Jack Sparrow to finish project Somalia
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By: Tarâné Kaveh
In mid-October, 2009 a private American security firm, CSS Global Inc, was handed a contract to "fight terrorism and piracy" and "protect" Somalia's government, but that's not the juicy part!
This means that the Americans have officially found a "legitimate" way to create a footing in Somalia. A first step towards what the United States government has been seeking for a long time: An influential American presence in Somalia.
Such a presence has been a master plan, the inception of which precedes the Obama, the W. Bush or even the Clinton administrations. Although the plan may have been hatched long before that, the first signs of its existence appeared during the one-term presidency of W's father, George Herbert Bush.
Although the then dictatorship in Somali pleaded for US help in 1977 — after its invasion of Ethiopia was complicated by a massive Soviet intervention — the administration of Jimmy Carter turned down what could have been an invite for a long-term US presence.
The beginning
In his final days as president, and before his removal from power in January 1991, pro-US Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre had signed an agreement allocating nearly two-thirds of Somalia to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips.
On December 5, 1992, the Bush administration, under the banner of humanitarian activity, persuaded the United Nations to launch Operation Restore Hope under the command of the US army.
The objectives of the operation were described as protecting the delivery of food and other humanitarian aid to a civil war-hit Somalia. Not long after that, however, a Los Angeles Times article revealed that the operation was in fact a cover for a US military presence to protect the American oil companies operating in the Horn of Africa Nation, and still that is not the juicy part!
By the time it was proven that Somalia did not sit on vast oil reserves and Bush, a Texan oil man, was left empty handed; the US had found greater interests in Somalia.
Toxicity
Following the collapse of the central government, Somalia sank into a state of chaos. Little by little the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) began to establish a ruling system based on Sharia (Islamic law), and attempted to restore order in the country.
Being situated in the Gulf of Aden, Somalia is the center of one of the world's busiest commercial shipping routes.
Lack of proper legislation, resulting from a power vacuum in the Horn of Africa nation, soon set the stage for the US — the leading producer of toxic waste — and its European allies to dump their toxic waste off Somalia, without being legally liable.
On September 19, 1992, New Scientist magazine, uncovered a deal between two European firms and the Somali government, which would allow the European firms to setup facilities and dump 500 kg of toxic waste near the Somali capital, Mogadishu, for 20 years — that is until 2011, three years from the time that the CSS Global Inc set the stage for a US presence in the Horn of Africa country.
The issue did not receive widespread media coverage since dumping toxic waste off Somalia would cost far less than dumping it in the so-called industrialized nations. Dumping a ton of toxic waste off Somalia would cost about $2.50, as opposed to almost $1000 that would cost in the developed countries.
In the wake of a tsunami, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Nick Nuttall, said in 2005 that radiation-related diseases had become commonplace in Somalia.
"Initial reports indicate that the tsunami waves broke open containers full of toxic waste and scattered the contents. We are talking about everything from medical waste to chemical waste products," Nuttall had said.
The UNEP's inquiry into the matter was made possible, at least in part, by the UIC's relatively strong central government, which went on to be toppled by the US-backed Ethiopian troops, who managed to reinstate chaos in Somalia.
Piracy
Sporadic and occasional petty piracy was a phenomenon that had emerged as a result of Somalia's civil war. However, it was not until late 2004 and early 2005 that the world would see full-blown and organized piracy off Somalia.
That was when the local fishermen — failing to catch fish due to illegal Western corporate fishing in Somali waters — would trade their fishing equipment with AK-47s and rocket-propeller guns to go after commercial ships.
But months, and sometimes even a year, would pass before their slow boats could catch-up with the commercial ships and they could board the vessels.
This is while in 2008, over 110 pirate attacks were reported, 42 of them successful. That is a success piracy rate of 38%, compared with 5% in 1997.
That is probably because "Well-placed informers" in the UK — a US ally — constantly update control centers in Somalia , which ultimately give the pirates information about ships, their cargo and their routes.
Okay, now It's getting juicy, because vessels operated by Zim Integrated Shipping Services, Israel's biggest shipping company — the headquarters of which was moved from the World Trade Center on September 4, 2001 to evade the 9/11 terrorist attacks — had been safe from the pirates until after the bandit's link with the London-based sources was unraveled.
Like the Taliban and al-Qaeda that were invented by the CIA to serve as a pretext for the United States' invasion of different countries, the Pirates were Washington's potential key in entering Mogadishu — although the White House did try to pin al-Qaeda and illegal weapons transfer on Somalia too.
Comments like that of a former senior CIA agent, quoted by Harper's Magazine, in which he said, "We need to deal with this problem [piracy] from the beach side, in concert with the ocean side ... We need to work in Somalia," point at the United States' eagerness to make a presence in Somalia.
Grand entry
By 2008, piracy was so widespread in the Gulf of Aden that it had turned Somalia into a hotspot in the world, prompting the formation of an international armada to protect commercial vessels.
Better yet, piracy took the center stage after American Captain Richard Phillips willingly surrendered himself to the pirates — an incident that sent Somalia into the headlines. And now that a super villain has emerged, it takes a superhero to get rid of it!
However, one thing that US President Barack Obama has learned from his predecessor is that in order to win a war, one should avoid a grand entry. And this is where American mercenaries, like CSS Global Inc, replace the US Army...
