In the last four months, more than 30,000 Somali children under the age of 5 have died during the worst drought in the area in 60 years, according to U.S. government statistics.
Erik Prince, the founder of the private — and embattled — private military contractor Blackwater (now Xe) is reportedly engaged with a South African organization to provide security for Somalia’s battered government.
The New York Times reports Prince is involved with Saracen International. The company is based More…
In his first public remarks after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253, President Obama reiterated a number of expected themes. His two reviews of the vast U.S. watchlist system that failed to prevent Abdulmutallab from boarding the plane and the airport screening procedures that More…
The Department of Justice this morning announced that twelve detainees have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region.
Here’s the announcement, with the names of the detainees, which had previously been withheld:
As directed by the President’s
Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) engaged Gen. McChrystal in a good colloquy about the necessity of eliminating safe havens for al-Qaeda in Pakistan, one of the strongest arguments of war critics. What’s to stop the terrorists from just going to places like Yemen or Somalia?
McChrystal, who headed the hunt for More…
Defense Secretary Robert Gates just gave his opening statement at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan. The Afghanistan war is “necessary” and “mutually reinforcing” to take on al-Qaeda in Pakistan, he said. He spoke about the “porous border” between Afghanistan and Pakistan that to strengthen the point, but More…
Twenty-four-year-old Amir Meshal, the son of Muslim immigrants from Egypt, was a lifelong resident of New Jersey when, after living briefly in Cairo with extended family members, in 2006 he decided to go to Somalia to study Islam and experience living under Islamic law. The country appeared to have stabilized More…
You’re not going to believe this, but Scott Carney’s got a post up at Danger Room interviewing Somali pirates on their strategies for hijacking cargo ships, complete with video a pirate crew provided him. I hesitate to even describe this because it’s such a great get and you should More…
Richard Philips, the Maersk Alabama captain who endured a week of captivity by Somali pirates before U.S. Navy SEALs freed him, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today about what measures ought to be taken by commercial shipping to deter or defeat pirate attacks. Here’s Philips’ statement, on the More…
A mysterious, and mysteriously detailed, email criticizing President Obama’s feckless decision-making during the Somalian pirate standoff has been making the rounds in the usual circles. But according to Louis Hansen, the email is probably bunk. It’s credited to retired Rear Adm. Lou Sarosdy, who says he didn’t write it. More…
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