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U.S. Shuts Down Somalia Internet Access
BrianGa writes: "This
article reports that Somalia's only internet company and a key telecom company have been forced to close because the United States suspects them of terrorist links."
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What kind of country is Solamia? I don't feel bad for any country smaller than Texas.
(that's supposed to be funny, but I'm in a bad mood so take it as you will)
I can't spell or type, but that doesn't mean I'm unusually stupid.
So it's come to this again. Because we need or want to get rid of some controlling individuals, but won't go in and do it directly, we apply larger scale sanctions that mostly hurt the people that rely on them. Although this is really small scale stuff compared to Iraq and, what's that other place... oh yeah, Cuba.
I know, I know, it's up to the the locals to clean their own house, but I have to question our record on applying and lifting sanctions. Here we are cosying up with communist China, and one faction in Afghanistan, and yet we still sanction communist Cuba and Iraq and are bombing the crap out of our ex best buddies in Afghanistan, racking up civilian casualties among the populations we profess to want to liberate, while not being willing to take the media hit of spending the life of one US serviceman (volunteers all) to get the guy we originally went in after.
It would be nice if just for once, we could say "Here is a list of the bad guys. We are going to get them, but we will go after them, and only them, and will lose US servicemen in preference to killing civilians and discounting their lives as 'collateral damage'" Then without any ceremony or fanfare or spin doctoring, we sit and wait for six weeks until they've got complacent and cocky, then quietly blow the fuckers' brains out in dark alleyways.
This is tough on Somalia, but Somalians can at least count themselves lucky that they're not Iraqis or Cubas. God damn, I hate the hypocrisy of politicians.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
It shouldn't be a problem, really. There are plenty of tin cans and string laying around to rebuild the network with. Those African bushmen who communicate with eachother using clicks and clucks might come in handy. Get one of them to whistle a tone, and make the other send data at 300 baud.
Bowie J. Poag
...but it's not just the net; it's also taken out most of the country's telephone network. This means people working abroad can't send money back to their families back home.
This is a direct attack on the civilian infrastructure of a neutral, non-combatant country. When is the U.N. going to stand up and say that this has GOT to STOP? Oh wait, the U.N., the US doesn't even pay their subscriptions to the UN.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
I love the war on terrorism, and how ignorant 90% of americans are to there own faults. How many innocent people have bombs killed in Afganistan? probably close to how many died in the WTC, and now how many people are going to starve because of this? Who is REALLY the terrorist? Lets look up terrorism in the dictionary....
The use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
Funny, that almost sounds like what the USA is doing. HMMMMM
Uh huh. If they have the power to shut it down for being suspected of terrorist links, why don't they just install Carnivore, to MONITOR the terrorists? It could be very useful- I'm sure Somalia doesn't have the same traffic that say, AOL in Miami does. This is bullshit.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
that ever happened to the US Government. Now they can do all the stuff they've wanted to do for years, under the guise of National Security, and Fighting Terrorism. How long do you think it'll be before they're back in Iraq going after Saddam?
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
So? Do you think those planes (where is the proof by the way) were the second attack wave? The rest of your post makes even less sense.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
I'm sick of hearing all of this anti-Americanism on Slashdot. Every post I read seems to be something along the lines of "Where's the proof?" or "What's next, America shutting down dissident sites?"
Well, I'll have you know, we're in a war here. The rules have been changed. It's like those people who shout "We must bring Usama back and try him in our courts!" That's absolutely ridiculous. We didn't try Hitler, nor would we have even considered it if we captured him. It's wartime, the rules are changed. Somalia is just as bad, if not WORSE than Iraq in its harboring and promotion of international terrorists. This could signify the next location of American strikes after the Taliban falls. Imagine how silly you'd seem now if you said we shouldn't be cutting the information lines to the Taliban. That's how silly all of you anti-Americans will sound after the pressure sets in on Somalia.
Remember, this is a war. Your peacetime rules don't apply, so don't pretend to think that they do.
