The June 25 news story "U.S. Sends Weapons to Help Somali Government Repel Rebels Tied to Al-Qaeda" misstated Bush administration policy toward Somalia. The Bush administration did not focus "almost exclusively" on targeting terrorists in Somalia, but rather was one of the chief external supporters of the Djibouti peace process, which has resulted in the government of Sharif Ahmed that the Obama administration seeks to assist.
In addition, the Bush administration provided extensive support to the African Union Mission in Somalia, and to training and equipping Somali government forces, policies that the Obama administration is also continuing.
Where the Bush administration policy differed from Obama administration policy is in the former's push for U.N. peacekeeping forces to buttress the understaffed and underfinanced African Union force. Were such peacekeepers in place today, the situation that the legitimate government of Somalia faces might not be so dire.
JOHN A. SIMON
Visiting Fellow
Center for Global Development
Washington
The writer was U.S. ambassador to the African Union from 2008 to 2009.
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