U.S. Launches "Self-Defense Strike" During Raid Against Shabaab

[rangerrebew]

U.S. Launches "Self-Defense Strike" During Raid Against Shabaab
By Bill Roggio
January 13, 2017

US Africa Command announced that it launched an airstrike against Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia, while US advisors accompanied Somali and African Union forces in a counterterrorism exercise on Jan. 7.

AFRICOM described the offensive under the guise of a “self-defense strike,” as it did on nine other occasions in 2016, when it was really another skirmish in a decade-long military operation against Shabaab.

According to AFRICOM, US advisors accompanied a combined force of Somali and African Union troops on a raid in Gaduud, a town just north of Kismayo in southern Somalia. The area is a known hotbed for Shabaab, which has taken over nearby towns and villages.

http://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2017/01/13/us_launches_self-defense_strike_during_raid_against_shabaab_110630.html?utm_source=RealClearDefense+Morning+Recon&utm_campaign=4705ac775c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_694f73a8dc-4705ac775c-81835773

[The_Reader_David]

The author seems to trying to cast aspersions on the U.S. military using (possibly wilful) ignorance of the fact that defense at a strategic level often requires offensive operations at an operational level (and defense at an operational level often requires offense at a tactical level) as the basis for putting scorn quotes around the phrase "self-defense strike."