The left that wants to get America out of Iraq instantly has no stomach for getting us into Somalia, of course, and that may explain the relative lack of mainstream media coverage of the dire situation in the latter country. The political right, meanwhile, apparently is oblivious to the stakes or, it seems, doesn't want to be seen criticizing the Bush Administration when the president is under such pressure on Iraq.
But, simply put, the US needs to put several millions (not tens of millions, but also not billions) of dollars at the disposal of the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu so that the TFG can pay its own troops, feed people and conduct basic public services. We also should be helping to root out the returning Islamist terrorists. Is several hundred million too much to pay? How much will it cost us to have an al Qaeda state installed in the Horn of Africa?
Some of the worst foreign policy blunders take place when attention is distracted--in this case, by Iraq. The War Against Terrorists, however, is international. What will it profit us to win in Iraq only to have al Qaeda re-emerge in Somalia?
Where are the presidential candidates on this issue?
The Washington Post, at least, is alert to it.
