Mass Murder Not "My Bad"

When I first read about this attack and posted my concern, I had that sinking feeling that we had "screwed the pooch" again but I thought it prudent to wait out the news. The blazing headlines trumpeting the U.S. air raid in Somalia that killed a top Al Qaeda leader so conveniently timed to coincide with Bush's "new" plan for Iraq set off all my warning bells. I was hoping that my pessimism was not warranted and that maybe, just maybe, Bushco actually got something right this time. Silly me.

Sadly, the non-Pentagon-hype truth is out and once again our much ballyhooed raid on purported terrorists with our guns blazing has turned out to be 70 innocent nomads who were just looking for water and some villagers and not Al Qaeda. Who the hell have we got running our intelligence operations? An even bigger question is who the hell is making the decisions to go blasting away on such obviously week intelligence? We have seen this scenario played out in in Afghanistan and Iraq over and over again. One would think that as many times as we have screwed this up somebody would be paying a little closer attention. I'm sorry but somebody somewhere needs to be held responsible for criminal negligence and mass murder.

The herdsmen had gathered with their animals around large fires at night to ward off mosquitoes. But lit up by the flames, they became latest victims of America's war on terror.

It was their tragedy to be misidentified in a secret operation by special forces attempting to kill three top al-Qa'ida leaders in south-ern Somalia.

Oxfam yesterday confirmed at least 70 nomads in the Afmadow district near the border with Kenya had been killed. The nomads were bombed at night and during the day while searching for water sources. Meanwhile, the US ambassador to Kenya has acknowledged that the onslaught on Islamist fighters failed to kill any of the three prime targets wanted for their alleged role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.