Somalia shows the problem of premature withdrawal

Judith Apter Klinghoffer:

In a recent review of Gary Bass's new book on humanitarian intervention, Joshua Muravchik notes that in Somalia the intervention ended too soon (think Obama Iraq policy, please). No kidding. When Clinton turned tail and ran or left it for the UN to handle, he not only emboldened Osama Bin Laden but provided Al Qaeda with the ability to use the country's strategic position to raise funds through piracy. Moreover, we are no longer dealing with a bunch of local operators. Instead, "A pirate network is believed to stretch from Europe to Dubai, identifying targets and feeding intelligence to the gangs based along Somalia’s long coastline."

The result?

Four ships were captured in one day. That is the new Somali record.

...

There is more. Reuters reports that the Islamic Courts insurgents have captured the Somalia port city if Kismayo. It has been an al Qaeda hangout before being taken by government forces backed by Ethiopia in earlier fighting. The al Qaeda affiliated groups appear to be able to effectively use their chaos strategy in Somalia, but they cannot control the population any better than the government could.

CNN reports that "bodies littered the streets" in Kismayo. Several of the dead were civilians which is pretty typical for Somalia. Most of the Islamic religious bigots camouflage themselves as civilians.