Strike In Somalia: Details Emerge

By Emily Canaday
 http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/28/world/africa/somalia-us-airstrike/index.html

Last week's drone attack in Somalia seemed a little out of the blue to most Americans- and not just because most of us can't name what continent Somalia is on, either.
Tracking al-Qaeda across multiple countries in the continued "war on terror" has been par normale for some years now, with a failed strike in Somalia just last year on a member of al-Shabaab, the resident fundamentalist group (we all have that one cousin, you know?) that's thought to be an extension of al-Qaeda. The attack on a man named Godane, supposedly a senior member of al-Shabaab, has not been confirmed by DNA or testimony yet. What's interesting is that Godane was targeted because he is thought to be a collaborator between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab; the regime's loss of control over several major Somalia cities in recent days has urged it to desperate acts, such as shooting up a Nairobi mall and threatening Somalis with acts of terror if the internet is not shut down across the country. This is a clear signal that the regime is running from logic, now more widely accessible to the populations they used to terrorize- and this will probably catch up with them faster than any drone plane.

The US government cites Godane as a 'threat to religion', however, blurring the lines between our interest in human-rights-based intervention and our blanket fear of terror.