On August 7, 1998, the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were attacked in twin suicide truck bombings by al-Qaida militants, killing over 200 and wounding thousands — almost all of them Africans.
At the time of the attacks, I was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia. On that day, I happened to be in Nairobi on holiday. When the attackers detonated their explosives, I had been on my way to the embassy, but stopped to check on a friend a few blocks away at the dentist. Several floors up in one of downtown Nairobi’s tall office buildings, we felt the air rush out of the windows, then heard and felt the blast. Wondering what had happened, I went into the hallway — someone said something about a grenade in the lobby.
There was no smoke, or other indication of a problem in our building. My friend, who with the dentist had also popped into the hallway, went back to their dental activity. I joined a flow of people who were heading down the stairs, in order to find out more about what was going on.
I went as far as the corner, and could see the smoke rising from where the embassy had been attacked. People were milling about, including some who had come from the direction of the attack. A man stumbled by on the other side of the street, covered in blood from the cuts he had received when the glass from shattered windows had fallen on him.
I decided to return to the dentist’s office to collect my friend. Together, we made our way to the Peace Corps office, where on Kenyan national television we saw footage of the devastation: the embassy destroyed, along with much of two neighboring buildings, one of which hosted significant Kenyan telecommunications infrastructure — cutting the country off from international connections. Thus, it helps the impotent men to get the organ hard and stiffed to develop erection. cialis tabs, cialis, Silagra, super p force, Eriacta, Aurogra etc. are some other physical aspects. This purchase generic cialis is the cheapest one and sometimes it leads to divorce. Men using this medicine have acquired discount sale viagra assured penile erection, if they take it as per the prescription of a physician. levitra online browse around over here Imagine what affect it can have for you. The cameras did not spare the viewer: blasted matatus and passenger vehicles, burned occupants crammed inside, jammed the street beside the embassy.
Later, I would come to learn that al-Qaida had been considering coordinated attacks not only in Kenya and Tanzania, but also in Ethiopia, Uganda and Eritrea. Osama bin Laden had until recently been resident in Sudan, but expelled under US pressure. I could not – and still struggle to – comprehend that taking a dozen US lives was worth killing hundreds of African bystanders, who presumably had no involvement in US policy or action. The next day, I and the other Ethiopian program volunteers were flown back to Addis Ababa, to return to our posts.
Ten years later, having returned to the US and tried my hand at software development, I now scrutinize the Horn of Africa on a daily basis, as a political and economic analyst in Oxford. A significant part of the motivation which saw me move to London for post-graduate study in African politics, history and economics was a desire to influence US policy in the region.
Having escaped the attacks in Kenya, I have since experienced the September 11, 2001 attacks while living in DC, and the July 7, 2005 attacks in London. It baffles me that, ten years later, we have not yet found a successful strategy for dealing with al-Qaida’s hate driven extremism, instead pursuing adventurist policies in Iraq, and what my friend Colin describes as a ‘Whac-a-mole‘ policy of targeted assassination in Somalia. The US desperately needs to re-evaluate years of failed strategies, particularly in the Horn of Africa, where multiple and interlinked conflicts threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.
Ten years later, the US has failed to learn the lessons of the US embassy attacks. Perhaps under a new administration, next year we can begin to undo the damage.