

Since 1976, every U.S. president has upheld Ford’s prohibition on assassinations. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter issued an executive order with the chief purpose of reshaping the intelligence structure. In Section 2-305 of that order, Carter reaffirmed the U.S. prohibition on assassination:

In 1981, President Reagan, through Executive Order 12333, reiterated the assassination prohibition:

2.11 No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

Reagan was the last president to address the topic of political assassination. Because no subsequent executive order or piece of legislation has repealed the prohibition, it remains in effect.

U.S. aircraft launch 2nd wave of Somalia attacks
L.A. Times, By Edmund Sanders and Abukar Albadri, Special to the Times
12:11 PM PST, January 9, 2007

MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. helicopter gunships resumed attacks today against suspected terrorist holdouts in southern Somalia following airstrikes over the past two days, Somali officials said.

The attacks against suspected Al Qaeda members believed to be hiding in Somalia marked the first overt American military intervention in the Horn of Africa nation since the U.S. withdrew its troops from a peacekeeping operation in 1994 after the deaths of 18 American servicemen.

A Pentagon spokesman would only confirm today that U.S. forces were involved in an attack early this week after receiving "credible intelligence." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment on details about the strikes, but defended the U.S. interest for intervening in Somalia's conflict.

"Very clearly, the U.S. government has had a concern that there are terrorists and Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists that were in Somalia," he said. "We have a great interest in seeing that those individuals not be able to flee to other locations."

Acting on information that suspects from the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania might be among the Islamic fighters, a U.S. Air Force Special Operations gunship struck at least one target early this week.

Somali officials and witnesses said at least five villages in southern Somalia have been targeted in strikes spanning the past three days. One village, Afmadow, was reportedly struck a second time today.

Details about damage and casualties remained unclear, due in large part to the lack of communications in the remote region near the Kenyan border, where cell phone service is not available.

According to estimates by local officials and witness accounts aired over radio stations, the death toll ranged from 15 to more than 50. There were several reports of civilians being killed or injured, including six members of one family and guests at a wedding ceremony.

Somali military officials said today they received advance warning about the U.S. airstrikes and were standing by to capture fleeing suspects. Officials said they have apprehended 28 people, who were being held for questioning.

Twin US aims in Somalia
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

It wants to intervene decisively on the side of the transitional government now back in Mogadishu and to get at three al-Qaeda suspects linked to bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel and airliner in Kenya in 2002.

The air strikes were carried out by a huge AC-130 gunship in the south of the country where supporters of the Union of Islamic Courts have retreated under attack from the Ethiopian army and soldiers of the transitional government.

From their special forces base in nearby Djibouti, the US has been watching three al-Qaeda suspects in particular who took refuge in Somalia. It seems that they were among the targets of this operation.

The three are Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Talha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, from the Comoro Islands, was indicted by a US court in New York for conspiracy to bomb the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese, was accused by the office of the US Director of National Intelligence recently of leading an al-Qaeda cell in East Africa.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan, is on an FBI wanted poster in connection with the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel and an attempted missile attack on an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002.

The US sees the break-up of the Union of Islamic Courts as a good opportunity to try to remove what it regards as a serious threat from al-Qaeda in the region.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this assassination?

American Psychological Association (APA):
assassinate. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved January 09, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assassinate
Modern Language Association (MLA):
"assassinate." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 09 Jan. 2007.
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
assassinate. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assassinate (accessed: January 09, 2007).

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