Rumsfeld's Legacy - failed intel operations, Somalia

The LATimes reports on the increasing use of military spec ops for intelligence operations traditionally carried out by the CIA and the problems that has caused. This is Rumsfeld's legacy. He and Cambone, covered by CIA-hating Cheney, tried to move most of the anti-terror intel operations into the Pentagon.

I don't think this is a small deal either. One of the mistakes cited is "the exposure of a sensitive intelligence operation in East Africa" that I would argue is the massive US intel failure in Somalia.

The US got caught giving money to Somali warlords in an effort to stop the, then small, Somali Islamic movement. When this was exposed, the ICU's popular support shot up and the conflict began in earnest.

Now, we're looking at a regional conflict in the Horn of Africa and probable terrorist safe havens in Somalia. I consider that more than an "embarrassing incident."

(One thing I left out of that old argument from June, was this bit from Newsweek,

But officials with the Red Cross and other aid groups in Mogadishu report seeing "many Americans with thick necks and short haircuts moving around, carrying big suitcases," says one aid official whose agency does not permit him to speak on the record.

Certainly the CIA is capable of handing out money, but "thick necks and short haircuts?" That's military men tromping around, exposing the operation.)

UPDATE: It must be said that the WaPo front page says the failure was CIA. It's a really good article on the Somali failure.

It seems the "who lost Somalia" battle is quietly beginning.