Bush’s Somalia Blunder

I’m going to quote this whole post from Robert Farley:

Osama Bin Laden has released an audio tape denouncing Somali President Shariff Sheikh Ahmed, and calling for Somalis to resist the new government’s rule. Shariff Sheikh Ahmed is formerly the head of the Islamic Courts Union, which Ethiopia overthrew in 2006 with American assistance. The United States was concerned that the ICU was closely associated with Al Qaeda, and that it might harbor terrorists. Bin Laden’s tape is either an elaborate ruse to make the Bush administration look incomparably stupid, or further evidence that the Bush administration was incomparably stupid.

Note that the consequences of this policy have included a massive humanitarian disaster and the growth of the Somali piracy problem. More Somalia-blogging here.