The ongoing US assassination program just completed one of its most deadly strikes on record in the country of Somalia, killing an estimated 150 people. Rest assured though, the US government said that all the victims were “militants”. The US government also stated that the airstrikes were in self-defense, so you know, no big deal.
Of course, the US isn’t actually at war in Somalia. No evidence has been provided as to the identity of any of the dead. And no details have been provided as to precisely who these 150 people were allegedly threatening that necessitated their execution. The Pentagon press release merely indicated that the attack was on an al Shabaab training camp.
Yet in spite of the clear lack of information, the killing of 150 people in a neutral country does not entail a scandal or even warrant comments from the President of the United States. It’s just a normal event. The Pentagon’s version of events was reported uncritically throughout most of the US media. Not enough details were offered to really corroborate the story, and no major US outlet bothered to try. Somalia is pretty far away, after all.
If this sounds problematic, it should. A few important questions come to mind:
- What is al Shabaab and why is the US trying to kill its members?
- How can we assume all 150 people were not civilians given that the US government has a policy of labeling all fighting-age males as militants, until proven otherwise?
- How can we exclusively trust the US government’s version of events, given that it has a vested interest in how the story gets reported?
- Why are there US troops in Somalia to be threatened in the first place?
- Is it remotely legal for a country to assassinate people in a foreign country with which it is not at war?