Wednesday, February 8, 2017

America's Secret War Against Al-Shabaab

Al-Shabaab militants in a passing-out parade in 2011. Photograph: Feisal Omar/Reuters

Margot Kiser, Big Game: U.S. Soldiers’ Secret Hunt for Jihadists in a Kenyan Forest

The United States is waging secret warfare around the world. The operations in and around Kenya’s Boni National Reserve on the Somali border are some of the most mysterious.

A short, bloody raid by U.S. Special Operations Forces on an al Qaeda base in Yemen in the second week of Donald Trump’s presidency was a fleeting reminder to the world that Americans are engaged in secret and not-so-secret wars around the globe. But most of the action is not as dramatic as the Yemen attack in which a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed, an 8-year-old girl died, and a $70 million aircraft crash landed and had to be destroyed. All that took place in the space of a couple of hours. But most of these wars are long grinds fought far from prying eyes in close cooperation with local forces that often are notorious for torture and other human rights abuses. And nowhere have those fights gone on so long, or in such obscurity, as in Africa. This is the first of an occasional series that will shine some light into those shadows.

LAMU, Kenya—Tucked into the northeast end of the country’s coast, the Boni National Reserve is a fairy-tale paradise, a resplendent ecosystem packed with elephantine baobab trees and hydra-headed doum palms. This mix of riverine forest and swampy grassland is home to some of the country’s largest herds of game, and to rare species like the wild dog, Somali lion, and reticulated giraffe.
There are no rhinoceros left here, but Doza Diza, 66, talks about seeing kifaru often. The safari word for rhino has been re-purposed by the locals as a name for the armor-plated Humvees whose machine-gun mounts recall the animal’s distinctive horn.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Another war that the U.S. is involved in that is being completely under-reported.
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22 comments:

  1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 8, 2017 at 9:42 PM

    6 more to come before the late fall of 2017,

    - Iran
    - China
    - Mexico
    - Detriot
    - Chicago
    - California

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2017 at 9:47 PM

    Jay you left out Canada...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 8, 2017 at 9:57 PM

      Nope, you guy's can't find it on a map, have no clue, and we're already tired of picking up drunk Americans out of the ditch who can't handle real beer.

      Delete
  3. phillFebruary 8, 2017 at 10:07 PM

    LMAO

    It's not hard to find a hat.

    http://www.saintarnold.com/


    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownFebruary 8, 2017 at 10:18 PM

    Why would we invade Canada.

    Some schlub, who has worked his whole life, and together with his partner he only makes 70K in a good year.

    Poor dude retreated right out of the greater Vancouver area right up into the mountains just like every nomadic tribe that got their ass beat on the steppe retreated into the mountains.

    I can hear the banjos playing in Kamloops now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 8, 2017 at 10:25 PM

      LMFAO,

      Mandolin, fiddles, flute and bagpipes.

      No banjo's.

      LMFAO, $70k a year is a lot of money when you only have to buy gas, truck insurance, some meat, a little propane and beer.

      Mortgage, paid for, property taxes $280 a year, water, free, sewage, free, medical, covered by income taxes, hydro, free, heat, free,

      Truck get's 36mpg, Insurance is "socialized, propane is subsidized, ( farm credit), gas is subsidized, ( farm credit),

      LMFAO.

      Delete
  5. phillFebruary 8, 2017 at 10:42 PM

    Jay

    Seriously are you the 1% of Canadian's?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 8, 2017 at 10:54 PM

      Nope, rural farmer, rancher, entrepreneur.

      Find the right niche, and you can do okay, and not even have to work that hard, once everythings up and running.

      I know lot's of Canadian's, who gave up the urban tech rat race, for less money, a better life, less stress, some are even young.

      http://www.crannogales.com

      Delete
  6. phillFebruary 8, 2017 at 11:33 PM

    Jay

    I'm curious, give me some links.

    And also you mentioned "multiculturalism" but you've left the urban environment?



    Mortgage, paid for, property taxes $280 a year, water, free, sewage, free, medical, covered by income taxes, hydro, free, heat, free,

    Truck get's 36mpg, Insurance is "socialized, propane is subsidized, ( farm credit), gas is subsidized, ( farm credit),

    LMFAO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:05 AM

      Gave you the Crannog ales link,

      In BC, the median YVR house is $670,300, ( 2014) and there's a fun game called Crack House or Mansion,

      http://www.crackshackormansion.com

      Median home prices in Kamloops (2014) were $209,600,

      So, that's house, free and clear, and $450k to stick in an RRSP and buy a going business.

