This having been put into perspective, the precise and subtile analysis of Hoehne is insightful, and a further discussion would, in my opinion, gain from two additional widenings of scope:

a) A look further back into the history of Somalia and Italian/British Somaliland. This was not necessary to make the author’s case, so he cannot be criticized for stopping in the early 1990s; but for a deeper analysis of the lingering failure that is Somalia, a much farther-reaching explanation might be helpful. Clichés like “clannism” do not help, since e.g. Muhammad was not deterred nor ultimately hindered by it. The old (colonial and pre-colonial) dichotomy between coastal urban and hinterland rural pastoral societies in Somalia might help to understand the collapse.

b) The ineptitude of US and foreign intervention (too late, too little, too cowardly, AND too heavy-handed) was indeed striking. To quote from Hoehne’s main article: ” The events in Somalia in 2006 and afterward were embedded in a brief history of Islamism in Somalia after state collapse that clearly shows the decisive break in 2005/06. The ascent to power of the UIC marked the first time in fifteen years that Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia had been under one rule and mostly peaceful, if only for a few months. Certainly, the U.S. ‘failed to judge the Union [UIC] for its deeds: the stabilization and pacification of one of the world’s most lawless areas. The question is, however, if Washington ever was interested in accurately judging the UIC.”

c) But again, what really is worthwhile, is to show that this was not an individual failure of political decision on a given crisis (crisis in the positive sense), nor a blunder due to rabid ideologically rooted reality-blindness in the White House. Rather, we can see an almost  repetitive pattern if we compare this e.g. to the equally failed US and European policies in case of Angola. Comparable misjudgements based on ideology and myopia, and immeasurable suffering and decades-long mayhem as a result.

you are being disingenious on a number of counts.

You only mention Al-Shabaab, but ignore the Mah’aakim islaamiyya (Islamic Courts). While the former indeed are mostly a post-intervention phenomenon, the former were there before the Ethiopian army ever crossed into Somalia. Moreover, the IC boasted very publicly that they intended to march into Ethiopia (with the ultimate goal of turning it into an Islamic country even); and they were highly violent at that time already.

The IC don’t fit your narrative matrix — large-scale violent Somali Islamism (and there never is a collectively non-violent one; or can you name an example?) only as a reaction to outside intervention — so you have conveniently chosen to ignore them.

Islamic totalitarianism a response to “Democratic totalitarianism”? Ah, sure, that’s why, for instance, Numayri, Turabi and al-Bashiir (until recently) opted for culturally exterminating the Southern Sudanese, those powerful agents of “DT”. Now I see the light. The enslaved and impregnated Dinka women should simply not have adopted the cause of the US and its nefarious allies.

And of course it makes sense to stone adulterers and adulteresses to death as a tool of resistance to DT. For the same reason, kill Muslims who convert to another or no religion; and artists who (mildly) mock Islam. It’s just what they do in the “DT” states of the West with their converts our of Christianity and with artists who mock Christianity.

Your ideological blindness and moral equivalency indeed make you a worthy representative of what frequently today passes for social science. I am virtually certain that you have a great future in academia ahead of you.

Finally, I am greatly encouraged to learn that Iran is now increasingly aligned with the “DT” camp.

However, the primary actors responsible for Islamic totalitarianism and terrorism running rampant in Somalia are not the Ethiopians and Americans, but the Somalis. Somali Islamic totalitarainism and terrorism was there before the Ethiopian intervention — in fact it triggered it — and American missile attacks.

Moreover, why react to Ethiopian / American actions with Islamic militancy? Why not with other ideologies and actions of resistance? There is no fully deterministic nexus between Ethiopian / American interference and Islamic militancy. The latter is only chosen by people who are already highly prone to such totalitarian thinking and the violent path of action it prescribes.

There are hierarchies of responsibility and blame which the author conveniently neglects. He focuses exclusively on the secondary, tertiary, quarternary, whatever responsibility/culpability of outsiders, while ignoring the primary responsibility of the local Somali actors. Ultimately, it amounts to little less than a piece of clever Euro social scientist US bashing.

And what exactly, by the way, is the contribution of stoning “adulterers” or “adulturesses” to resistance against (now absent) Ethiopians or Americans?

  The people of Somalia need to go back to basics. Take a step back, take stock and redirect their anger into more positive approach to get themselves out of this terrible condition they are in.