An increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency is advancing toward Somalia's seaside capital, capturing town after town and seizing territory from the weak U.N.-backed government often without firing a shot.
But analysts say the hardline militants cannot achieve their ultimate goal of laying siege to Mogadishu, the capital, while powerful Ethiopian troops remain stationed in the once-beautiful city on the shore of the Indian Ocean.
Two years ago, the Ethiopians with our support knocked back an earlier jihadi effort to control Somalia and establish that region as a base for al Qaeda.
Before that operation, recalling a post from 2004, I suggested a military effort in Somalia both to knock down the jihadis and to remind Americans that even as we fought in Iraq we had to advance against the jihadis everywhere. I wanted an operation like Torch in World War II that reminded Americans that we were at war with the Nazis.
The Ethiopians are probably tapped out since they are fighting on with about 4,000 troops inside Somalia to keep the jihadis from taking control of Mogadishu.
Perhaps we need up to a multi-brigade punitive mission into Somalia to kill as many jihadis as we can and then push the African Union forces into the vacuum to try and buy some relative stability for a couple more years.
We have little interest in expending the effort to pacify Somalia and create a unified Somalian state on the backs of the US military. But we don't want a sanctuary to develop there. Fortunately, we have easy access to the region from the sea, Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Our objectives in Somalia are limited and when our low-key efforts are insufficient, we may need to introduce American ground forces for a limited duration mission to kill jihadis and break their things.
