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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080506_us_versus_them_transcript/"Emira Woods: ...Clearly, Somalia is of strategic importance to the United States. It is this week that there were U.S. airstrikes on Somalia. It has followed a year of successive airstrikes on Somalia. So the end result has been Somali civilians killed as the U.S. pursues its so-called war on terror. Essentially, the rhetoric of the Bush administration is that they are seeking the terrorists that were involved in the bombing of the U.S. embassies 10 years ago, that they have intelligence that those terrorists went into hiding in Somalia 10 years ago, and that these airstrikes are to get them, to get those terrorists. That’s the rhetoric. The reality is that Somalia has been of strategic importance for quite some time and, really, throughout the Cold War—it’s not a recent phenomenon—throughout the Cold War, first the U.S. and then the USSR, they took turns to control and to assert their influence over Somalia. Their proxy wars happened in Somalia. Why? Because of the strategic location of Somalia. Somalia is right off the Indian Ocean; it’s the Gulf of Aden. Without control over this vital water resource, this vital waterway, all of the shipping, including the oil resources that come from the Middle East to the U.S. and the rest of the world, could be impacted. So what you have is a vital location for Somalia, its richness of its coast. Because of that you had successive attempts to control Somalia during the Cold War period. This all ended when the Cold War ended. And back in 1991, the dictator, really, that controlled Somalia, lost all his external support and was ousted...
Woods: Fifteen years! 2006, about 2006, this formation of a government—so there were many attempts to form a government, many of them happening in Kenya, interestingly enough, with some support from the international community, but many of those attempts failed because they did not get the buy-in from the majority of the Somali people. Now, in June 2006 a government came to power that finally got support from the majority of the Somali people. Now, the thing is, it called itself the Union of Islamic Courts. And you know, for the Bush administration. ...
Woods: Fighting army from Ethiopia. Fighting army from the U.S. Attacking Somalis to dislodge a government supported by the Somali people. This is the essence of it. So the Bush administration, as is the case in many instances, picks sides, right? They pick sides based on their view of the world, this lens of Islamo-terrorist, Islamo-extremist—however you call it, right?—us versus them. And the “them” ... the government supported by Somalis but not a government that the U.S. was in support of. And so what they did was, they did whatever could be possible, including direct attacks to dislodge that government. So there is now a transitional, interim government that has been imposed on the Somali people, with support of the U.S. and the Ethiopian army. And of course the Somalis see this as a government that’s supported by external agents and that’s not legitimate. So there has been continuous, over the last year, outbreaks of tension, of outright fighting and complete instability. And we see, just this week the U.S., through their airstrikes, continuing to foment the tension to get their way in Somalia...
Woods: Well, I think, James, that’s at the core of it. U.S. foreign policy has absolutely neglected Africa for much too long. When they’ve paid attention, they’ve paid attention in the wrong way, you know? Often times there’s this assumption that Africa is this poor, desperate place, but really, when we think about Africa, what we should think about is the incredible resources of that continent. So, yes, it’s the diamonds of Sierra Leone, but throughout the continent the diamonds are plentiful. But in Somalia, in Ethiopia, it’s oil, the richness of the oil. It’s uranium. These vital resources, without which the U.S. economy would not function, flow from the African continent. So in spite of the neglect in terms of foreign policy historically, there is an increasing understanding of the strategic importance of Africa. Now, right now, the U.S. gets about 12 to 15 percent of its oil resources from Africa. That amount is meant to increase to 25 percent in the coming years, so by the end of this decade some say, even, 25 percent—a full quarter of U.S. oil—will be sourced from the African continent. That makes the region of strategic importance. That makes control, particularly of waterways, of shipping lines and shipping platforms strategically important for the U.S. And so we have to see the Somali attacks by the Bush administration as part of a larger vision of the U.S. to both control oil and other strategic resources. And we have to say, as well, to contain China, which is increasing as well in its interest in Africa..."
Kucinich from this speech...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqyRK_j_EsI
"...We know the challenges. The war in Iraq is the product of the same type of thinking which underlies racism: "us vs. them." The minute that there is a "they" or a "them," it creates separation. Separation is the basis for discrimination. Separation is the basis for subjugation. Separation is the basis for insularity. Separation is the basis for conflict. Separation is the basis for class warfare. Separation is the basis for war. Separation is the basis for the destruction of our environment. Separation is the basis for the destruction of our planet..."
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