French Strikes in Mali Supplant Caution of U.S.

New York Times ^ | January 13, 2013 | ADAM NOSSITER, ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI.

[Seizethecarp]

French fighter jets struck deep inside Islamist strongholds in northern Mali on Sunday, shoving aside months of international hesitation about storming the region after every other effort by the United States and its allies to thwart the extremists had failed.

For years, the United States tried to stem the spread of Islamic militancy in the region by conducting its most ambitious counterterrorism program ever across these vast, turbulent stretches of the Sahara.

But as insurgents swept through the desert last year, commanders of this nation’s elite army units, the fruit of years of careful American training, defected when they were needed most — taking troops, guns, trucks and their newfound skills to the enemy in the heat of battle, according to senior Malian military officials.

“It was a disaster,” said one of several senior Malian officers to confirm the defections.

Then an American-trained officer overthrew Mali’s elected government, setting the stage for more than half of the country to fall into the hands of Islamic extremists. American spy planes and surveillance drones have tried to make sense of the mess, but American officials and their allies are still scrambling even to get a detailed picture of who they are up against.

Now, in the face of longstanding American warnings that a Western assault on the Islamist stronghold could rally jihadists around the world and prompt terrorist attacks as far away as Europe, the French have entered the war themselves.

First, they blunted an Islamist advance, saying the rest of Mali would have fallen into the hands of militants within days. Then on Sunday, French warplanes went on the offensive, going after training camps, depots and other militant positions far inside Islamist-held territory in an effort to uproot the militants, who have formed one of the largest havens for jihadists...

[spetznaz]

Totally understand the anger. A good part of my schooling was under Scottish Catholic priests (the Holy Ghost Fathers) in Nairobi, Kenya, and thus I totally comprehend your ire. Totally justified actually. I hope what you say is true, because when I was last there (last March, in London for a PE function) I saw a lot that wasn’t very heartening. The British soldier is a good soldier, however any good soldier requires positive political will, wide public support, and robust understanding as to what the soldier provides to the country (be it by toil, coin, or blood). All the best to you and yours.