The Real Somali Threat

Pirates may be getting all the attention, but they may not be Somalia’s biggest danger: The United States is wary of a rapidly expanding Somali organization al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda. Anonymous top national security advisors have revealed the United States’ dilemma over this group, saying that it represents a potential terrorist threat to US interests. While some in the Defense Department think the administration is failing to act against them, others think an American offensive on the African group, which would be the first strike outside of the Afghanistan-Pakistan/ Iraq region, would be diplomatically dangerous.