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Somalia: Fifth on the List, Bombed for Twenty Years Without a Vote

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED that Somalia was on the list General Wesley Clark described, that a U.S.-backed Ethiopian army invaded it in December 2006, and that the United States has bombed it since January 2007, with more than 100 strikes in 2025 alone. STRONG that Congress never voted for a war in Somalia and that the public is told these strikes are not regime change while they continue without end.

In one paragraph​

Somalia had no working national government in 2001, yet it was fifth on the Pentagon memo Clark described: "then Libya, then Somalia and Sudan." In December 2006, five years after that memo, Ethiopia invaded Somalia with American backing. Within weeks the United States began its own air strikes, and it has not stopped. Economist Jeffrey Sachs lists it among the U.S. wars on Clark's list: "Somalia (backing Ethiopia's invasion in 2006)." Journalist Jonathan Cook: Somalia was "subject to a US-backed Ethiopian invasion in 2007," and is now a "basket case," "riven by all-consuming, horrifying civil wars that the US helped to stoke rather than resolve." In 2025 the Pentagon, now calling itself the Department of War, carried out more than 100 strikes and told reporters "We're not seeking regime change." As one critic put it: "No state to topple. Still at war" (@FearNoGoats on X, September 23, 2026).

On the list​

  • 1982, Yinon: the essay saw the whole region, "from Morocco to India and from Somalia to Turkey," as unstable and breaking apart. See The Yinon Plan.
  • Fall 2001, the memo: "starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran" (Democracy Now, March 2, 2007). Clark had already said it in 2003: officials planned "to attack Iraq first before taking action against Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan" (Al Jazeera, September 22, 2003).

December 2006: the proxy invasion​

In December 2006 Ethiopia invaded Somalia to drive out the Islamic Courts Union (BBC, December 24, 2006, "Ethiopia admits Somalia offensive"). Within weeks the United States launched its own strikes (BBC, January 9, 2007, "US 'targets al-Qaeda' in Somalia").

The result was the group America has bombed ever since. "Somalia saw the rise of the terror group al-Shabaab following an invasion by US-proxy Ethiopia" (African Stream on X, June 23, 2025). Sachs counts it plainly: the U.S. has "led or sponsored wars against ... Somalia (backing Ethiopia's invasion in 2006)" (as quoted by @amborin on X, November 10, 2025).

Twenty years of strikes​

  • 2007 onward. Micah Zenko of the Council on Foreign Relations noted in 2017 that the U.S. "has been bombing Somalia intermittently for over a decade; since Jan. 7, 2007" (Micah Zenko on X).
  • 2019. "US no longer announcing deaths, damage in Somalia airstrikes." One reader asked: "Remember when Congress voted to go to war with Somalia?" (Reddit r/politics).
  • 2021. "The Pentagon announced Tuesday that the United States launched its first airstrike in Somalia under President Joe Biden" (John Solomon Reports on X, 2021). Every president has kept the war going.
  • 2025. "The U.S. has been bombing Somalia for nearly two decades," with more than 100 strikes since President Trump took office (Drop Site News on X, December 4, 2025).

"We're not seeking regime change"​

Asked about the strikes on December 2, 2025, the Department of War answered, in a clip circulated by Disclose.tv: "I can assure you, right, this is an America first department of war and president. So we aren't conducting forever wars in Somalia. We're not seeking regime change, or, you know, we're not nation building" (Infostormer, December 2, 2025, quoting the clip). Press secretary Kingsley Wilson called it an "America First Department of War" that is "protecting the American homeland" and "not neocons" (Drop Site News on X, December 4, 2025).

Set the words beside the record: nearly twenty years of bombing, more than 100 strikes in a single year, and a new base under construction. According to an investigation by Drop Site News, five Puntland security officials said the United States "is effectively establishing a new military base in Bosaso, despite the project being publicly described as an expansion of an existing facility," at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandab strait (Islam Times, reporting Drop Site News). It is not called a forever war. It is not called regime change. It does not end.

No vote in Congress​

Former Rep. Justin Amash: "There's zero authorization for the U.S. to have troops in or around Somalia and zero authorization to bomb anyone" (Justin Amash on X, November 11, 2022). The strikes rest on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force against those responsible for 9/11. As journalist Glenn Greenwald has noted, that authorization covers "those who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and those countries who harbor those individuals. That's it" (Democracy Now, November 28, 2011). Somalia had nothing to do with 9/11.

Somalia and the Iran war​

In August 2026, after the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was reviewing alternatives to its Persian Gulf bases because of their vulnerability in the Iran war, one analyst urged: "Time to look at #Somaliland: stable, friendly to #Israel & has #Africa's longest runway near #RedSea entrance" (@DrJPPham on X, August 2026). The country on the list becomes a base for the war on the last country on the list. See Iran.

Status: Wesley Clark is alive. Micah Zenko is alive. Justin Amash is alive. Kingsley Wilson is alive. Jeffrey Sachs is alive. Nothing on this page states that any living person committed a crime.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t38__v445.md through t38__v456.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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