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


  • American Racism in the Time of Plagues
    Andrew Lanham
    American Racism in the Time of Plagues
    01 Jul 2021
    The U.S Has a long history of blaming Asian immigrants for outbreaks of disease, and every time, democracy and public health suffer.
  • Lost Opportunity, Lost Lives
     Lisa Armstrong
    Lost Opportunity, Lost Lives
    01 Jul 2021
    Prison officials could have prevented sickness and death by releasing those who were most vulnerable to coronavirus and least likely to reoffend — older incarcerated people.
  • JuneTeenth: A Marxist Perspective 
    Scott Cooper
    JuneTeenth: A Marxist Perspective 
    01 Jul 2021
    As long as capitalism exists, the capitalists will seek to elevate some people and denigrate others, sowing divisions to deflect attention away from a common enemy.
  • Rock-A-Bye Baby: The Anesthetizing Effects of Political Concessions
     joshua briond
    Rock-A-Bye Baby: The Anesthetizing Effects of Political Concessions
    01 Jul 2021
    The response to Black rebellion are all distinct types of “reforms” to politically sedate Black surplus populations and sustain white settler-capitalist hegemony. 
  • Black Liberal, Your Time is Up
    Yannick Giovanni Marshall
    Black Liberal, Your Time is Up
    01 Jul 2021
    You are here to show your black skin so that you can claim the mantle of authority on anti-Blackness that white liberals have bestowed upon you.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us