As for my assertion that the Iraq War has proven to be a “quagmire” (not, as you put in quotation marks, a “mistake,” so there is that intellectual honesty issue again) I’m not certain what else you want me to say — would you like an extended treatise on my views on Iraq despite the fact that this has nothing to do with Iraq? We can focus on the issue or we can drag this down the path of nonsequiters. We cannot do both.

I was not discussing an existing radical regime, I was mentioning the prospect or the imposition of one (note that word “prospect” – please read more closely if you are going to criticize me, because you also claim that I said that the West’s involvement in Somalia is a good thing. I wrote no such thing. What I wrote, and again, it was not unclear, is that “It would behoove the West to pay far more attention to this crisis” ). I should think that any civil war or potential civil war would draw the attention of the United States. I should also think that in the majority of cases, if the US did not offer to aid a suffering African country, it would (to my mind rightly) be criticized for doing nothing.

But I guess for some people it’s better to engage in plastic streotypes and anti-American cant than to try to engage in some complex way and in misquoting people routinely, then accusing people of bad intentions based on their own misquotations.  I come not to praise or celebrate American policy. I come instead to try to make American policy better. If you have not grasped that by now, I’m sorry.

Derek

I think you misread my earlier comment, I didn’t have any intentions of questioning your commitment to Africa, or anything for that matter.

You said that the “West’s” involvement in Somalia is a good thing, and I doubt, they ever had or will, the interests of the Somali people in mind when they’re “intervening”.

Iraq, which you simply brush off as a “mistake”, is a good example. Who’s responsible for the over half a million dead Iraqi and the millions of refugees? Of course, not USA!

What “radical Islamist regime” are you talking about? Islamic Courts weren’t radical or a threat to US and certainly not a “regime”. I’d opposed the Islamic Courts for entirely different reasons; they had warlords within them, had no solution for Somalia and were, more or less, a clan militia with Islamic leaning, but radical and regime there weren’t.

Your Palestine comments are simply a non-sequiter. For one thing, I am aware of no serious critic or supporter of American policies in the Middle East who asserts that our problem is too MUCH engagement with the Palestinians. In any case, I’ve written quite a bit on the question of Israel-Palestine elsewhere, but we are not going to hijack the thread for that debate.

As for whether “they” would have the interest of the Somalis in mind, you are not engaging with “them.” You are engaging with me. And if you want to cast aspersions on my commitment to Africa, I challenge you to do so. But you had better damned well come with evidence about my invalid interests if you are going to make such an accusation. In other words, stop creating straw men. They are not here to engage with you. I am.

Derek

Not long ago the “West” divided Somalia and give Christian Ethiopia a junk of Somalia (Ogaden) where Nuruddin Farah is from (he touches on this in the article). Now US is playing the “West” along with Ethiopia in Somalia, is that the kind of attention you mean? So naturally any call for the “West” to pay attention to Somalia is creepy.

That’s not to say they shouldn’t help or they can’t, surely if they want they could make a huge difference but I doubt they would have the interest of the people, the Somalis, if they interfere.

- Abdurahmna

Would you care to explain why it is “creepy” to assert that the West ought to be paying more attention to an African crisis? If the West does not pay enough attention it is accused of marginalizing Africa. How is showing concern before catastrophe sets in “creepy.” It’s a peculiar adjective and an even more peculiar argument.

Cheers –
Derek

But I’ve to say that this is creepy “It would behoove the West to pay far more attention to this crisis”