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


  • The Biden Era, Ukraine, and the Crisis of the Left w/Dr. Anthony Monteiro
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    The Biden Era, Ukraine, and the Crisis of the Left w/Dr. Anthony Monteiro
    28 Feb 2022
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley speak with Dr. Anthony Monteiro, organizer of the Saturday Free School and a long time BAR contributor.
  • New York Bail Reform Fight
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    New York Bail Reform Fight
    23 Feb 2022
    Black legislators in New York are defending their legislation which reduces the use of cash bail.
  • GLEN FORD: U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission, March 20, 2014
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    GLEN FORD: U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission, March 20, 2014
    23 Feb 2022
    Glen Ford’s prescient 2014 essay on the geopolitics of the Ukraine exposes the core issues animating the conflict: US energy interests and economic power.
  • The American Left’s China Exception: The Case of Dave Zirin
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The American Left’s China Exception: The Case of Dave Zirin
    23 Feb 2022
    Anti-China propaganda is often spread by those who call themselves leftists but who are in fact liberal imperialists.
  • H.R. 6600 Would Impose More Harsh and Illegal US Sanctions, this time on Ethiopia and Eritrea
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    H.R. 6600 Would Impose More Harsh and Illegal US Sanctions, this time on Ethiopia and Eritrea
    23 Feb 2022
    House Resolution 6600, the misnamed Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act, has moved from th
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us