Since the industrial revolution, competition for fossil fuels has driven practically every war, starting with the Franco-Prussian one, since Germany's plan to get to the oil in Mesopotamia and the coal in the Saar, since fossil fuels are finite, I am willing to entertain the idea that Somalia may be of more interest to Big Oil than we know.

In an era when tar sands, shales, etc., are going to be exploited because the abundant reservoirs of oil are rapidly being drained, then attention is bound to turn toward countries with promising geological formations.

It was during the Ford administration that Cheney and Rumsfeld and the other neocons began articulating publicly their position that it is in the best interests of the US to establish hegemony in parts of the world that provide oil so that we never again have to wait in line at the gas pump.

I am glad you have raised this issue and I look forward to some expert opinion on the topic.