While David Shinn is perplexed...more die

Two articles of note in the Washington Post, first Ethiopians Closing In On Capital of Somalia where it states:

U.N. officials warned of a humanitarian crisis in Somalia, while fears remained high that Ethiopia's aggressive military campaign could have disastrous consequences not only for Somalia but across the Horn of Africa.

"I find it perplexing what the Ethiopians are up to," said David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia. "Over the long term, I don't see where this gets them. And one wonders how long they can hang on in this situation, because eventually it's going to turn into a nasty guerrilla war, and I don't think the Ethiopians have the stomach to carry on with that kind of campaign."

It was unclear Tuesday whether Ethiopian troops were preparing to invade Mogadishu or merely surround it.

Then, this editorial, War in Somalia -
Another front in the fight against terrorism has exploded. Which points out the war on terrorism continues to spread:

Ethiopia's actions, however, are problematic. The country's autocratic government and a slight majority of its population are Christian; this has fueled resistance to its intervention from Somalis and Muslim governments that might not otherwise support the fundamentalist Courts. According to U.S. and U.N. reports, millions of dollars in funding and arms have flowed to the Islamists from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab states, while neighboring Eritrea, a bitter adversary of Ethiopia, has deployed its own troops. Some experts warn that the fighting could morph into a regional war; others say Ethiopia could get bogged down in a prolonged guerrilla war with local and foreign Muslim insurgents.

Also once again the US has not demonstrated a clear plan of action:

Earlier this month it pushed for a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an end to foreign intervention, the deployment of a peacekeeping force and negotiations between the rival Somali governments. President Bush spoke yesterday with the president of Uganda, which had offered peacekeepers. Yet even while reiterating its call for negotiations, the administration also appears to be supporting the Ethiopian offensive: The State Department said that Ethiopia had a right to defend itself against the Islamists and that its troops were there at the invitation of a legitimate authority, the transitional government.