      Back in the day, ( up to the early '70's), local towns and coties ran on local food, local spirits and local produce. Cheap transportation and Big Ag killed it all, but, transportation isn't cheap any more.

      Cali mixed salad goes for $11 a kilo locally, higher in the bridge seasons, and quite often the quality isn't that great. So, between the end of April and early November, I grow an organic, mixed salad mix, same day picked, that I sell to restaurants, grocery stores and other markets, for $11 a kilo.

      I harvest and sell about 100 kilo's a day, in season ($1,100 which after costs, net's roughly $780 in profit.

      Then there's garlic, carrots, peas, kale, cabbage, potatoes, beets, chard, onions, choy's, radishes, cucumbers, watercress, asaparagus, apples, plums, etc,

      Plus small producer eggs, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, heritage pork, beef,

      Then, 2 reno companies, a live edge wood company, a boat shop and a cabinet shop,

      The TF1 zoning for my acreage allows all that, and the income from the farm, allows the farm tax deduction which drops the property taxes from $1890 a year, to. $280.

      I'm on wind and solar for power, because the BC Government made BC Hydro ditch the "Economic Development Fund" program, so two wind towers and a big solar array was cheaper than easements, poles, and wires from my nearest "tap off" point.

      Then the BC Lib's as a Corporate Giveaway came up with $0.21 KWH "micro rates", ( where the Hydro rate's $0.08 KWH), so Hydro pulled easements, poles and wires to my array for free, and pay's me $0.21 for every KWH I don't use.

      Farm fuel in BC is subsidized, so as a Farm, I show my card at the bulk, and get 80% off the pump price for gas, diesel, propane, kerosene.

      Delete
  7. phillFebruary 8, 2017 at 11:37 PM

    Give me the 36mpg truck link....please!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:14 AM

      You don't buy them, you have to build them.

      It's a highly modified 1984 Toyota intercooled turbo diesel pick up running starter diesel, biodiesel and vegetable oil. ( Gotta 4 Runner too),

      Solid axels running 5.29 gearing, command lockers, 6" lift, 35" skinny tires, 15 speed Marlin Crawler, Atlas overdrive, 105 lb flywheel.
      The Reno Trucks are a Kelowna Electric Toyota Conversion. They plug in when they arrive on site, plug in when they come home, $0.08 KWH which is roughly equal to 3.5 km. Town and back for $1.16 a day, vs. $19.85 for a Ford F-150.

      Delete
    2. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:25 AM

      BTW, a huge bit is how you drive it,

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy-efficient_driving

      Delete
  8. phillFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:28 AM

    A game?...lol

    http://www.crackshackormansion.com


    Then there's garlic, carrots, peas, kale, cabbage, potatoes, beets, chard, onions, choy's, radishes, cucumbers, watercress, asaparagus, apples, plums, etc,

    Plus small producer eggs, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, heritage pork, beef.

    36mpg truck still a wet dream!

    LMAO
    I'm guessing all these products are subsidized by the government, but not most of Canadians.





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:41 AM

      Guessed wrong.

      The Canadian Government highly subsidizes imported food, and oil and gas.

      I get the Farm Fuel subsidy, because well, perfect example, last weekends snow storm, no produce, eggs or meat in HTFM, except mine. Trucks were stuck in Vancouver for 4 days, and Highway 5 and Highway 3 are still closed.

      I get the TNRD "farm tax" subsidy, because I'm a farm. I still pay for schools, ( don't use), TNRD roads, ( on an FSR which I and my neighbors maintan), sewage, ( don't use it), water, ( don't get it), etc.

      LMAFA off.

      Delete
    2. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:45 AM

      BTW,

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_Supermileage_Competition

      Don't blame me because you want to "roll coal".

      Delete
  9. phillFebruary 9, 2017 at 1:01 AM

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_Supermileage_Competition

    So blame me for something I'm not involved in....very mature Jay.

    I wish Canada the best, it's going to need it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jay FarquharsonFebruary 9, 2017 at 1:25 AM

      LMFAO,

      Lots of 36mpg trucks in the US,

      Electrics even.

      You just have to either deal with us Islamofacist Femen Dirty Fucking Hippies to buy one,

      Or build it yourself.

      They are not hard to build, if you have even basic "making stuff" skilz.

      Canada will do just fine.

      Delete
  10. fredFebruary 9, 2017 at 8:38 AM

    You lads ever hear of Facebook?

    ReplyDelete
  11. phillFebruary 9, 2017 at 10:12 AM

    LMAO

    Jay you seem to have a problem providing links.

    Fred Facebook?....never heard of it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Andrew JacksonFebruary 9, 2017 at 12:53 PM

    Canadian football doesn't count!

    ReplyDelete