Payback In Somalia

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Payback finally for Gary Gordon, Randy Shughart and:

MSG Tim "Griz" Martin         
SFC Earl Fillmore    
SSG Daniel Busch    
SGT Matt Rierson        
CWO Raymond Frank    
SSG William Cleveland    
SSG Thomas Field    
CWO Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott    
CWO Donovan Briley    
SGT Casey Joyce    
SPC James Cavaco    
CPL Jamie Smith    
SGT Dominick Pilla    
PFC Richard Kowalewski    
SGT Lorenzo Ruiz    
SGT Cornell Houston    
PFC James Martin

Payback for all 19 who died in October of 1993 in Somalia has finally come:

A U.S. Air Force gunship has conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports exclusively.

The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reports. Those terror attacks killed more than 200 people.

The AC-130 gunship is capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, and sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike, but there is as yet, no confirmation of the identities.

The gunship flew from its base in Dijibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reports, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.

Once they started moving, the al Qaeda operatives became easier to track, and the U.S. military started preparing for an air strike, using unmanned aerial drones to keep them under surveillance and moving the aircraft carrier Eisenhower out of the Persian Gulf toward Somalia. But when the order was given, the mission was assigned to the AC-130 gunship operated by the U.S. Special Operations command.

If the attack got the operatives it was aimed at, reports Martin, it would deal a major blow to al Qaeda in East Africa.

God knows we would never get it when Clinton was in office.  Some interesting info in that post of CBS’s.  If we have had drones on these guys all this time I would hazard a guess that we have been supplying the Ethopian army lots of information to decimate Al-Qaeda.  And I do mean decimate, ever wonder what a AC-130 is capable of doing:

Ouch!

Bill Roggio tells us who may have been with this group we waxed:

Abu Taha al-Sudani (or Tariq Abdullah) is al-Qaeda’s leader in East Africa, and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan are the two wanted operatives in the embassy bombings.

Plus he updates us on what may have happened:

While not explicitly stated, the report indicates the likelihood is high that there are indeed U.S. Special Forces on the ground. An American intelligence source informs us U.S. Special Forces and CIA paramilitary teams are directly embedded with Ethiopian forces in Somalia. Also, either the Predator UAVs used to track the al-Qaeda leader and operatives either were not versions armed with Hellfire missiles, or the terrorists were moving in a convoy large enough that the individual vehicles could not be identified, the Predators did not possess enough weapons to destroy the entire convoy and the AC-130 was brought in to sweep the entire formation. The moving of the Eisenhower carrier group from the Persian Gulf to the waters off Somalia indicates further, prolonged operations may be in the plans, perhaps even air support for the assault on Ras Kamboni. Somalia has become an active front for the U.S. in the Long War.

But alas, by the time day breaks tomorrow the NYT’s will have reported that we struck the wrong people and it’s all a bunch of innocent civilians with guns.  Poor widdle fellows. 

Woops, I spoke to soon.  Ace has an update up:

Update: Jamil Hussein reports that 400 people, mostly women, children, and adorable ponies, were killed in the botched attack.   

Poor widdle fellows.

Now for the big question.   Did Queen Pelosi give her permission to do this?  If not then those evil soldiers can expect to be stood in the corner anytime now. 

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"Revenge is best served cold." Awesome picture. I linked.

Payback’s a beotch!

I hope you enjoy your 72 goats. And don’t forget to say hello to Allah for me!

Sorry, double post.

Typepad (or whatever it is) sucks!

Sorry Bronze, I know it can suck but I much prefer it to getting bombarded with trolls.

The comment side of Movable Type sucks as a whole and I’m looking at ways to improve it but until then I will manually fix the screwups.

I personally knew Gary Gordon. Before his unit was “officially recognized”, we tipped a few beers in Southern Pines. He was a loving husband and father and is missed sorely. This action, in no way, makes up for the loss of this fine soldier………but it is a small start. He will always be remembered.