Trump invades Somalia

Bookmakers must be wondering how many wars he’ll wage during his tenure.

He continues Bush/Cheney/Obama wars, escalated them in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, likely intends more combat troops for Afghanistan, threatens nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, and targets Somalia for the first time since US forces were withdrawn in 1994.

Sending dozens, perhaps scores, even hundreds of US combat troops isn’t exactly an invasion. Besides, US special forces operated there at times for years—illegally on the territory of another country.

Big things usually start small. US forces in Somalia may signal many more to come. Obama waged covert drone war on the strategically important Horn of Africa.

It’s near the Bab el-Mandeb strait chokepoint separating Yemen from Eritrea. Millions of barrels of oil flow through it to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

AFRICOM claims US forces are there “to assist our allies and partners” combat al-Shabab, falsely designated a foreign terrorist organization linked to al-Qaeda.

Its members are freedom fighters, combating the Mogadishu-based US-installed puppet regime.

Pentagon forces began arriving in early April. Last month, AFRICOM commander General Thomas Waldhauser sought White House approval for airstrikes and ground attacks on al-Shabab fighters—vowing not to turn Somalia into a “free fire zone.”

Trump escalated deployments of US special forces and other combat troops in multiple theaters, including northern and central Africa.

Wherever US forces show up, mass slaughter and destruction follow. Somalia looks like Trump’s latest battleground, surely not his last new one.

Belligerence he launched so far suggests much more to come in current and new theaters.

America’s anti-interventionist candidate U-turned as president.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” Visit his blog at sjlendman.blogspot.com . Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

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