Iwish to comment on the numerous editorials by Kenyan journalists in themainstream media on the current fighting in Somalia. Allow me to do sopassionately because I am a trained military officer who did the ropes,served his time and left the military early to pursue other interests.

FirstI am amazed at the level of ignorance displayed by many Kenyanjournalists on military issues and matters regarding war. I thoughtthat all journalists are taught the basics on every conceivable subjectthat they write on, but anyway that is for another day.

Many(journalists) seem to support the idea that Kenya should send it armedforces to Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaab. My question to them is, goto war over what and why? What dispute does Kenya have against thegroup or the Somali populace who support the militia? What would be thejustification of waging war against a loosely held group of outlawsseeking to overthrow the government of Somalia? The current war inSomalia is an internal armed insurrection that does not warrantintervention by a neighbouring state. It is not Kenya's problem thatthe fledgling government in Mogadishu is too weak to deal with aninternal armed insurrection, neither is it the responsibility of theRepublic of Kenya to shore up a government that the Somali peopleconsider a puppet of some foreign power(s). Al-Shabaab cannot thriveif the citizens of Somalia or a sizeable population thereof do notbelieve in its cause. The militia is thriving because there are certainsections of the Somali populace who are persuaded by its declared causeand are offering active support and comfort to its members andfighters. A militia force is not a conventional static force; it isever active and lives and thrives amongst a complacent populace and"eats" from them.

Al- Shabaab and many other armed groups in Somalia have raised the issueof legitimacy against the government of Sheikh Ahmed. This is a complexmatter and as you rightly put it, even Ethiopia failed to pacify thewarring factions in Somalia over a two-year period. For starters, it isimportant to know that when you are fighting an internal armed group,it is not enough to capture territory and grounds of tacticalimportance; you must win the war in the minds and hearts of the peopletoo. Ethiopia failed to do so and this is why the issue of legitimacyhas stalked the Somali Transitional Federal Government since Ethiopia'sinvasion. The United States is facing similar issues in Iraq andAfghanistan despite its enormous military might. I highly doubt thatKenya would fair any better compared to Ethiopia.  It is important forthose who are propagating for war against Al-Shabaab to understand thatno government can competently administer a territory if there islingering question over its legitimacy. This is a question whichSomalis alone must address and answer alone. The TFG has consistentlyfailed to marshal international support and recognition owing tolingering questions over its legitimacy. Their war over the legitimacyof the TFG is their war and not Kenya's. Kenya's intervention will notsolve this issue; it might even escalate it considering that Nairobi isthe rear tactical and logistical base for all of Somalia's politicians,militia commanders and their backers.  

Secondly,just suppose Kenya were to intervene in Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaaband shore up the TFG; where will be the front? Many warmongers do notseem to remember that Kenya has a 1200 km frontier with Somalia whichis largely un-policed and highly volatile. What ground of tacticalimportance would our armed forces seek to hold against the militia? Amilitia group is not static or encamped force; it is a highly mobile,agile and versatile amorphous force which periodically mutatesdepending on the nature of the threat at hand. It is obvious that Kenyawould be stretched to protect its civilian population and installationsagainst retaliatory incursions by the militia. How would Kenya dealwith the armed and non-armed members of the group? Would they beconsidered prisoners of war and therefore entitled to the privilegesaccorded to POWs under the Geneva Conventions? And if so, where wouldthey be incarcerated during the war period? Or would they be handedover to the TFG for "trial".  Before anybody beats the drums of war,they should think about the withdrawal strategy. Al-Shabaab is fightinga proxy war funded by foreign powers and wealthy merchants and islikely to stake it out as long as the purse strings remain open. UnlessKenya is willing to put itself in a similar position as the USA is inIraq and Afghanistan, then war against Al- Shabaab is not a worthyventure.

Finally,any support for the option of war against Al-Shabaab should beaccompanied by a personal declaration that one is willing to beconscripted or have his children, siblings and other relativesconscripted for war. Anyone who imagines that the current standingKenyan army will be sent to be the front to fight Al-Shabaab is anignorant day-dreamer. Read the Armed Forces Act, Cap 199 well and youwill know that a declaration of an international armed conflict betweenKenya and another state will be followed immediately by massiveconscription of young people who will be sent to the war front tobecome cannon fonder.  Any volunteers?   I have a reserve liability ofabout 15 years and it is likely that I would be called out for militaryservice in the event of a long drawn war. I would not honour such acall from the Commander-in-Chief because I hold the view that going toSomalia to fight any group is an unjustifiable misadventure which willserve no veritable cause apart from massaging the egos of war-mongerswho will be watching the children of the poor die in the war front fromthe comfort of their villas.