September 15, 2009
Score one for the good guys
Yes, I know. The use of archaic terms like "good guys" and "bad guys" is so passe, yes? Heaven forfend that we should identify those trying to perpetrate mass murder upon us. Such talk offends the delicate sensibilities of liberals.
Nevertheless, here's something to celebrate according to Fox News:
Navy Seals from US Special Operations Forces conducted a raid in southern Somalia on Monday that killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of 4 co-conspirators wanted in the 2002 bombing of an Israel owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, two senior U.S. military officials told Fox News.
Ten days ago President Obama signed the Execute Order for Nabhan, who since 2006 was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists. He was also wanted for the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Kenya in 1998.
They called it operation Celestial Balance: at least two AH-6 Little Bird helicopters deployed from one of two U.S. Navy vessels near Somalia's coast strafed a vehicle Nabhan was using to go back and forth between meetings.
Intelligence operatives had been monitoring Sabhan prior to the attack. The helicopters passed once, firing on the vehicle, and then circled back around to retrieve the body so they could make a positive identification, according to an official.
The attack in Mombasa took place on Nov. 28, 2002 - involving a suicide bomber that blew up the lobby of the Israeli owned Paradise hotel. On the same day the attackers unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down an Israeli owned Boeing 757 civilian jetliner run by Arkia. They fired surface to air missiles and missed.
Nabhan's Somali group, Al- Shabaab, has links to Al Qaeda.
Scratch one really bad guy - even if some believe he was just a misunderstood crusader for justice who never would have turned to terrorism if we had only given him what he wanted while showering his homeland with economic aid to get at the "root causes" of terrorism.
Methinks Nabhan will now simply be a "root cause" of daisies growing where he fell.