It would be easier to list the tragedies that haven't befallen Somalia in its 51 years of independence than to list the ones that have. The Horn of Africa's archetypal failed state has suffered the signature geopolitical ill of every decade for half a century: post-colonial trauma and a coup in the 1960s, Cold War proxy conflict and military rule in the 1970s, famine in the 1980s, interminable civil war in the 1990s, Islamist terrorism and piracy in the 2000s.
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But if the world had been Somalia's problem for years, it wasn't until the 1990s that Somalia returned the favor. The collapse of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's warlord-besieged government in January 1991 and the famine that ensued drew the United States and the United Nations into the ill-fated humanitarian mission that culminated in Black Hawk Down. The failure touched off a decade of U.S. angst over its post-Cold War role as the world's policeman, and served as a prologue to the U.N. peacekeeping failures -- Rwanda, Srebrenica -- of the years to come.
Since then, one crisis in Somalia has begat the next. The secular warlords of the 1990s has given way to the more inscrutable Islamist forces of the rebel group al-Shabab, and this summer the country has once again been struck by famine -- one which the United States, despite offering more than $500 million in aid, is in no hurry to intervene in militarily. But as Somali pirates have arisen as a serious threat to international commerce and the U.S. war on terrorism has expanded to encompass Yemen and other hard-to-reach places in the Horn of Africa, there is no escaping the fact that Somalia's problems are, more than ever, the world's problems as well.
Above, a boy looks through a fence as newly arrived Somali refugees wait outside a registration center at the Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya, on July 23.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
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USMC0351GRUNT
6:37 PM ET
August 16, 2011
PAY ATTENTION!
It appears that the vast majority of people fail to realize the solution; The U.S. peacekeepers pledged to avoid the use of force except in self-defense. On Dec. 11, 1992, less than a week after the first Marines arrived, the two warlords had agreed to a cease-fire, the opening of the roads, and the removal of armed vehicles from the main roads.
We have over 25 MILLION Veterans in the U.S., many are Marines. By the time the next 100 people bother to read this, "story", another 10 thousand Somalis will be dead from starvation. Why are we, (Veteran Marines) NOT going in?
RANGER1129
12:43 AM ET
August 17, 2011
YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT (USMC0351GRUNT)
IT APPEARS THAT '' YOU '' FAILED TO NOT ONLY REALIZE.... BUT, KNOW THE FACTS WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT..... IT WAS NOT ''''' THE MARINES ''''' THAT ARRIVED... IT WAS THE '''' US ARMY ''''' AND WE LOST MANY GOOD BROTHERS IN THIS HELL HOLE..... AND MANY WERE MY RANGER BROTHERS.... AND YES . WE DO HAVE MANY MANY VETERANS .... MILLIONS OF OUR FELLOW VETERANS ARE NOT ONLY ''' MARINES ''' MANY ARE MARINES... BUT, SO MANY MORE ARE FROM THE ''' US ARMY ''' AND ALL OTHER BRANCHES OF US FORCES..... IN MY HEART WE SHOULD OF NEVER POPED SMOKE AND LEFT.... WE SHOULD OF BEEN ABLE TO TAKE OUT EVERY ................ WARLORD AND EVERY OTHER .......... .......... THAT KILLED OUR BROTHERS ..... NOW ITS LIKE ..... HERE WE GO ..... ALL OVER AGAIN..... THINK AND THINK VERY HARD..... WHY THE HELL WE WERE TOLD TO POP SMOKE AND PULL OUT ...... LOOK AT EVERY THING THAT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MANY MANY MANY YEARS.... WHERE THE HELL IS OUR OWN OWN HIGHER LEADERS/ GOV DURING ALL THIS BLOOD SHED ..... WE GO MANY PLACES..... BOOTS ON THE GROUND..... AND MANY TIMES OUR OWN HIGHER LEADERS HAVE THERE EYES SHUT..... SO WHEN WE ARE OVER IN MANY PLACES LIKE THIS AND MANY MANY OTHER HELL HOLES.... WE ARE LEFT ALONE.... SO BOOT ON GROUND WE BECOME '''''''' THE ONLY LEADERS '''''''' WE TAKE THE LOST OF OF LIFE FOR MANY GAMES PLAYED BY OUR OWN GOV...... IT IS ''' US ''' THE VETERANS ''' AND OUR LOVE ONE WHO PAY THE PRICE .... WITH OUR LIFE..... AND THE OTHER TRUE VETERANS ARE NEVER EVER TALKED ABOUT...... THEY ARE LEFT BEHIND WHEN WE SHIP OUT..... THEY ARE ON OUR HOME FROUNT...... ''' OUR CHILDERN..... OUR WIFE ..... OUR LOVE ONES..... THEY ARE ALSO VETERANS ..... THEY TO HAVE SEEN AND BEEN THROUGHT SO MUCH ......... ALWAYS REMEMBER ... THERE IS NO'' I'' IN TEAM ...... WE ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE AS ONE
BRAUERR31
12:34 PM ET
August 17, 2011
I'm Questioning US's Role
This is somewhat hard to say, especially with so many people that are struggling to survive. But, I'm just going to say it...
How can the US continue to fund projects to save other countries from these problems? Don't we have enough problems of our own to worry about. I realize that causes like this are much more valiant than other causes where we waste money, but don't you think that before the US tries to fix the world, we should focus on fixing ourselves first?
I'm not one to really complain much, but this kind of bothers me. I'm going back to my flight simulator for mac and save my money so I can move elsewhere in the world. The future of the US is bleak in my eyes.
NEILS
9:03 PM ET
August 17, 2011
Why the world still starves.....
It is absolutely saddening that so many children should die needlessly. Some 5 million children under the age of 5 years old die every year due to hunger. A child dies every 10 seconds due to famine, more than HIV, TB, and Malaria combined. With 40% of food produced in the world wasted, it seems impossible to believe that so many should die of starvation.
We live in a time when information travels across the world instantly, television screens can be as big as you want, and access to the net can be had from the palm of your hand. Yet, somehow 1 in 7 people on earth go to sleep hungry every night. I hope I get the chance to see mankind stand back and say "we have conquered hunger."
Check out www dot ThinkOnThat dot com for lots of good info about topics like this. Best and Cheers!
MADCLIVE
12:10 PM ET
September 15, 2011
Saddening
Interesting article. Some good really good points made above, I agree with some of them, especially that its so saddening to think of the children dying needlessly. Thanks for the article and getting me to have a good think about things. Kindest regards, Mad DJ Clive