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

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


  • A war is not a war…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    A war is not a war…
    23 Mar 2022
                                                         
  • BAR Book Forum: Interview with Charles Athanasopoulos
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Charles Athanasopoulos
    23 Mar 2022
    As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal or popular publication. We ask these scholars to discuss…
  • BAR Book Forum: Aria S. Halliday’s “Buy Black”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Aria S. Halliday’s “Buy Black”
    23 Mar 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Aria S. Halliday. Halliday is Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender and…
  • Lies and Times: How The New York Times Gives Cover to Fascists
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Lies and Times: How The New York Times Gives Cover to Fascists
    23 Mar 2022
    Much of the New York Times reporting on Ukraine doesn't meet basic journalistic standards. The "newspaper of record" is in fact a record of ruling class and state apparatus narratives.
  • Bessemer Alabama Amazon Workers Continue Struggle to Unionize
    Saladin Muhammad
    Bessemer Alabama Amazon Workers Continue Struggle to Unionize
    23 Mar 2022
    The mostly Black labor force at an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama will have a second opportunity to vote for unionization.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us