Ethiopia: Example for the State Department and France?

Until recently, Ethiopians arguably received more from the Judeo-Christian legacy than they gave. With the recent defeat by Ethiopian forces of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Somalia, however, part of this debt has been repaid. Some of the defeated forces had links to al-Qaeda: indeed, the ICU was sheltering three al-Qaeda leaders (Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Salih Nabhan, and Abu Taha al-Sudani) responsible for 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2002 attacks on Israeli targets in Kenya...'As It Turns Out, Pre-Emption Works,' J. Peter Pham, Michael Krauss, TCS Daily, 2/8/2007

This article by Pham and Krauss is one where you should read the whole piece. So little of value has been reported about Ethiopians overturning of the Islamist insurrection in Somalia by the Western media that much of what they discuss may come as a surprise. This action was a swift, well-executed, more than adequately manned action to overturn an international who's who of terrorists who had stolen a country to make into a base for terrorism worldwide. The authors should hammer their main points to the main entrance to the State Department, as well as to that of the committee rooms involved with military and foreign affairs in Congress. To wit...

'1. Decisive, unilateral action works....'
'2. There is no substitute for 'boots on the ground...'
'3. When you fight, don't tie one hand behind your back...'
'4. An enemy cannot be destroyed until its avenues of escape are sealed...'
'5. Strike while the iron is hot....' ('As It Turns Out, Pre-Emption Works...continued)

Until Democrats began making other claims, such as there's no more successful route to peace with bandits, dictators, and terrorists than sitting down to tea with them at a negotiating table, those five points could fairly be described as universal military and diplomatic doctrine when dealing with an intractable enemy. Kudos to Tech Central Station for presenting this piece and to the authors for researching and writing it. Before Chris Matthews and Dan Rather came along this used to be called reporting.

Luther