Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The Known Unknowns of the Secret US Drone War in Somalia
This Is Hell
06 Mar 2019
🖨️ Print Article

US troops landed in oil-rich Somalia in 1992 and never really left. Over the years some have been replaced with drones and mercenary contractors, but Americans still prop up their version of a Somali government, headed by a US citizen whose writ doesn't go much beyond the capital. Obama bombed Somalia regularly, but under Trump the number of drone strikes have tripled, killing unknown numbers of Africans and terrorizing large swaths of the countryside. The US government doesn't even reveal which agency is conducting many of the bombing strikes, and next to no reporting on the long war in Somalia appears in the US press or broadcast media.

ThisIsHell host Chuck Mertz interviews Mogadishu based journalist Amanda Sperber. Amanda wrote the article "Inside the Secretive US Air Campaign In Somalia" for The Nation: www.thenation.com/article/somalia-…et-air-campaign/

This interview was originally broadcasted by our friends at ThisISHell.com on Saturday February 16, 2019.

Somalia
drone warfare

Related Podcasts

Israel and Somaliland
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
U.S. and Israeli Interference in Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia
25 September 2026
Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African Newswire, discusses Israeli recognitio
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Israel's Recognition of Somaliland Destabilizes the Horn of Africa
09 January 2026
Israel is the first and only nation to recognize the Somaliland region of Somalia as an independent state.
Map of the Horn of Africa
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Trump Administration Continues U.S. Destabilization of Somalia
21 February 2025
Abayomi Azikiwe, is the editor of Pan-African Newswire.

More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    CHAPTER: Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others, W.E.B. Du Bois, 1903
    11 Nov 2026
    “Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission…Mr. Washington’s programme practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races.”
  • Dr. Gerald Horne
    Socialism, the Wave of the Future: On the 20th Anniversary of Black Agenda Report
    11 Nov 2026
    We reprint Dr. Gerald Horne's keynote speech at Black Agenda Report's 20th anniversary celebration.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Pentagon pimpin
    11 Nov 2026
    "Pentagon pimpin" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence and was delivered at the 20th anniversary celebration for Black Agenda Report, New York City, November 7, 2026.
  • Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    What Obama Has Wrought
    11 Nov 2026
    The meticulously scripted spectacles of the two corporate party conventions are very poor backdrops for clear thinking – but luckily, the ordeals are almost over. What remains after the tents are…
  • Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders: Sheepdogging for Hillary and the Democrats in 2016
    11 Nov 2026
    Vermont senator and ostensible socialist Bernie Sanders is playing the sheepdog candidate for Hillary Clinton this year. Bernie's job is to warm up the crowd for Hillary, herding activist energies…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us