I know people who've been to Somalia. I know people who've fired several rounds into a darkened cityscape in an attempt to force their way out of an ambush. I know people who watched as warlords waited for U.S. forces to fly away after delivering relief supplies so they could go in, shoot the starving people, and steal the food for themselves. Somalia was a geographic fiction back in the early 90's and it is pretty much the same now; only with international terrorists and pirates competing for space against the average run of the mill thuglord.
There's a reason CJTF-HOA doesn't engage in cooperative military operations within Somalia: There is no functional state to deal with. The 'Transitional Federal Government' measures their control over the the country by single digits of city blocks. Most of the northern parts of the country are made up of the soon-to-be-officially-recognized regions called Somaliland and Puntland. In the casual observations of this Marine, Somalia has about six more months before it completely falls apart. (And I realize that the word 'completely' suggests that it has far to fall. It doesn't.)
What makes this time different from the 90's is that there is a relatively strong desire amongst the rest of East Africa to see that some kind of stability rules the place. The African Union has 'peacekeeping' troops there and is trying to get UN support for thousands more. The U.S. has watched Black Hawk Down enough times to realize that another round of American forces in Mogudishu is a very bad idea. Also, there is a general movement among the U.S. government to let African problems be solved by Africans. We'll just have to see how long that sentiment can withstand the inevitable onslaught of internet video showing the misery and starvation that is currently prevalent but not currently seen.
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