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


  • Cuba’s Contributions in the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Franklin Frederick
    Cuba’s Contributions in the Fight Against the COVID-19 Pandemic
    24 Mar 2021
    The Cuban Revolution has shown that when limited resources are distributed equitably and with an emphasis on people and prevention, public health outcomes previously unimaginable can be achieved.
  • That New Old Spook Show 
    Dr. David Pleasant 
    That New Old Spook Show 
    24 Mar 2021
    Savannah is is trying to create a renaissance of profit with live bodies portraying Gullah Geechee, enslaved Africans or immigrant indentures plodding through a mod-gothic spook show.
  • Bruce Levine’s “Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice“ 
    Reviewed by Michael Steven Smith
    Bruce Levine’s “Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice“ 
    24 Mar 2021
    Rep Thaddeus Stevens was an unyielding proponent of the nationalization of the large southern plantations and the redistribution of that land to Black people. 
  • To Western Media, Prosecuting Bolivian Coup Leaders Is Worse Than Leading a Coup
    Joe Emersberger
    To Western Media, Prosecuting Bolivian Coup Leaders Is Worse Than Leading a Coup
    24 Mar 2021
    The Guardian pretends not to understand the difference between overthrowing a government in Bolivia and arresting someone for overthrowing a government.
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of Monday, March 22, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of Monday, March 22, 2021
    22 Mar 2021
    Cuban Socialist Internationalist Medicine Puts Capitalist Countries to Shame
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us