It was an invasion. Clan loyalties make people blind.
90 till 2006 Xamar and the South was in the hands of moriyaans. Xamar's districts were divided between different warlords ruling based on clan.
People had enough, made a grassroot movement which was based on an Islamic government and removed the warlords from Xamar and large areas of the south. Reopening the airport and port after 10 years of no service, going all the way to xaradheer and dealing with the pirates...reducing crime.
Look at this aljazeera article
The Islamic Courts Union, a Somali militia, has reopened the seaport in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, for the first time in 11 years as the group continues to expand its control over the country.
www.aljazeera.com
The ICU were capturing towns 300km from Mogadishu and yet now the current gov can't capture Jilib after what 14 or so odd years?
So do you see clearly why they were dismantled? They were a considered a real threat to Ethiopia and the region..why? Let people forget the Islamic aspect(which causes some people to froth in the mouth and say any Islamic movement=extremism/terrorism.) The reason why they were a threat is because it was an independent movement, free from American control and was viewed as an emerging pariah state. In Africa and majority of the global south, America wants puppet leaders and paper states that it builds and can manipulate and control as they wish.
Look at Saudi all these years or even Brunei...they rule by Shariah system which the west vehemently opposes but does America invade them or send their neighbours in order to cause regime change and bring freedom and democracy? No! Why? Because the states I mentioned are compliant and will carry out anything the USA wishes...so they are not a threat but are in reality client states of the USA.
What people don't realise is that even if the ICU wasn't an Islamic state but a nationalist independent movement that it would be considered a threat by America, Israel and our enemies in the horn of Africa.
So the ICU had two red flags, independent movement & Islamic shariah state. The reality is they brought order to konfur somali which was without order for 15 years and is still without order 18 years after the removal of ICU.
The truth of the matter is what happened in Somalia then was regime change in order to put in place a compliant/client state which would not go against America's interest...that was their initial goal and one that they will never steer away from.
So my people the Somali political discourse unbeknown to a lot of people has become, accept the government we have put in place in order for you to be subjugated or if you oppose then you're a "terrorist/AS sympathiser."