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


  • Eileen Gu Controversy Exposes the Importance of Racial Loyalty to the American Empire
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eileen Gu Controversy Exposes the Importance of Racial Loyalty to the American Empire
    16 Feb 2022
    Corporate media used the 2022 Beijing winter Olympics to create endless anti-China screeds. An athlete was even condemned for choosing to affirm her Chinese heritage.
  • Pentagon pimps keep pimp slappin' and kickin' us to the curb
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Pentagon pimps keep pimp slappin’ and kickin’ us to the curb…
    16 Feb 2022
                                                           â€¦
  • The Realities of Temp Work
    Eugene Puryear
    The Realities of Temp Work
    16 Feb 2022
    Poverty, wage theft, injuries, and even death are features of the temporary employment system.
  • BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
    16 Feb 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • With Its Doomsday Clock at 100 Seconds to Midnight,  The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Calls for Escalating US Aggression Against Russia
    Roger D. Harris
    With Its Doomsday Clock at 100 Seconds to Midnight, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Calls for Escalating US Aggression Against Russia
    16 Feb 2022
    The venerated Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is not a formation that peace advocates can support.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us