With unmanned drones in the skies and the launch of secret commando raids, Somalia must feel like familiar territory for the CIA veterans who have moved to East Africa. They are hunting terrorists in a failed state, ruled for decades by tribal chieftains and brutal warlords. Its desperate people are turning in fear to an Islamist militia. al-Qaeda senses a chance to re-establish itself in the Horn of Africa.
It's all strikingly reminiscent of Afghanistan, where many of the special forces operatives and intelligence agents have just come from, probably with British SAS colleagues alongside them.
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