Displacement is compounding matters, with more than 500,000 refugees now in huge camps along Somalia's border with Kenya and Ethiopia, according to international relief organization Oxfam.

Many in Somalia, having lost their livestock to the drought, have left their farms—and the clutch of al Shabaab in some instances—in the southern rural areas to try their luck in makeshift camps in Mogadishu. One such camp, on grounds where capital residents once grazed cattle, now holds thousands of refugees in huts made of sticks, plastic and tattered clothes.

Muslimo Hudow, 37 years old, says she fled with her seven children, age 2 to 12, from a remote village in Bakool. They walked for 15 days, covering more than 125 miles, before catching a ride on a truck for the remaining 160 miles to the capital and this camp.

"The drought wiped out everything we had," said Ms. Hudow, who said her family lost its 12 goats and 18 cows, their only source of livelihood. "This is a catastrophe like I have never seen."

Three of her children, she said, died of malnutrition since arriving in the camp.

Others are said to have been prevented by al Shabaab from trying to leave the crisis areas. "Al Shabaab does not allow people to freely move and look for a better life," said Hassan Mohamed, a displaced father in the Mogadishu camp. He said his family escaped from an al Shabaab camp in the darkness of night.

Al Shabaab says aid groups have exaggerated the crisis and exploited it for political aims, by undermining the militants' control over parts of the population and its efforts to propagate its view of an Islamic society. When al Shabaab expelled aid groups in the past, it argued that food aid distorted markets and gave local farmers less incentive to work.

Neal Anderth wrote:The drought is real, the suffering is real, but it's 2011, and it's pretty easy to get food aid to starving people, that is unless their society is so dysfunctional that it can't interface with basic transport technology.

Neal Anderth wrote:I'm not sympathetic to al Shabaab in the least, I despise them. I wish you (those supporting interventionists policies) hadn't made it easier for them to take root there.

Doctor Fate wrote:

Neal Anderth wrote:I'm not sympathetic to al Shabaab in the least, I despise them. I wish you (those supporting interventionists policies) hadn't made it easier for them to take root there.

Neal, is al Shabaab responsible for the attacks they are conducting or is the US? That is a yes or no question.

Ray Jay wrote:huh, what?

bbauska wrote:The "yes or no question" Doctor Fate asks gives two option; the US or Al Shabaab.

Which one is yes, and which one is no?

Doctor Fate wrote:

bbauska wrote:The "yes or no question" Doctor Fate asks gives two option; the US or Al Shabaab.

Which one is yes, and which one is no?

Fine. I must recognize Neal's limitations. It's an either/or question.

Neal Anderth wrote:I hold individuals responsible for their actions and for the actions of the groups to which they belong. Al Shabaab has clearly inhibited food aid to people in need. They are responsible for doing that.

The US is responsible for the unintended consequences of meddling. Is that a big issue? I say yes, as the cause of the deaths is from the inability to get food aid into the area. And al Shabaab's rise in the region coincided with the increased instability as the US fomented war. This drought and famine was a major issue all the way back to January 2010, at least as far as I recall it coming up in the news.

It only falls into this thread as DF brought up the children that were dying of starvation as a reason to be more concerned about Muslim extremism. It's just not a great example given the myriad of fingerprints on the problem.

And now the government with the assistance of the MSM are trying to hold out the despicable actions of Al Shabaab as reason for us to be there and be more involved.