By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

    U.S. and allied military forces are stepping up aerial-reconnaissance flights over Somalia in preparation for raids against al Qaeda terrorist bases in the north African nation, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

Intelligence reports also disclosed that some 100 al Qaeda terrorists were identified recently in Somalia. The terrorists were spotted as part of the Islamic rebel group there known as Al-Ittihad Al-Islam, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Mogadishu-based group, known as AIAI, is linked to Somali warlord Hussein Mohammed Aideed and has close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist group in Afghanistan.

    "Somalia will likely be next," said one defense official familiar with defense planning.

Meanwhile, at the Pentagon, Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Staff, said U.S. forces are "on the hunt" for ousted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, who is believed to be hiding in an area northwest of Kandahar.

U.S. and allied forces also continued to search for bin Laden, the terrorist leader behind the September 11 attacks, whose last known location was the mountains south of Jalalabad.

The reconnaissance flights over Somalia include aerial surveillance by U.S. EP-3, British Nimrod and French Atlantique aircraft, the officials said. The number of flights increased sharply last week, they said.

Time for revenge,
[b][blue]NAKED[/blue][/b]

didn't aideed die in 1996?
just wondering
john

Loose lips sink ships.

i hope the damn media is waiting on the beach at night again.  I thought it would have been cool if the seals "neutralized" them in the assult.
john

Anyone think Somalia as a "Next" on the list and the opening of "Black Hawk Down" is just a coincidence?  I think the Bush administration has probably thought of this.   .....Americans get really pissed "seeing" their special-ops guys dragged though the streets by the Samalis, no one really gets upset at Somalia as a "Next".   Next stop- kick'in ass in Somalia.  

Maybe someone will come up with a nice movie about Sadam?  Release it just after we wipe out Somalia; no more questions about "do you think it is right to go after Sadam H.?".

Ok, tinfoil hat off!  

If someone could get the media to pose for "family" pictures holding guns at the precise time of the SEALs arrival..........
[smoke]

I'm with Death by ar15...

Hopefully, it's just a leak and not the real deal, maybe propaganda to keep Mullah and Bin Laden from utilizing Somalia....

Guys in the military/CIA should STFU!

My .02 cents

Mel Gibson has a movie about Vietnam coming out.  hmmmmm......

The father did.
Hussein Mohammed Aideed is
Mohammed Farrah Aiddid's son and a former Marine.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/somalia_who.html

Hussein Aideed
He dresses in business suits, was educated in the United States, was even an American citizen a decade ago, but for many of his opponents, the ghosts of his lineage continue to haunt Hussein Aideed. The son of Mohammed Farah Aideed, the former U.S. Marine is known to bristle when he is called a "warlord" like his late father. But he still carries his father's gold-tipped walking stick and his father's reputation for blocking his country's trysts with democracy. After a comfortable life in the United States, Aideed returned to his war-torn country in 1992 as part of a growing force that aimed to restore hope to Somalia. But his refusal to acknowledge the administration of President Adbulkassim Salat Hasssan and his rejection of the Djibouti peace process have put him at odds with many Somalis desperate to bring order to the country. On his part, Aideed maintains that the Somali people were never consulted about the decision to put Hassan in power and he contends that the Hassan administration is a "project controlled by [neighboring] Djibouti." In the fractious politics of Somalia, it is difficult to judge how much support Hassan and Aideed enjoy among Somalis.