No Exit in Somalia
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
It may be some time before we learn whether Sunday's air strikes by an
AC-130 gunship in southern Somalia succeeded in killing the terrorists who
were the intended targets--particularly Abu Taha al-Sudani, reportedly an al
Qaeda explosives expert, and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, mastermind of the 1998
East Africa embassy bombings. But the attacks--along with the deployment of
a carrier battle group off the African coast--are welcome evidence that the
U.S. has learned the lessons of May 19, 1996.

That's the date Osama bin Laden and his associates left Sudan for
Afghanistan on a chartered plane. The Clinton Administration was aware that
Sudan intended to expel bin Laden, and the U.S. might have easily tracked
and destroyed the flight en route. The consequences of its failure to do so
is only too well known, and the Bush Administration is right to be
determined not to let terrorists get away again, whether by land, air or
sea.