Crossed Crocodiles

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Africom's mission

b real, in the comments, points me to this article about the possibility of Liberia hosting Africom HQ. It includes the following sentence:

The new command’s main mission will be to stabilize weak or poor countries by training the local security forces and providing humanitarian aid.


When I read it I see some things have been left out. These omissions are part of Bush/Cheney's standard operating approach to the world, but they've been around since before Bush/Cheney. "The new command’s main mission will be to stabilize weak or poor countries," or destabilize countries who may oppose or disagree with United States oil interests and intentions. And "training the local security forces" brings the notorious School of the Americas to mind, which has helped bring so much peace and security to Central and South America in the form of coups, torture, and destabilization.

Labels: , , , ,

posted by Crossed Crocodiles at 6/27/2007 12:07:00 AM

2 Comments:

  • here's a good opinion piece from tuesday that ran in johannesburg's business day trying to raise awareness of south africans as to the looming situation. it's a message that needs to be addressed by african's across the continent.

    Africa: Scramble for a Response
    Ultimately, it would be prudent for advocates of African development to recognise that both countries [the U.S & China] are on the continent to advance their own national interest, and harbouring illusions to the contrary will result only in future disappointment.
    ...
    What then can be done? A collective African response can be the only solution .
    ...
    ..there is an urgent need to try to develop a continental African response. The failure to develop one would have serious consequences for Africa and undermine all of the significant achievements of the past decade. Given this, should this not be the principal focus of SA in the AU summit starting later this month ? Should we not use this opportunity to focus African minds in a realistic attempt to develop a collective African response to a developing continental threat?


    one of the many things that anyone who believes that AFRICOM would help african nations for the benefit of africans needs to pay closer attention to what is actually being said & then to think more clearly.

    here's one clue from ryan henry, u.s. principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, in a recent briefing (where he explains how the latest pentagon trip to africa discussing AFRICOM was successful & met no strong resistance -- despite contrary reports & stmts from the govts visited)

    Again, who Africans should look for their security needs are their own nations. They have a security structure that they're building with the African Union and the five regional components of the African unit (sic). And AFRICOM would look to support them in their success of building that capability. But they should not look to the United States for the solution to their security problems.

    and one more remark he made, one that strikes closer to the truth than perhaps was intended,

    The one time that we can possibly see U.S. troops participating on the African continent is in support of a humanitarian disaster...

    (keep up the great blogging & thanks for the kind words)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:15 AM, June 27, 2007  

  • It would be nice if African countries, or the AU, could play both China and the US the way China has been playing the US for the last 6 years. Unfortunately I don't think the unity of purpose is there yet.

    I would be delighted if the US and African countries could work together for mutual benefit. Unfortunately the US seems to have lost its sense of the common good, internally and externally. And Africa is a lot of different countries and peoples.

    By Blogger Crossed Crocodiles, at 10:30 PM, June 27, 2007  

Post a Comment

<< Home