Our show was recorded before the shocking news about Tim Russert's death. We are tremendously saddened by the news and offer our deepest sympathies to his family.

The latest news out of Horn of Africa is that the Somali parliament in Baidoa has declared a three-month state of emergency. While we heard a lot this past week about U.S. airstrikes in that country, the Washington Post first reported yesterday that a small team of U.S. troops had entered into southern Somalia in the area of Ras Kamboni to assess the results of Monday's airstrike and whether or not the targeted al-Qaeda suspects had indeed been affected. Pentagon decisionmakers were said to be cautious about sending U.S. troops into Somalia at all, but felt that the use of a handful of them organized into a "search team" was appropriate. But today the New York Times is reporting that when Ethiopian forces marched into Mogadishu to drive out the Islamic Courts Union in late December, they were in fact accompanied by small groups of American "advisers." Joint Chiefs Chairman General Pace reportedly informed members of Congress yesterday that the Pentagon had the authority to conduct the airstrikes, at least, under the the authorization of military force issued by Congress six years ago, on September 18, 2001. In fact, a command post of American Special Ops troops has been conducting "anti-terrorism" operations in the region since 2002 from a base in the tiny country of Djibouti just north of the Somali border. Now Djibouti’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is saying that while he found the U.S. airstrikes counterproductive, he "do[es] not believe that they [U.S. forces] participated" in last week's movement of Ethiopian troops into Somalia, but is reserving final judgment until he gets more information. Confusing, to say the least.