How did the Ethiopian invasion go?
The incursion touched off a guerilla war that killed thousands and drove nearly 1 million people out of Mogadishu, the capital. Amnesty International last year charged Ethiopian forces with a litany of human-rights abuses, including gang rapes, throat-slitting, and eye-gouginga reign of terror that pushed more Somalis into the Islamist camp. In January, Ethiopia withdrew its troops, having utterly failed in its mission to buttress the transitional government. Many Somalis cheered Ethiopias retreat, but the country was left with yet another power vacuum. Who has filled that vacuum? Some of the same Islamists who were ousted by the Ethiopians. In fact, the man who once led the Islamic Courts Union, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, is now the leader of the U.N.-backed transitional government. He may be the Wests best hope for taming a growing militant Islamic insurgencywhich gained traction during the Ethiopian occupation. A radical offshoot of the Islamic Courts called al-Shabab (the Youth) is now d
