Political Islam and the US

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/world/africa/14somalia.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

I think the US's problems in Somalia of late nicely illustrate the cycle of botched confrontation that the US has had since the Afghan war. Each conflict tends to bring radicals from disparate regions together where they form "Al-Qaeda" connections and radicalize a new region... where we confront, attract radicals and repeat the process.

Even a military victory early in the conflict will only exasorbate the feelings of frustrated impotence and exploitation that feed the Islamist cause. The US would do well to recognize the government in Mogidishu, send flood aid to the devastated areas as a sign of good will and try to broker some kind of peaceable agreement between Addis-Abbaba and Mogidishu. The fact that they are already reopening old nationalist institutions suggests that the realities of sustaining and affecting governance may make the Islamist leaders more open to dialogue than the fiery rhetoric (which much legitimize any sweeping new movement) would suggest.

I would also say that an islamist with "links to al-qaeda" today is saying about as much as saying "a leftist with past communist sympathies" did during cold war incubation. Al-Qaeda's purpose was to germinate and disperse. That goal is already accomplished. It is time for US policy to move beyond 1995.