The president recently called Somalian immigrants garbage. Maybe not a great choice of words.
But our history with Somalia and Somalians has been a tortured one.
In 1992, the U.S. was at the forefront to help with donations, transporting and distribution of food and other aid to the country during a severe famine that killed tens of thousands.
Many of those donations were looted and stolen by their warlords and common thieves.
To protect the distribution centers, the U.S. military was sent in to protect those centers.
They repaid our efforts by ambushing, and murdering, many of those troops and dragging their bodies through the streets of Mogadishu.
Since then, Somalians routinely pirate any shipping that they can reach by boat. They confiscate the ship and its crew and hold it for ransom.
Now that they have been brought into our country, primarily as refugees of the famine and corrupt government, many Somalians have repaid our country’s kindness by importing that lawlessness and devious behavior to our shores.
We can make up our own minds if “garbage” is the wrong word.
Phil Turner
Sequim