New York,(insidesomalia.org)-Somalia’s transitional federal government is looking to emulate the counterinsurgency model employed by General David Petraeus in Iraq in its fight against Islamic supremacists who have made a base in southern Somalia.

In an interview with The New York Sun, the Somali foreign minister, Ali Ahmed Jama, said he was hoping to emulate "the Anbar model," referring to the successful strategy pursued by the Marines in the Sunni dessert province in 2007 that bolstered the tribal rebellion against Al-Qaida

"We are looking now for international support for a process that works with moderates within the Islamic Courts Union," Mr. Jama said. Last week, Somalia's president, Abdullah Yussuf Ahmed, made an impassioned plea to the U.N. Security Council for such support and for lifting an arms embargo that Mr. Jama says the Islamist insurgency's allies openly violate.

For America, the policy toward Somalia has been bifurcated. President Bush applauded Ethiopia's decision on Christmas Eve 2006 to send its army into Somalia and oust the Islamic Courts Union from Mogadishu.

American Special Forces also participated in that operation. To this day, the Transitional Federal Government controls their country's capital.

But the Bush administration has not yet recognized the transitional government as the government of Somalia, nor has much aid been forthcoming to President Ahmed's regime.

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