By host Tom Ashbrook:

It’s Blackhawk Down time again in Somalia — this time not for US helicopters and troops, but for US policy attempting to keep Africa’s most battle-scarred patch out of the pocket of al-Qaeda. Early this year, the CIA started pouring cash into the hands of Somali warlords to buy their help against al-Qaeda but the plan blew up.

Islamists have now taken over Mogadishu. In the last two days, 500 US-ally warlord fighters have surrendered. The Horn of Africa just got its own Taliban.

Osama bin Laden has celebrated on tape. Some strategists see al-Qaeda’s empire of opportunity not shrinking but growing across a wide swath of the Islamic world.

Hear about America’s war on terror -in trouble- in Somalia.

Guests:

Rob Crilly, freelance reporter with The Christian Science Monitor based out of Nairobi

Mark Mazzetti, National Security Correspondent for The New York Times;
John Prendergast, Senior Adviser at the International Crisis Group

Stephen Van Evera, Professor of Political Science at MIT.