ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the United States' policy toward Somalia, with particular emphasis on United States policy after September 11 2001. The United States policy goals specifically relating to Somalia include removing the terrorist threat extant in Somalia and ensuring against Somalia's use as a terrorist base preventing developments in Somalia from threatening regional peace and stability. When Mogadishu fell to the United Somali Congress, the Somali conflict quickly turned into a clan civil war. However, many Somalis disagree with Washington and consider the group as an idealist Somali Islamist movement with objectives similar to those of other Islamist groups. This group of warlords told the media that about 70 international terrorists were hiding in Mogadishu and that Somalia's Islamic Courts were protecting them. Finally, most Somali Islamists, intellectuals, and business groups author interviewed think that the United States is punishing the Somali people for the 1993 events when Aideed's supporters killed 18 American Rangers.
