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GUEST: Najum Mushtaq, a Nairobi-based journalist and a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus, Stephen Zunes, professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco, where he teaches Middle Eastern and African politics. He serves as Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus and is the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism

Last week U.S. Special Operations forces launched air strikes on Somalia, killing dozens of civilians. The US has claimed that the strikes were aimed at Al Qaeda operatives in Somalia and that no civilians were killed. The aid agency Oxfam has confirmed that in fact 70 civilians were killed. The civilians were nomads in the Kenya border region, searching for water sources. The US ambassador to Kenya acknowledged that the onslaught failed to kill any of the stated prime targets. The attack was the first overt U.S. military action in Somalia since American troops left the country in 1993 after the infamous “Black Hawk Down” episode. The attacks came on the heels of an invasion by Ethiopian forces, backed by the US, overthrew the Union of Islamic Courts which were controlling large parts of Somalia.