Somali Mayor plays the Pali game in response to missile strike.

Nope. There's no Al Qaeda here. Just innocent civilians. Besides...

"We are not terrorists. We are righteous fighters."

DOBLEY, Somalia Mar 7 (Garowe Online) - The mayor of a town in south Somalia which was the target of a U.S. air strike last week says that al Qaeda has never set foot in the town. Ali "Dheere" Hussein, the mayor of Dobley, told the BBC Somali Service that the U.S. bombing killed innocent civilians.
-snip-
Asked about the intention of the U.S. bombing, Mayor Ali Dheere said, in his opinion, that "Muslims are being massacred."

Hassan Turki, the commander of Islamist militias in south Somalia, was a target in the U.S. bombing of Dobley.

"We are not terrorists. We are righteous fighters. [Former Somali President] Mohamed Siad Barre released me from jail in 1964 to fight the Amhara and now [Ethiopian Gen.] Gabre rules Villa Somalia," Turki said. He dismissed Somali President Yusuf's allegations that al Qaeda fighters trained in Afghanistan were regrouping in Dobley.

"We were trained as children because the clans used to fight. All Somalis are trained," he said with a slight chuckle. Turki said he does not know the three al Qaeda fugitives whom the U.S. government believes are being sheltered in southern Somalia.

"We don't know about them [three wanted al Qaeda operatives] but even if they did exist, is it right to kill all the innocent people for them?"

Old Moslem trick - using human shields and then crying foul when they are caught up in the violence.

BTW - Alleged target Hassan Turki has not been seen or heard from since the attack. (slight chuckle right back at ya Hassan.)


The Pentagon speaketh.

The March 3 attack “was a deliberate, precise strike against a known terrorist and his associates,” another U.S. military official said in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the record. He said the targets were believed staying in a building known to be used regularly by terrorist suspects. Remnants of a radical Islamic force that ruled much of southern Somalia in 2006 took over Dobley last week, led by senior Islamic official Hassan Turki. Turki, who is rarely seen in public, is on U.S. and U.N. lists of suspected terrorists for having alleged ties to al-Qaida