Time For McCain To Talk About Somalia Lesson For Iraq

Judith Klinhoffer: I find it rather ironic that Barack Obama can get away with the argument that the cost of an early withdrawal from Iraq is going to be acceptable. Especially since Somalia continues to prove it's obvious fallacy. Not only has the 9/11 commission acknowledge the important role that withdrawal played in the rise of Al Qaeda and the thinking of Osama but the headlines keep coming: Another Tanker hijacked ; Islamist Insurgents attack African Union troops in Mogadishu; Somalia: Islamists execute militia commander in Kismayo ; THE Asian Shipowners' Forum (ASF) calls for urgent action to be taken to eradicate the piracy problem in the Gulf of Aden.; Pirates take weapons ship; Somali Pirates Say They'll Sink Ukraine Ship If Ransom Not Paid. Yes, despite MSM's best efforts, Lawless Somalia elbows its way back into the news. Why am I writing despite MSM's best efforts? Because no one wishes to return to chaotic Somalia or examine the lessons it offers for Obama's preferred solution for Iraq. Obama argues that if things all apart in Iraq, the US (with it's Obama led allies) can return. Anyone is advocating a return to Somalia? The situation there is dire enough. Long the world's most ignored tragedy, Somalia largely dropped off the West's radar after U.S. forces ignominiously withdrew in 1994, five months after 18 U.S. soldiers died in the dust of a Mogadishu street, during a one-day battle gone disastrously wrong. Yet out of the spotlight, its humanitarian horrors have grown exponentially, greased by the continuing cycle of international neglect and misguided intervention, as well as by recurring droughts. That's not to mention the depravities of a gangland society that has lost its internal order and glue. With one in every five Somali toddlers dying before their fifth birthday and nearly half the rest chronically undernourished, more international light couldn't come too soon. Especially since it's the international caregivers -- teachers, aid workers and transporters of desperately needed food -- who find themselves prime targets of the gunmen and terrorists. At least half a dozen aid workers and teachers have been executed this year; as of July, another seven were being held hostage. Street warfare has virtually emptied much of Somalia's once-bustling seaside capital, Mogadishu. The U.N. refugee agency estimates that more than a million Mogadishu residents are internally displaced and living in squalid camps outside town. That's on top of a million Somalis who already fled the country. That means at least one fourth of the nation's populace have abandoned their homes. Sadly, what drew the world's attention was not this human trauma, but the offshore drama focused on modern-day Somali pirates in fast boats with advanced weaponry and GPS systems, who seized a Belize-flagged ship, its mostly Ukrainian crew and Ukrainian cargo of 33 military tanks, six anti-aircraft systems and other arms, and is holding them for ransom. As of this writing, that standoff continues, with a Russian frigate on the way and a half-dozen U.S. warships surrounding the pirated vessel to make sure the military hardware doesn't go to al-Qaida-linked groups. Now imagine the Straits of Hormuz filled with pirates and armed gangs fighting it out in Iraq. John McCain argues that he opposed Clinton's Somalia policy. That should not prevent him from making clear that as heavy as the price of early withdrawal from Somalia has been, it cannot compare to the price that an early withdrawal from Iraq is bound to be. He should ask Obama whether he recommends sending American forces back to Mogadishu or does he hope that he can sit down with the pirates and convince them to give up their most lucrative terrorist financing operation? John McCain, it's time for some honest straight talk about the Somalia lesson for Iraq. ... more