Image: Displaced people collect water from a well inside a camp for internally displaced persons in the outskirts of Kismayo, Somalia, on April 21, 2026.Simon Maina / AFP via Getty Images

Jamila Osman of Truthout reports: “In a recent video released by the State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared, “The inspiration of America to the rest of the world has been extraordinary.” The video, which commemorates the 250^th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, hails the legacy of the framers while a voiceover praises the generations who “dedicated themselves to building a more peaceful and prosperous world.”

Just weeks before the video was released, the U.S. carried out its most intensive recent bombing campaign in Somalia, launching a blitz of airstrikes in a five-day operation in the port city of Kismayo — a contradiction that seems lost on this administration. On July 5, an additional airstrike was carried out in the Juba Valley. AFRICOM, the U.S. military command that oversees security operations across Africa, has released no information about casualties or the identities of those killed, leaving the human toll of the campaign unknown. In 2025, AFRICOM spokesperson Lt. Col. Doug Halleaux confirmed it would no longer release specific details about airstrikes to ensure “operations security.”

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