Kenya's Sorrow: The U.S. Connection

The systematic murder of 147 Kenyan university students by members of the Somalia-based Shabab organization on April 2 is raising an uncomfortable question: was the massacre an unintentional blowback from U.S. anti-terrorism strategy in the region? And were the killers forged by an ill-advised American supported Ethiopian invasion that transformed the radical Islamic organization from a marginal player into a major force?

As Kenyans were mourning their dead, opposition figures were openly opposing Kenya's occupation of southern Somalia and bringing into question Washington's blueprint for fighting terrorism: drones, Special Forces, and regional proxies.

Speaking in the port of Mombasa, former prime minister and opposition leader Raila Odinga called for the withdrawal of Kenyan troops, as did the Speaker of the National Assembly, Justin Muturi. Speaking at the funeral for one of the victims, Senator James Orengo said, "We know very well the consequences of a war of occupation. We must withdraw our troops from Somalia to end this."

Absent from most of the mainstream American media was an examination of exactly what role the U.S. has played in Somalia over the past decade, and how Washington has helped create the current crisis.

A little history.

When military dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, Somalia fell into the chaos of clan warfare, sparking off a U.S. military intervention in 1992. While billed as a "humanitarian intervention," the Americans aggressively sought to suppress the plague of warlords that had turned the nation's capital, Mogadishu, into a shattered ruin. But the expedition derailed in 1993 after 18 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed in the infamous Black Hawk Down incident. The U.S. withdrew the following year.

Which doesn't mean the U.S. went away, or that it didn't apply a new strategy for Africa, one designed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. The genesis of that plan came from James Carafano, a West Point graduate and head of Heritage's foreign policy section, and Nile Gardiner, director of the think tank's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, who drew up a document entitled "U.S. Military Assistance for Africa: A Better Solution."

The strategy called for the creation of a U.S. military command for Africa, a focus on terrorism, and direct military intervention using air power and naval forces. The authors argue against putting U.S. troops on the ground, instead enlisting those of allies. Those recommendations were adopted by the Bush administration -- and later the Obama administration -- lock, stock and barrel. African Command (Africom) was created, as along with the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative, to train troops in 16 nations that border the vast area embraced by world's biggest desert.