1,000 years ago (actually it’ll be 1,000 years ago to the day on October 18) the Fatimid caliph destroyed the previous Sepulchre

1,000 years ago (actually it’ll be 1,000 years ago to the day on October 18) the Fatimid caliph

destroyed the previous Sepulchre, and that did indeed spark a series of Crusades (ok… so it look 70

years for the Crusades to get going, but news traveled more slowly in those days). Yet it seems to me

that Christianity has matured somewhat since the depths of the dark ages, and as eager as some in the

west remain for any excuse to start a major war, I’d like to think the bulk of Christendom really isn

’t so hung up on some 11th century building in Jerusalem.

I predicted when the Ethiopians rode into Mogadishu in January, 2007, that the minute they fled with

their tails between their legs, the Islamists would swarm back in to retake their place of power. I was

right, but the time period was off — only because the occupiers, and the “Transitional National

Government” they propped up, stayed far longer than anyone expected.

It’s been barely two years, but in that time span, Somalia’s economy and civil society has been

gutted as if by fire — and in many cases, the literal sense applies. Of course, many things have

changed since early 2007. Some of the more radical Islamists have gained strength after hardening as an

armed insurgency. Half of Mogadishu’s population has been displaced by the fighting between the

“transitional government” and the Islamist factions.