A day after the Navy Seals freed captain Richard Phillips from captivity off the coast of Africa, Democratic Congressman Donald M. Payne of Newark, the chairman of the House subcommittee on Africa, narrowly escaped a mortar attack as he was leaving Mogadishu, Somalia yesterday. WNYC reporter Bob Hennely tells us about our local Congressman and his ongoing work in Africa.
Comments [9]
ahem
And certainly lobby US and Western companies *NOT* to take advantage of their lack of rule of law.
Life is tough. That's my rationale for supporting a woman's right to abort a fetus. Yes, I feel bad because there are crooked Somalians. But I am proud of our troops for killing those crooks and would be beyond embarrassed had we done ANYTHING different.
In fact I predict lots of the foreign policy problems (not to mention Wall St.!) the US will face in the Obama years will emanate directly from the cynical, clever minds of ill-doers who perceive the kindness and empathy of Americans as their most valuable tool.
For a quick example -- track the food aid on that pirated ship and see how much of it actually gets to the poor Africans it was theoretically donated to.
Take care of your family, then your country. Africa? If you care enough, give it 1-5 years of your body and soul, then make sure you get out. And certainly lobby US and Western companies to take advantage of their lack of rule of law. But do this out of empathy and education -- not guilt.
I appreciate Bob H's mentioning the role of overfishing in driving Somali fishers to piracy. I read about this a year or 2 ago in Grist magazine & haven't heard it mentioned anywhere since. (I'd post the link, but I can't find the article now.) In fact, I was thinking of calling in & asking about it, but then I didn't have to!
And to Dan [4], who says, "the world has not failed Somalia....it's CORRUPT OFFICIALS have!" I'd just like to point out that those 2 things are not mutually exclusive.
Catherine,
No one is making excuses. But you have to understand the root causes of the problem otherwise we will be continuing fighting these pirates.
Here are some articles from Libertarian websites that can give you some context:
Pirates of Somalia
by Eric Margolis
http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis129.html
Somalia: The Third Front Revisited
by Matthew Blood
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/blood.php?articleid=13719
Somalia: US Foreign Policy and Gangsterism
Why the US supports the warlords
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=10238
Somalia: A Case Study in Interventionism
How we messed up Somalia – and paved the way for Islamist domination
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=9233
Somalia: A State Restored? Not So Fast
by William S. Lind
http://www.antiwar.com/lind/?articleid=10277
suggested read
The Outlaw Sea
By William Langewiesche
ps must agree w 2/catherine
Your guest answered the question...the world has not failed Somalia....it's CORRUPT OFFICIALS have!
What good is Congressman Payne going to do there...he and his colleagues cannot fix things here!
Loretta Naploeni in her book "Rogue Economics" devotes a lengthy chapter to over fishing/illegal fishing and Somali pirates.
Even for the ultra-liberal WNYC, making excuses for Somali pirates is a new low. I'm disgusted.
What kind of sniper do you have to be to make a shot like that off a boat? That seems really hard because the Boat is in motion (bobbing up and down and side to side) and the target is moving up and down and side to side.
I mean an inch here and there and the wrong guy gets killed.
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