Operation Failing to Learn from Our Mistakes

According to a recent article in the July 2, 2007, issue of Time magazine:

Osama bin Laden has been urging Al-Qaeda followers to open up shop in Somalia for years, but there was always doubt about whether that call would resonate in a largely secular nation with a historic wariness of Arab interference. No longer. After January's attacks by Ethiopia--which were backed by U.S. air power and aimed to reduce the threat of terrorism--an increasingly international Islamist presence has flourished in the country, drawn by the chaos of postinvasion Somalia and the chance to strike back at the U.S. and its ally Ethiopia.

Oops. The article continues, saying, "The parallels to Iraq...are plain."

Read the whole (albeit painfully short) article here.

All of those Middle Eastern countries are the same anyway, right?

An image courtesy bobharris.com: This map was shown on an episode of Anderson Cooper 360 concerning refugees from the war in Afghanistan. The country that is labeled Afghanistan is, well, actually Syria.
Another map was broadcast on the AC360 episode following Larry King's interview with Michael Moore on Friday. The map showed Iraq and its neighbors with Syria again being mislabeled as Afghanistan. Also, the country to the south has apparently changed its name to "Saudia Arabia."

How are Americans ever going to be able to understand the crises in the Middle East fully if our news networks can't even tell us where the countries are located? Since CNN isn't going to do it:

(Image courtesy mideastnews.com)