09-25-2013, 11:11 AM
Kenya already gets a lot of support from the US, Israel, and some other African countries to that end, MS - that support will likely be increased in the wake of the Nairobi mall massacre. The Somalian government is asking for more support to curb the militants as well.
I agree that al-Shabab should be "wiped out", but that's not as easy as it sounds - even with massive global support; conventional war rules don't apply. Moving targets, multi-national terror teams, women and children as fair game, rebel fighters aiming to kill as many civilians as possible and die at the scene as martyrs...Kenya has been in Somalia fighting al-Shabab for 2 years and has deeply crippled their geographic strongholds. Yet, bam, now they're back, baby.
IMO, there has been a lot of progress made in awareness, intelligence, and security overall since 911, and some of the highest ranking terrorist leaders have been taken out by the west (some via drones, which I support with qualifications).
But, it's really only sugarcoating it to view eradicating terrorists, one group or the whole lot, as anything less than an ongoing focused fight/defense against a skewed ideology supported by a global force of armed militants; a force crouched behind a myriad of causes (some more valid than others), looking to strike at large gatherings of soft targets whenever the opportunity arises - or when they're able to create an opportunity.
Will be interesting to see if/how the Nairobi mall massacre affects public security/safety precautions and intelligence flag criteria.
Too early for such serious shit. Time for some coffee and a cartoon or something.
I agree that al-Shabab should be "wiped out", but that's not as easy as it sounds - even with massive global support; conventional war rules don't apply. Moving targets, multi-national terror teams, women and children as fair game, rebel fighters aiming to kill as many civilians as possible and die at the scene as martyrs...Kenya has been in Somalia fighting al-Shabab for 2 years and has deeply crippled their geographic strongholds. Yet, bam, now they're back, baby.
IMO, there has been a lot of progress made in awareness, intelligence, and security overall since 911, and some of the highest ranking terrorist leaders have been taken out by the west (some via drones, which I support with qualifications).
But, it's really only sugarcoating it to view eradicating terrorists, one group or the whole lot, as anything less than an ongoing focused fight/defense against a skewed ideology supported by a global force of armed militants; a force crouched behind a myriad of causes (some more valid than others), looking to strike at large gatherings of soft targets whenever the opportunity arises - or when they're able to create an opportunity.
Will be interesting to see if/how the Nairobi mall massacre affects public security/safety precautions and intelligence flag criteria.
Too early for such serious shit. Time for some coffee and a cartoon or something.