U.S. considers drones to help Somalia fight al-Qaida

The Associated Press © March 31, 2010 By Lolita C. Baldor and Pauline Jelinek
The Pentagon is considering dispatching surveillance drones and other limited military support for a Somali government offensive against al-Qaida-linked insurgents, U.S. officials said, part of a cautious move to increase U.S. assistance to the anarchic African nation.While administration officials said that sending U.S. troops into the embattled country is not seen as a viable option, they say they are not ruling out the use of small numbers of U.S. commandos when necessary for specific operations - much as they have done in the past.U.S. diplomats are pressing Somali leaders to detail the goals of the looming assault, in order to figure out the most appropriate ways the United States can help.Determined to avoid a visible American footprint on the ground, U.S. officials are striving to find the right balance between seizing the opportunity to take out al-Qaida insurgents there and avoiding the appearance of a U.S. occupation.Any U.S. moves in Somalia are haunted by the disastrous 1993 U.S. military assault into the Somali capital - made famous in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down." The strike left 18 U.S. soldiers dead.U.S. diplomats have been meeting in Kenya with leaders of Somalia's embattled government, urging them to think beyond military objectives and focus more on improving their governing.Meanwhile, Pentagon leaders are preparing a range of options to help boost Somalia's weak security forces.One proposal would move surveillance drones to the Horn of Africa from an island in the Seychelles, where several unarmed Reaper systems were sent last fall for counter-piracy operations in the western Indian Ocean. The move would represent a more enduring U.S. commitment, which also would be largely invisible to the population.Armed versions of the pilotless aircraft have been used to tail and fire missiles at militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, but the United States also has used them in Yemen to monitor insurgents from the air.U.S. defense and Western diplomatic officials spoke about the deliberations on condition of anonymity.