{"id":22882,"date":"2012-11-12T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=22882"},"modified":"2012-11-07T13:33:32","modified_gmt":"2012-11-07T13:33:32","slug":"bad-news-for-africa-3000-more-u-s-soldiers-are-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/11\/bad-news-for-africa-3000-more-u-s-soldiers-are-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad News for Africa: 3,000 More U.S. Soldiers Are on the Way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Obvious Mission Is to Lock Down the Entire Continent <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>31 Oct 2012 &#8211; The United States plans to permanently station a U.S. Army brigade on African soil, beginning next year. Is this the start of something big \u2013 and ominous \u2013 or \u201conly a benign creeping U.S. military presence in Africa?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When President Obama deployed 100 U.S. troops to Uganda a year ago to conduct a mythical search for Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord\u2019s Resistance Army, it is likely that many people shrugged. After all, how much damage could a mere 100 soldiers cause while wandering aimlessly through the bush purportedly in search of an accused terrorist? But as with the proverbial observer who can\u2019t see the forest for the trees, a broader view reveals the deadly implications of what many incorrectly perceive as only a benign creeping U.S. military presence in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Army Times news service reported that the U.S. is expected to deploy more than 3,000 soldiers to Africa in 2013. They will be assigned to every part of the continent. Major General David R. Hogg mused: \u201cAs far as our mission goes, it\u2019s uncharted territory.\u201d But the presence of U.S. soldiers in Africa is nothing new, and even though Hogg is unwilling to admit it, the obvious mission is to lock down the entire continent.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. military has at least a dozen ongoing major operations in Africa that require hands-on involvement by U.S. troops. By ensuring that U.S. troops will be found in every corner of Africa, there will be little risk that any regions where U.S. interests are threatened will be left uncovered. For example, Mali has oil reserves and is strategically located, but it has been destabilized by a growing secessionist movement in the north. Conveniently, Mali has also been the site of a U.S. military exercise called \u201cAtlas Accord 12\u201d which provided training to Mali\u2019s military in aerial delivery.<\/p>\n<p>During this year, there have been other operations in other parts of the continent that were comparable in scale if not in substance.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cCutlass Express\u201d was a U.S. naval exercise that focused on what is purported to be \u201cpiracy\u201d in the Somali Basin region.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cAfrica Endeavor 2012\u201d was based in Cameroon and involved coordination and training in military communications.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cObangame Express 2012\u201d was a naval exercise designed to ensure a presence in the Gulf of Guinea, an area that is in the heart of West Africa\u2019s oil operations.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cSouthern Accord 12\u201d was based in Botswana and its objective was to establish a military working relationship between southern African military forces and the U.S.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWestern Accord 2012\u201d was an exercise in Senegal that involved every type of military operation from live fire exercises to intelligence gathering to combat marksmanship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There have been a number of other comparable exercises with names like: \u201cAfrican Lion,\u201d \u201cFlintlock,\u201d and \u201cPhoenix Express.\u201d In addition, U.S. National Guard units from around the country have been rotating in and out of countries that include, among others: South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Tunisia, Nigeria and Liberia.<\/p>\n<p>Press statements issued by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) suggest that these operations are as beneficial to Africa as they are to the United States. AFRICOM\u2019s central message is that the U.S. and African militaries are partners in a war against terrorism and other forms of unrest. It is, however an error for any African country to swallow the notion that Africa and the U.S. are in some way interdependent. The true nature of the relationship was explained by A.M. Babu, a central figure in the formation of the country of Tanzania. He said: \u201cThe alleged \u2018interdependence\u2019 can only be of the kind in which we (Africans) are permanently dependent on the West\u2019s massive exploitation of our human and material resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>U.S. plans for exploitation are revealed by a Congressional Research Service report made available by WikiLeaks. It says: \u201cIn spite of conflict in the Niger Delta and other oil producing areas, the potential for deep water drilling in the Gulf of Guinea is high, and analysts estimate that Africa may supply as much as 25 percent of all U.S. oil imports by 2015.\u201d The document quotes a U.S. Defense Department official as saying: \u201c\u2026a key mission for U.S. forces (in Africa) would be to ensure that Nigeria\u2019s oil fields\u2026are secure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, the U.S. would be pleased if there were African military operations that target militants who sabotage foreign oil operations in West Africa. At the same time, because of plans for increased oil imports, the U.S. would vigorously oppose efforts by an African military to exclude western companies from Niger Delta oil fields even though these companies\u2019 leaking pipelines have ruined countless acres of African farm land and fishing waters.<\/p>\n<p>The true interests of Africa and the U.S. are in perpetual conflict and the relationships between the U.S. and African countries must therefore be far from interdependent. Africans are well advised to react to the presence of U.S. soldiers in their countries as they would to termites in their own homes. There might be no immediate observable harm, but over time the structure will be irreparably damaged and may even collapse.<\/p>\n<p>_________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Mark P. Fancher is an attorney who writes frequently about the U.S. military presence in Africa. He can be reached at mfancher@comcast.net<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/worldmathaba.net\/items\/1942-bad-news-for-africa-3-000-more-u-s-soldiers-are-on-the-way\" >Go to Original \u2013 worldmathaba.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Obvious Mission Is to Lock Down the Entire Continent &#8211; 31 Oct 2012-The United States plans to permanently station a U.S. Army brigade on African soil, beginning next year [2013]. Is this the start of something big \u2013 and ominous \u2013 or \u201conly a benign creeping U.S. military presence in Africa?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}