Trump orders the withdrawal of the majority of US troops in Somalia

By artappraiser on Fri, 12/04/2020 - 11:01pm |

President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to remove most of the its about 700 troops in Somalia working to assist the East African nation’s military with its long battle against al-Shabab terrorists. https://t.co/AdZSgUZMzT
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) December 4, 2020

URL:

https://www.stripes.com/news/africa/trump-orders-the-withdrawal-of-the-majority-of-us-troops-in-somalia-1.654243

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not all that it might seem at first:

NEW: @realDonaldTrump orders "majority of personnel & assets out of #Somalia by early 2021"

"Some forces may be reassigned outside of East #Africa" per @DeptofDefense "Remaining forces will be repositioned from Somalia into neighboring countries" to allow for cross-border ops pic.twitter.com/5VGDleIkIP
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) December 4, 2020

by artappraiser on Fri, 12/04/2020 - 11:04pm

and furthermore:

This is important: US Congress moves to block troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Germany https://t.co/L5DueNahes
— Saad Mohseni (@saadmohseni) December 5, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/05/2020 - 3:42am

Ilhan Omar had a clever quip on Twitter about this one.

[get the Embed code off the tweet and paste it into the film-looking icon in the comment editor]

Hate to break it to you, but they are headed to Kenya, which is in Africa and actually next door to Somalia.

The American people know this is all smoke and mirrors, a political game to move around resources and hand out contracts. https://t.co/NIxIJFAiWX
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 5, 2020

by Orion on Sat, 12/05/2020 - 3:43pm

thanks, I was actually thinking of using the phrase "strings and mirrors", but hers is better.

If you read it carefully, the D.O.D. statement basically says it all, the language is not that supportive of any future ideas the commander-in-chief might have as to spinning tales.

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/05/2020 - 4:50pm

Rand Paul has a daydream ideology that represents people who don't exist so he takes what he can get.

I think that Omar either put up a different tweet or replaced it because that's totally different than the original I saw. She originally just said "did I do that?" alongside an emoji.

by OrionXP (not verified) on Sat, 12/05/2020 - 6:29pm

daydream ideology is a good description; I also like pie in the sky

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/05/2020 - 7:35pm

ex-war reporter C.J. Chivers retweeted this on topic, so I suspect this is probably correct; I have not checked it:

Oh cool, Twitter is trending a contextless headline about a war most Americans don't even know is happening, without noting that in the first seven months of this year Trump conducted more airstrikes in Somalia than the entire Bush and Obama administrations combined. pic.twitter.com/P33loSqKoM
— Jonathan Myerson Katz (@KatzOnEarth) December 5, 2020

he also retweeted this

After Lorance, anything is possible. Prepare to be shocked. https://t.co/CdxcBVfv5U
— Doctrine Man (@Doctrine_Man) December 5, 2020

and this

Trump Signs Bill Authorizing Alwyn Cashe to Receive Medal of Honor https://t.co/wo7URwV3tU
— Hope Hodge Seck (@HopeSeck) December 5, 2020

btw even tho retired from reporting he does a weekly newsletter:

Updates from this newsletter are by far the best unsolicited emails in my inbox. The ghost of @NYTimesAtWar lives on. https://t.co/JwYsGRPwil
— C. August Elliott (@CAugustElliott) December 5, 2020

by artappraiser on Sat, 12/05/2020 - 9:10pm

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