It is a measure of how accustomed official Washington has become to endless undeclared wars that the hearing room for the Senate Armed Services Committee was almost empty on Tuesday morning.
The questioning of Army General Stephen Townsend, President Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Africa Command, was civil, if not perfunctory.
In 2018, the U.S. government bombed targets in Somalia almost once a week killing several hundred people. By any common sense definition of the word “war,” the United States government is waging war in Somalia. But only one of the handful of senators present talked as if war was the issue.
Townsend said terrorist groups remain the top threat to Africa. He did not say how these groups posed any threat to the people of the United States. He said private Russian military companies (PMC) are the second-largest threat in Africa after terrorist organizations. He did not say who or what these mercenaries threaten.
Then came Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s turn to ask questions.
Warren:
In 2018, there were more airstrikes in Somalia than Libya and Yemen combined … 47 strikes killing 326 individuals. General Townsend, are we at war with Somalia?
“No, Senator, we are not at war with Somalia,” Townsend said, adding “We are carrying out our operations against violent extremist organizations in Somalia.”
Warren:
As best I can tell, the strategy in Somalia, as it is in so many of the countries that the U.S. is bombing, is to keep killing terrorists and militants and hope that one day there are magically no more terrorist or militants to kill … General Townsend, do you think that military force alone is enough to beat out Al-Shabaab and address the root causes of terrorism and instability in Somalia?
Townsend said, “No, I do not.”
Warren:
Are we adequately resourcing the non-military side of our strategy?
General Townsend: “I’m not really sure, that’s something I’ll have to look into.”
This was perhaps the most revealing moment of the hearing. The top general in Africa does not seem to know what the U.S. strategy is in the region. That may be because there is no strategy other than a military strategy.
Warren asked an obvious question:
What is the measure of success in Somalia?
Townsend answered with a talking point: to “create capacity there for the local Somalis to secure the nation themselves …” Asked to elaborate, he said, the measures of success would be decreased militant activity and increased capability of the Somali armed forces, requiring less of a U.S. presence.
Warren:
Make no mistake, we’re at war with Somalia, and there is remarkably little debate about that fight … I think we need to rethink our Somali strategy
It is a hard point to dispute. The U.S. is waging a secret war in Africa. Congress never authorized the use of military of force in Somalia. There’s been little debate or even discussion about why we are in Somalia. It’s just another endless war that only one senator bothered to question.
Reporting by Daniel Ortiz
