Ethiopia is being a very useful ally to the US by dealing with the Islamists in Somalia. Since topping the Islamic Courts Union last year, Ethiopia has essentially fought that war so that we don’t have to, and is doing what it can to prevent Somalia from turning into the next pre-2001 Afghanistan. But Democrats are threatening to cut off military aid to Ethiopia on a human rights pretext.

A new war in the Horn of Africa would destabilize the region and bolster radical Islam’s push to build a Muslim caliphate.

Sadly, Congress is poised to fuel the march toward war by passing a bill that threatens to cut off technical assistance to Ethiopia, one of our closest allies, if it does not, among other things, release political prisoners, ensure that the judiciary operates independently and permit the news media to operate freely. Ethiopia has already freed opposition leaders, reformed parliamentary rules to give opposition parties greater legislative responsibility and approved a new media law that meets international standards. By singling out Ethiopia for public embarrassment, the bill puts Congress unwittingly on the side of Islamic jihadists and insurgents.

A far better approach would be to buttress Ethiopia against threats to its survival — by helping it resolve its border conflict and ensuring that it reopens negotiations with insurgents and traditional leaders and permits international investigation of reported military abuses (including allegations of rape and murder). Ethiopia has begun this process by allowing the United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies to assist civilians in the Ogaden.

Ace read the same article and rightly focused on the word “unwittingly.”

“Unwittingly”? I don’t know about that. This measure — an attempt to cut off our aid to ally-against-terrorism Ethiopia is part of an unmistakable pattern of Democrats seeking to undermine our allies and aid our bloodiest enemies.

Indeed it is. There is a pattern to what the Democrats are doing, whether they acknowledge it or not. I griped a bit a week or so ago at Democrat calls to cut off the Pakistanis for similar reasons. Whatever problems we have with Musharraf’s imperfections, cutting military aid from him objectively helps al Qaeda. I also opposed the Armenia genocide resolution for similar reasons; spitting in the face of useful allies is no way to go about winning a war. The Democrats are now cutting off funding to the troops in Iraq, which will a) force lacerations in the way the DoD can operate in Iraq and Afghanistan and will b) help every enemy we have on the face of the earth by directly weakening our military’s readiness. Democrats routinely let the perfect become the enemy of the good, especially if the imperfect good happens to be a US ally.

And while this is going on, Democrats and their allies routinely prop up Hugo Chavez as a swell chap in spite of (or because of?) his over the top anti-American rants.

Oh, and save Darfur, dude!