Things are doubtlessly going to get worse, because the transitional government put in place by the invasion has shown itself completely incapable of taking the steps that are urgently needed to avert disaster. These steps were spelled out at a fascinating meeting organised in Addis Ababa a fortnight ago by Ethiopia's well known Inter-Africa Group, which brought together some of the region's most knowledgeable scholars as well as senior IGAD and AU officials, and ambassadors from countries supporting the transitional government.

While there was intense disagreement on many issues, it was universally acknowledged that a politically- and clan-inclusive approach was essential to restore peace. The representative of Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf assured everyone that this was indeed the government's policy.

Six days later, Ethiopian and government troops stormed a neighbourhood of Mogadishu's dominant Hawiye clan, which supported the ousted Islamic Courts Union and is a rival to the Dorad clan of President Abdullahi. The assault resulted in a large number of dead - including the reprisals mentioned above.

Few of the independent experts at the Addis conference would have been surprised by the government's assault. Most of them had said that an inclusive strategy would not be pursued by Mr. Abdullahi, given his deeply clannish outlook.

So much earlier than was the case in Iraq, the attempt to install a pro-American government in Somalia is unravelling. The patient diplomacy needed to address a difficult situation for the United States was eschewed in favour of the now-reflexive Bush administration resort to force when faced with a challenge in the Muslim world.

This is a ruinous strategy, since its multiple post-9/11 applications have been rarely accompanied by any certainty that they will deliver an approximately desired outcome. In Somalia's case, for example, the US helped topple the Islamic Courts Union and the peace they had brought, but the government put in place has no prospect of winning national support and creating stability because it is seen as a front for the two countries most reviled by Somalis. The greatest indictment of President Bush's reign is that he turned many relatively stable situations into murderous chaos, in pursuit of short-term goals which contradicted his own strategic aim of a more secure world for the US.

Outcome aside, this was the most illegal war fought in recent history. It violated the UN Charter, and also two explicit Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993 (arms embargo) and in December (which continued much of the embargo and forbade neighbouring countries from sending troops into Somalia). Kenya also blemished its excellent international record by contravening humanitarian laws by turning over scores of Kenyan and other alleged ICU supporters to Somalia, where they might have faced torture or death.

Underlying the multiple interventions and failures in facing challenges from the Muslim world is the Bush administration self-serving conflation of all Islamists with violent extremists. If a modus vivendi with the Muslim world is to be sought, the West must recognise that political Islam is now an established force, and it must be engaged.

As Jennifer Cooke and David Henek of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US wrote in a paper last month, "political Islam needs to be accorded a role in deciding Somalia's future dispensation. Islamic charities, businesses and networks remain among the country's most robust and enduring."