Sorry, it has happened. I bet it has been censored since this guy read it.
Sure. (Nods and smiles, and walks slowly, and carefully away.)
I'm a nature photographer.
How does total stupidity like this get moderated up? If we have only been told "We have proof he did it, and that's all you need to know," then what the hell is this? Have you ever watched the news? Do you pay attention to current events? Or is the only exposure to the outside world you get filtered through the rants of paranoid nerds on Slashdot?
If it ain't broke, you need more software.
No, we aren't at war. That's part of the problem.
In order to be 'really at war' congress must declare war. This is a really important point. One of the reasons this is important is so that everyone know who we are war with, who we intend to kill, and when the killing will stop.
We have placed to restrictions on the killing, but somehow we expect to make things better, to recude the number of deaths.
Instead of formally declaring war we are killing people in foriegn countries, and claiming it is justified because we suspect that someone else killed some of our people.
Don't you see the flaw in Bush's logic? He is effectively saying 'If someone from country A kills people in country B, that is terrorism.', then proceeding to have people killed in another country and claiming it is justice.
When our citizens are killed in our country (elligedly by someone who doesn't live here) we call it terrorism. When we kill Afgans in Afganistan without declaring war it is also terrorism.
The difference is only that we've managed to kill more people, and we are broadcasting reports of how well we are doing the job. We are responding to terrorism with more terrorism, but trying to hide that fact behind some hand wringing and tears.
Bush promised us justice. What is being done is not just.
The United States is engaged in terrorism. Bush is the leader of the United States. Bush is a terrorist leader. Bush is telling us that he will hunt down and kill terrorist leaders. Doesn't it bother you that our president has a death wish? We need a suicide watch for Bush. He is insane.
You're using two different meanings of the word harboring. The terrorists lived in the US for four years, without US knowledge.
Ahh, I get it now. It's all becoming clear.
NEWS FLASH
Osama bin Laden WAS TRAINED AND SUPPLIED BY THE U.S. Figure that one out, genius.
It's one thing to have a murderer hiding without your knowledge in your basement. It's quite another thing to hide the murderer in your basement with intent.
You're right. And it's quite another thing entirely to call him a 'useful ally' when he's your puppet, and a 'murderer' when you stop supporting him and he turns on you. He's doing THE SAME THING he did when he was an American ally.
I'm not confused about the meaning of the word 'harbouring.' The only confusion here is you trying to harmonize your image of the government with dissenting facts you hear on the news.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
You're a moron. Ships that dock in Cuba aren't allowed to dock in the States for six months afterwards. What country do you think companies are going to choose, especially if they're travelling across the Atlantic? The reason Canada can trade with Cuba is because they don't give a shit about America's stupid outdated policies of 'fighting communism.' Cuba's in a pretty difficult state right now; medicine and basic supplies are hard to get. Make no mistake though, the people know why, and they don't blame Castro. I can't think of another government in the world that gives you a cake on your birthday. When was the last time your government cared about your birthday, except when you come of age and can become a TAXPAYER.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
We've all seen the interview where bin Laden called for the murder of all Americans reguardless of whether they were in the armed forces. We've SEEN this, and the US should have acted before we had 5000 dead as a pretext to defend itself. Too bad for you that bin Laden as good as admitted his guilt since the attacks in his video to his followers. All you idiots now have to go find another anti-American cause.
I want to make this point clear, it is idiots like you who contributed to the attack on Sept 11th. Your moral ambivilence is abhorrant. The USA should have acted more forcefully before the 11th to get bin Laden but couldn't because you the willfull confusion and deliberate obfuscation of the facts by fools like you. Now even after that attack you don't crawl back under your rock, instead you're out in full force accusing the USA of the very thing that has been inflicted upon it. The case has never been clearer, there is more than enough evidence to go after bin Laden and his supporters (and there was even before Sept 11th), and the Taliban had their chance to turn them over and didn't. Of course they were never going to because they are complicit in his irrational Islamicist expansionist designs.