Abayomi Azikiwe
The 4ht Media
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Obama administration’s second term escalates militarism throughout the continent
On December 24, the Obama administration revealed plans to deploy 3,500
troops to nearly three dozen African states to purportedly address a
looming “al-Qaeda threat.” The soldiers being dispatched are part of the
2nd Brigade’s Heavy Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division based in
Fort Riley, Kansas.
Official reports indicate that the Pentagon forces will operate
in small units in conjunction with various governments including
Libya, Somalia, Niger, Mali and others. Gen. Carter L. Ham, Commander of
the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) made it appear as if this is a
new initiative on the part of Washington, yet it is a continuation of
the ongoing policy that has accelerated under the current administration.
A key figure in this project which the administration says will
begin in March, is Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who has served as the
Commanding General, III Corps, in addition to later heading the
Multi-National Force during the later years of the Iraq occupation.
According to reports emanating from the White House, the military teams
will only be involved in training and equipping efforts and cannot engage in direct military combat operations.
In a recent interview Gen. Odierno said “It’s about us moving
towards a scalable, tailorable capability that helps them to shape
the environment they’re working in, doing a variety of tasks from
building partner capability to engagement, to multilateral training
to bilateral training to actual deployment of forces, if
necessary.” Odierno mentions that the idea for this type of mission came
to him while he was commanding U.S. and allied forces in Iraq, an
overall operation that lasted for nearly nine years. (Washington
Times, December 23)
Despite the claims that this is merely a training operation
carried out in conjunction with various African states, the mission,
according to Odierno, will represent a different military orientation
toward the continent. He claims that “In the past, we just said, ‘Hey,
if you need us, call us and we’ll be there,’ but now it’s much more
specific.. It’s much more detailed, which gives more confidence to the
combatant commanders that, in fact, the people they get will understand
their area, will be understanding of the culture, of the physical
terrain, of the virtual terrain, of the human terrain that they’ll have
to operate in. I think that makes a big difference.”
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