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Page added on January 14, 2013
The War On Terror Spreads to Africa: U.S. Sending Troops to 35 African Nations
The U.S. is sending troops to 35 African nations under the guise of fighting Al Qaeda and related terrorists.
Democracy Now notes:
U.S. Army teams will be deploying to as many as 35 African countries early next year for training programs and other operations as part of an increased Pentagon role in Africa. The move would see small teams of U.S. troops dispatched to countries with groups allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, such as Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger. The teams are from a U.S. brigade that has the capability to use drones for military operations in Africa if granted permission. The deployment could also potentially lay the groundwork for future U.S. military intervention in Africa.
NPR reports:
[A special American brigade] will be able to take part in nearly 100 separate training and military exercises next year, in nearly three dozen African countries
Glenn Ford writes:
The 2nd Brigade is scheduled to hold more than 100 military exercises in 35 countries, most of which have no al-Qaida presence. So, although there is no doubt that the U.S. will be deeply involved in the impending military operation in Mali, the 2nd Brigade’s deployment is a much larger assignment, aimed at making all of Africa a theater of U.S. military operations. The situation in Mali is simply a convenient, after-the-fact rationale for a long-planned expansion of the U.S. military footprint in Africa.
Timothy Alexander Guzman argues:
AFRICOM’s [the U.S. military’s Africa command] goal is to eliminate China and other countries influence in the region. Africa’s natural resources is another important element to consider because it includes oil, diamonds, copper, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, bauxite, silver, petroleum, certain woods and tropical fruits.
In a must-watch interview, Dan Collins of the China Money Report agrees that the purpose of the deployment is to challenge China’s rising prominence in Africa:
In reality – as we’ve repeatedly noted – the U.S. sends in the military to fight “terrorists” in any country which has resources we want (and see this).
And the U.S. is not shy about backing our “mortal enemies” to topple those standing between us and resources we pine for.
Anthony Carlucci argues that the overthrow of Gaddafi (largely through American support of terrorists) was really the opening salvo in the war for African resources:
10 Comments on "The War On Terror Spreads to Africa: U.S. Sending Troops to 35 African Nations"
MrEnergyCzar on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 3:10 am
Isn’t this to counter China’s recent influence over resources in the Continent?
MrEnergyCzar
BillT on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 4:31 am
Will Us bases that now number over 1,000 become 2,000 in the near future? I doubt it. I think Africa will be the straw that broke the Empire’s back. That is a big, ungovernable place. There are 54 independently governed countries. Twice the number in the EU. Poverty, warlords, deserts to jungles, over 1,000,000,000 population, 2,000 different languages, etc.
Mike in Calif. on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 6:32 am
This is part of America’s “No Nation Left Behind” policy. Oh wait, I think I’m getting my federal programs mixed up…
Arthur on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 7:31 am
I am not aware of Africans ever having committed a collective act of terrorism. Obviously this is a scrable for resources and competition with China. The countdown to a new Fashoda incident (then between Britain and France), now between the West and China has begun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashoda_Incident
BillT on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 11:54 am
I wish I could remember the name of a new novel that is out or to be out this year. It shows the beginning of WW3 in Kenya. I think it is between China and the Us. I’ll have to research it and see when it will be available. Looks like fact may follow fiction.
Hugh Culliton on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 1:26 pm
Where the fuck was all this interest and concern back in ’94 when my boss, Romeo Dallaire was begging for just a reinforced company of the 1000 + USMC troops sitting on their butts by the American embassy in Sierra Leon? With a hundred first-rate troops in Rwanda in March 94, we could have prevented the entire genocide! Even after it started, the addition of a Marine platoon would have saved thousands. But no – Clinton and Albright made sure that nothing happened, and by May UNAMIR was up to it’s ass in bodies. Why? Oh wait…NO OIL! Well I hope the Chinese win this time! The West has been screwing them over long enough. Maybe the East will be better.
DC on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 5:05 pm
Amerikas War OF terror, African edition is well under-way….
Rick on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 7:26 pm
Americans are the terrorists. Off to Africa for the resources, before the Chinese take it all.
BTW, Max is great.
IanC on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 7:48 pm
Ramping up operations in Africa makes sense now that we’re looking to (mostly) exit Afganistan and Iraq. The American war machine and the profits for the suppliers must continue!
Arthur on Mon, 14th Jan 2013 9:32 pm
I do not expect Americans/Europeans not to defend their interests, if necessary in competition with the Chinese. What is so irritating about westerners is their hypocrasy: they say they want A, but what they mean is B. This war on terrorism is a phoney, vile deception, designed to invade a country at will on a pretext, rather than to do what the Chinese do, namely sit around the table with African leaders and see how both parties can come into business, without military action.