House Rejects Rep. Gaetz’s Bill to Withdraw US Troops From Somalia

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) delivers remarks in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

The House rejected legislation from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that would require President Joe Biden to withdraw most U.S. troops from Somalia in an April 27 vote.

Opponents of the legislation said it would hurt national security by making it harder to fight al-Shabaab, designated as a terrorist group by the United States over a decade ago.

House lawmakers, including its sponsor, claim that 900 U.S. troops in Somalia on an uncertain mission will never bring peace. Despite his claims, the House rejected the legislation, H.Con.Res.30, in a vote of 102-321.

Gaetz said during a floor discussion that to accept Biden’s decision last year to send soldiers back to Somalia, one would have to believe that 900 U.S. troops are what is going to save a country of 17 million from a hardened group of 7,000.

“I think that strains not only logic but our understanding of the history of Somalia,” Gaetz said during the floor debate on the bill.

“The future of Somalia must be determined by Somalia. And to the extent that foreign influences could be helpful, I would argue that the African Union is far better positioned to build a stronger sense of national identity and national unity among clans that have been warring in Somalia for generations than U.S. troops,” he added.

Somali security officers drive past a section of Hotel Hayat, the scene of an al-Shabaab group terrorist attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Aug. 20, 2022. Feisal Omar/Reuters

Coup Concerns

In recent weeks, Gaetz has also claimed that U.S.-trained Somali soldiers had staged coups across Africa. Gaetz questioned U.S. Africa Command Gen. Michael Langley, USMC, why taxpayers should continue paying for this endeavor in March, citing claims that certain U.S.-trained soldiers had led many coups and coup attempts.

“The American people have extremely low confidence in our military leaders and their ability to assess their own efficacy,” Gaetz said in March when he introduced his resolution.

“How do they expect Americans to believe their justification for occupying Somalia when they can’t even determine who in their own training programs will lead a violent coup afterward?”

Terror Group Aligned With al-Qaeda

Violence in Somalia has continued to be an issue of concern, with al Qaeda-linked al-Shabab seeking to establish an Islamic state through force.

Women walk next to a destroyed house and the wreckage of a car following an explosion by al-Shabaab terrorists during an attack on a police station on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, on Feb. 16, 2022. Hassan Ali Elmi/AFP via Getty Images

Ten people were killed on Feb. 21 in an attack claimed by al-Shabab in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, which said it was targeting military officials and militia fighters engaging in an offensive against it, according to a report.

Somalia’s communications ministry announced that ten people were murdered but did not specify who was targeted. The four terrorists engaged in the attack were slain by security personnel, according to the report.

More recently, the nation’s military repulsed an attack by the jihadist terrorists in a remote region on April 22, reported The Associated Press. A top army official said that at least 18 al-Shabab terrorists were killed in the fighting near Masagaway town. At least three civilians were also killed, the report said, citing General Mohamed Ahmed Taredisho.

Since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government started an operation against al-Shabab in August of last year, the group has increased attacks in response.

Among al-Shabab’s most notorious terror attacks were in neighboring Kenya, where ten years ago, they attacked civilians in a Nairobi shopping mall that led to the death of over 70 people. Two years later, al-Shabab terrorists committed a massacre at a public university in northeast Kenya, where 148 people, mostly students, were murdered.