BUSH'S WAR IN SOMALIA THREATENS CALAMITY TO CIVILIAN POPULATION ESPECIALLY CHILDREN

The BBC reports on impending catastrophe in Mogadishu as a result of street fighting between Ethiopian troops and Somali Islamists.

""It continues to deteriorate by the day," the UN refugee agency's Guillermo Bettocchi told the BBC.

""There are no signs of improvement on the ground, and those who are suffering the brunt of the conflict are the civilians, who are being either killed or displaced, and are in the middle of suffering that is unacceptable," he said.

""In terms of child malnutrition, access to education, lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities, indeed the situation in Somalia is the worst in the world . . . to be a child in Somalia today is something that means lots of suffering and a grim future.""

Once again we have American interference in the inner political workings of a country that has caused this catastrophe. George Bush and Dick Cheney were so fearful of an Islamic government in Somalia that they encouraged Ethiopia to illegally send in its army into Mogadishu. Ethiopia is predominantly Christian, Somalia predominantly Moslem. Ethiopia's actions are those of a Christian invader in an Islamic country. Besides ethnic differences, the religious chasm spawns hatred on both sides for the other.

Ethiopia should get out of Somalia, and leave residents of Mogadishu themselves to decide who they want as their political leaders. And George Bush and Dick Cheney should cease interfering and meddling in the internal affairs of another sovereign state.