Posted on 10/27/2011 12:17:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — By the time U.S. military forces left Somalia in 1994 after entering the lawless nation more than a year earlier to stop a famine, 44 Army soldiers, Marines and airmen had been killed and dozens more wounded. Thus ended America's last large-scale military intervention in Africa.
But the U.S. has come back, using special forces advisers, drones and tens of millions of dollars in military aid to combat a growing and multifaceted security threat. This time the United States is playing a less obtrusive role but is focusing once again on Somalia.
While putting few U.S. troops at risk, the United States is also providing intelligence and training to fight militants across the continent, from Mauritania in the west along the Atlantic Ocean, to Somalia in the east along the Indian Ocean.
The Pentagon is paying a lot more attention to Africa than in years past, analysts say. ..
And, most worrisome to the United States, an al-Qaida-linked group in Somalia has recruited dozens of Americans, most of them of Somali descent.
"If you ask me what keeps me awake at night, it is the thought of an American passport-holding person who transits through a training camp in Somalia and gets some skill and then finds their way back into the United States to attack Americans here in our homeland," Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command, said in Washington this month. "That's mission failure for us."
U.S. and European officials also worry that AQIM is working to establish contacts with Boko Haram and al-Shabab, the Islamist Somali insurgent group.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Hold it right there, AP. The first problem is, the US gooberment can not stop a FAMINE!
I disagree. We cannot police the world, and I don't want to pay for it.
A better use of our money and the time of American soldiers and other agents is to watch suspicious activity and people HERE.
I don't really care if some American somali goes to Africa and trains to be a terrorist. Have at it. I care when they are allowed back onto American soil.
If we put all of our effort into watching the borders and immigration, we wouldn't have to try to pay attention to what every person is or isn't doing in every country around the world.
That said, if the U.S. is worried about terrorist training camps then bomb the crap out of them every time one is identified.
-——Once the troops are drawn down from Iraq I believe Israel will move on Iran-——
Interesting thought. Why should the Israelis wait till Iraq is evacuated? Why not now?
Hussein is a joke.
That's exactly right and more people should pay attention to this as those pulling all the strings continue to position the nations for One World Governance.
Libya and Egypt are a prime example of what happens when leadership of nations say no. Both Qaddafi and Mubarak refused to go along with the EU/Mediterranean push for inclusion...Qaddafi even stated he would not take his nation into a revived Roman Empire...he was a beast but he wasn't stupid when it came to the positioning of nations...neither was Mubarak.
Now the obvious push in Africa nations to bring them into compliance....just as the so called Arab Spring was initiated and pushed...to bring the ME nations into compliance...the only way that can happen is for those willing to comply or they'll be outed by their own people..so to speak...with plenty of help as we saw in Libya.
allow me to be cynical of mission and commitment. Bush is no longer President. Thanks for the link.
“Could it be that Obama is setting up for a war if he needs one for the 2012 campaign?”
I don’t get it. His base is generally anti-war, ANY war. This won’t help him.
Aren’t good muslims an oxymoron?
Thanks for the info.
“I am just concerned that we would make some attempt to go after EVERY dictator in the continent.”
The One cannot share the title: DICTATOR with anyone else. He must remove all dictators as he assumes world dictator.
And to think, I changed my tagline before this even happened.
I understand the cynicism, just don’t think it is warranted in this case. link is www.africom.mil, btw
Probably limitation of collateral damage ie: US casualties in a Iranian retaliation strike. Also a minimal US presence will give a degree of plausible deniabilty (Oops we didn't see those F15’s going by. We can't be everywhere at once. oh well)
But chasing the terrorists down if they are there is good too. They only understand brute force. Take no prisoners. But this dude is not the one for that because he ties their hands.
The U.S. networks don’t tell you this, but al Jazeera does with their headline, “U.S. troops in Uganda are ‘combat-ready’.”
Oil, as stated. Also gold and diamonds and other gems and minerals.
Similiar thing happened to the Roman Senate.
Gen. Carter Ham
LOL
You just can’t make that name up but, he’s real
The First Family has Brothers, Aunts and Uncles there.
African security is an American priority. We don’t want a member of the first family getting kidnapped.
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