Looking in a Mirror; Reflections of War
 

Only thing not known is whether and how much pressure the US applied to get Ethiopia in a war they could have easily avoided. Ethiopia invaded Somolia to be entrenched in an unwinnable civil war. From the BBC of 9 Nov 2007: Irony is that the American 4th ID did this same response in Iraq to only incite an uprising. Why would Ethiopia make same mistakes in Somolia that Cheney, et al would deny and repeat? Why would Ethiopia waste resources on a war that provided no benefits?

You mean why would they invade and occupy their hated neighbor when given a green light from the most powerful country in the world?

The thing I am most torn about is that the group the Ethiopians knocked over was the Union of Islamic Courts.
Just like the Talliban in Afghanistan, the UIC had finally brought something resembling order to a country that had had violent anarchy for over a decade. The worst fighting had eased, food aid was able to move, they even managed to largely suppress piracy. These gains have since been lost.
On the other hand they are a bunch of religious fundamentalist whackos who believe that the answers to everything are in (their extreme interpretation of) one book, who made ordinary people's lives miserable (although - at least they had lives) and would probably have tolerated, if not sponsored, terrorists.

Never forget that crusade promotedin the George Jr adminstration. Does not matte that children were finally going to school for the first time in their life. They are Muslim extremists. That alone proves they were planning to attack America. That proves America had to save the region from falling dominos.

UIC was not the best thing America could have asked for in Somolia. But it was far better than what the US created in 1992.

Ok, you support the expansion of the caliphate we get it. However, the people of Somalia did not.