Free Republic

Transportation of U.S. troops and cargo between Germany and Africa just became more lucrative for Cartersville, Ga.-based Phoenix Air Group, which yesterday—without needing to compete for the endeavor—received a six-month contract extension to provide such services. The U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) in 2009 initially selected Phoenix Air to provide “Fixed Wing Airlift Services” through March 31, 2012. The Firm Fixed Price Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract, then-valued at $26 million, has been modified to reflect the new delivery date through September 30. It did not disclose the cost of the contract modification. TRANSCOM explained in “A Justification For Other Than...

(CBS News) Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said recently that al Qaeda terrorists may regroup in Africa, and that is why the U.S. is sending 100 Special Forces troops to one of the most violent places on Earth. The first 40 Americans have arrived in the region that includes South Sudan, scene of a long running civil war, and the Congo, site of the deadliest conflict since World War II. CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley sat down with Panetta, who said the Americans will train local forces to fight terrorists, including al Qaeda. Pelley: You're sending a hundred troops...

Africa appears to be in the process of throwing up two new alarming problems, one of them piracy on the west coast, to add to that already rampant on the east coast, and generational fracturing within South Africa's ruling party. A third disturbing problem is that the approach to Africa by the administration of President Barack Obama is becoming increasingly dominated by the U.S. military, in the form of the U.S. Africa Command, created in 2008 during the administration of former President George W. Bush. AFRICOM's latest maneuver, undoubtedly part of an effort to prevent Defense Department budget cuts in...

"Sir, you have done India proud." That was how the anchorman of a television channel in Delhi addressed the Indian navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, on the victorious sea battle by warship INS Tabar with would-be hijackers as dusk was falling on Tuesday evening in the Gulf of Aden. Those words would have made Sir Francis Drake, the 16th-century British navigator and slaver-politician of the Elizabethan era, truly envious. Sir Francis had bigger claims to fame in a life cut short by dysentery while attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1595. Unsurprisingly, the patriotic Indian media dutifully expressed its gratitude...

House subcommittee says funding will keep command at current levelJust weeks away from standing up as the Defense Department’s newest combatant command, Africa Command is facing a serious budget shortfall. For fiscal 2009, President Bush had requested $389 million for AFRICOM, which is expected to become fully operational on Oct. 1 at its Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters. But last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on defense recommended providing only $80.6 million in funding — 80 percent less than was requested, according to Matthew Mazonkey, communications director for Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the subcommittee chairman. "The subcommittee has provided $80.6 million to...

...It wasn’t the first time American air or naval forces had attacked enemy positions in Somalia. It was the fourth such attack in 14 months on the lawless West African nation: a result of the increasing expansion of Islamic extremism onto the African continent. Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the operation. What is known is that the attacks were probably made with either surface or submarine-launched cruise missiles. The targeted house was in the town of Dhoobley (Dobley), a few miles from the Kenyan border. The targeted individuals were considered high value, and -- according to one of my sources...

via translation- ALERT - Somalia: US aircraft bombed a city, four civilians killed MOGADISCIO - The United States aircraft bombed during the night from Sunday to Monday a city held by Somali Islamists, near the Kenyan border, killing at least four civilians, it was learned from chiefs.

Earlier this month, by coincidence, as President George W. Bush made the announcement in Washington that the United States Department of Defense would be establishing a unified combatant command for Africa (see my column last week on the new structure, to be known by the acronym AFRICOM), the deputy commander of the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), Army General William E. "Kip" Ward, was sitting down in Dakar, Senegal, with the military chiefs of nine African countries who have been key partners in the effort to prevent the efforts of Islamist militants from turning the their subregion into the next front...