In mid-October, 2009 a private American security firm, CSS Global Inc, was handed a contract to "fight terrorism and piracy" and "protect" Somalia's government, but that's not the juicy part!
This means that the Americans have officially found a "legitimate" way to create a footing in Somalia. A first step towards what the United States government has been seeking for a long time: An influential American presence in Somalia.
Such a presence has been a master plan, the inception of which precedes the Obama, the W. Bush or even the Clinton administrations. Although the plan may have been hatched long before that, the first signs of its existence appeared during the one-term presidency of W's father, George Herbert Bush.
Although the then dictatorship in Somali pleaded for US help in 1977 — after its invasion of Ethiopia was complicated by a massive Soviet intervention — the administration of Jimmy Carter turned down what could have been an invite for a long-term US presence.
The beginning
In his final days as president, and before his removal from power in January 1991, pro-US Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre had signed an agreement allocating nearly two-thirds of Somalia to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips.
On December 5, 1992, the Bush administration, under the banner of humanitarian activity, persuaded the United Nations to launch Operation Restore Hope under the command of the US army.
The objectives of the operation were described as protecting the delivery of food and other humanitarian aid to a civil war-hit Somalia. Not long after that, however, a Los Angeles Times article revealed that the operation was in fact a cover for a US military presence to protect the American oil companies operating in the Horn of Africa Nation, and still that is not the juicy part!
By the time it was proven that Somalia did not sit on vast oil reserves and Bush, a Texan oil man, was left empty handed; the US had found greater interests in Somalia.
Toxicity
Following the collapse of the central government, Somalia sank into a state of chaos. Little by little the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) began to establish a ruling system based on Sharia (Islamic law), and attempted to restore order in the country.
Being situated in the Gulf of Aden, Somalia is the center of one of the world's busiest commercial shipping routes.
Lack of proper legislation, resulting from a power vacuum in the Horn of Africa nation, soon set the stage for the US — the leading producer of toxic waste — and its European allies to dump their toxic waste off Somalia, without being legally liable.
On September 19, 1992, New Scientist magazine, uncovered a deal between two European firms and the Somali government, which would allow the European firms to setup facilities and dump 500 kg of toxic waste near the Somali capital, Mogadishu, for 20 years — that is until 2011, three years from the time that the CSS Global Inc set the stage for a US presence in the Horn of Africa country.
The issue did not receive widespread media coverage since dumping toxic waste off Somalia would cost far less than dumping it in the so-called industrialized nations. Dumping a ton of toxic waste off Somalia would cost about $2.50, as opposed to almost $1000 that would cost in the developed countries.
In the wake of a tsunami, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Nick Nuttall, said in 2005 that radiation-related diseases had become commonplace in Somalia.
"Initial reports indicate that the tsunami waves broke open containers full of toxic waste and scattered the contents. We are talking about everything from medical waste to chemical waste products," Nuttall had said.
The UNEP's inquiry into the matter was made possible, at least in part, by the UIC's relatively strong central government, which went on to be toppled by the US-backed Ethiopian troops, who managed to reinstate chaos in Somalia.
Piracy
Sporadic and occasional petty piracy was a phenomenon that had emerged as a result of Somalia's civil war. However, it was not until late 2004 and early 2005 that the world would see full-blown and organized piracy off Somalia.
That was when the local fishermen — failing to catch fish due to illegal Western corporate fishing in Somali waters — would trade their fishing equipment with AK-47s and rocket-propeller guns to go after commercial ships.
But months, and sometimes even a year, would pass before their slow boats could catch-up with the commercial ships and they could board the vessels.
This is while in 2008, over 110 pirate attacks were reported, 42 of them successful. That is a success piracy rate of 38%, compared with 5% in 1997.
That is probably because "Well-placed informers" in the UK — a US ally — constantly update control centers in Somalia , which ultimately give the pirates information about ships, their cargo and their routes.
Okay, now It's getting juicy, because vessels operated by Zim Integrated Shipping Services, Israel's biggest shipping company — the headquarters of which was moved from the World Trade Center on September 4, 2001 to evade the 9/11 terrorist attacks — had been safe from the pirates until after the bandit's link with the London-based sources was unraveled.
Like the Taliban and al-Qaeda that were invented by the CIA to serve as a pretext for the United States' invasion of different countries, the Pirates were Washington's potential key in entering Mogadishu — although the White House did try to pin al-Qaeda and illegal weapons transfer on Somalia too.
Comments like that of a former senior CIA agent, quoted by Harper's Magazine, in which he said, "We need to deal with this problem [piracy] from the beach side, in concert with the ocean side ... We need to work in Somalia," point at the United States' eagerness to make a presence in Somalia.
Grand entry
By 2008, piracy was so widespread in the Gulf of Aden that it had turned Somalia into a hotspot in the world, prompting the formation of an international armada to protect commercial vessels.
Better yet, piracy took the center stage after American Captain Richard Phillips willingly surrendered himself to the pirates — an incident that sent Somalia into the headlines. And now that a super villain has emerged, it takes a superhero to get rid of it!
However, one thing that US President Barack Obama has learned from his predecessor is that in order to win a war, one should avoid a grand entry. And this is where American mercenaries, like CSS Global Inc, replace the US Army...
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