If not stopped by Kenyans of good conscience, Yusuf Haji and Saitoti will destroy much of Kenya's pride, international standing and economy. How and when Kenyans will wake up to this reality is not known but I have a feeling much of the public discourse on the war will change once the first images of dead Kenyan soldiers tied to the back of a pickup trucks being dragged through the streets of Kismayu or Af Madow are broadcast on Al Jazeera.
Kenyans have to realise this is a costly war that does nothing to further their interests. This war will not feed the hungry in NEP and Turkana. It will not employ the hundreds of thousands of youths who are educated and unemployed. This war will not cure those dying in the Kakamega of dysentery and HIV. It will not bring peace those terrorized by the sungu sungu and Mungiki.
All this war does is risk the life and limb of the Kenyan soldier, encamped in a Somali bush, eating expired food. All this war does is bankrupt our economy and increase inflation. That this war was launched to get back three whites should tell you how stupid and reactionary it is. The government was not forced into action when tens of Kenyans were butchered in Turkana. DoD's sense of shame was not touched when Ethiopian bandits occupied a Kenyan village and prevented the PM from visiting.
It deserves to be mentioned that the bravest men fighting in our Army are Kenyans of Somali descent who took an oath to protect this country from foreign enemies not fight for a political group. The Mount Kenya Gang is cooking up a fake rationale for invading Somalia to further its political agenda. Our soldiers are being sent to war to boost PNU's polls and to take the nation's mind off of what's going on in the Hague.
That Kenya is ruled by spoiled brats who are really bad at their jobs is obvious to all. Messrs Saitoti and Haji have failed at protecting Kenya's security from within and from without. They have failed Kenyans living along the border with Ethiopia. They've failed to end the clan wars and cattle rustling in Isiolo and its environs. They've failed to protect tourists in the coast. They've failed to protect Kenya's maritime borders where pirates now operate without fear of apprehension. They've let Uganda occupy Kenyan territory. Might I go on?
These two degenerates have really set an example in bad leadership, mismanagement and neglect of duty.
Yet, now it turns out these wimps turned hawks are now sending thousands of Kenya's boys to war with a faceless shadowy group that is battle hardened.They've decided to deploy thousands of Kenya's lily-livered army to fight in a region Ethiopia and America before have failed so badly.
Al Shabab has nothing to lose and everything to gain. All this military invasion does is coalesce the population around the fake rallying crying that is 'defending the homeland against aggression by a foreign Christian enemy' (Just yesterday two new British recruits were napped by the Police).Their middle eastern financiers will flood the group with hundreds of millions of dollar while a single blast in Malindi or Mombasa will do all the damage it seeks to harm Kenya financially.
Military adventurism has failed in Somalia and this time round it will not be any different.This is an exercise in futility and the ever-changing rationales for it says all that you need to know. Kenyans need to wake up to the improprieties of these two men and their minions. The failure of 'Operation Linda Nchi' will bring forth the highly ethnicized nature of Kenya's military and will only diminish civilian control over it.
Finally, I should mention that Yusuf Haji spoke to the BBC Somali Service yesterday while in Mogadishu and declared that no Kenyan troops are in Somalia. This is clearly a lie but it says a lot of the man's lack of diplomatic suavity and incompetence.
