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| North Africa |
| Pentagon Seeking New Access Pacts for Africa Bases |
| 2003-07-05 |
| NY TIMES Reg rqrd WASHINGTON, July 4 — The United States military is seeking to expand its presence in the Arab countries of northern Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa through new basing agreements and training exercises intended to combat a growing terrorist threat in the region.Look out Qadhafi - we'll be knockin onthe door.. Even as military planners prepare options for American troops to join an international peacekeeping force to oversee a cease-fire in Liberia, the Pentagon wants to enhance military ties with allies like Morocco and Tunisia. It is also seeking to gain long-term access to bases in countries like Mali and Algeria, which American forces could use for periodic training or to strike terrorists. And it aims to build on aircraft refueling agreements in places like Senegal and Uganda, two countries that President Bush is to visit on his five-nation swing through Africa that begins on Tuesday. There are no plans to build permanent American bases in Africa, Defense Department officials say. Instead, the United States European Command, which oversees military operations in most of Africa, wants troops now in Europe to rotate more frequently into bare-bones camps or airfieldsPermanent rotations- kinda like all the SW Asia bases in Africa. Marines may spend more time sailing off the West African coast. This fall the command will send trainers to work with soldiers from four North African nations on patrolling and gathering intelligence. Some plans are still on the drawing board and will need the approval of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld or his top aides. But other military initiatives in Africa are already under way or will soon begin.Meaninf - we're already in plce ! Since late last year, for example, more than 1,800 members of the American military have been placed in Djibouti to conduct counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa. The military's commitment and costs in Africa would still be low compared with missions in the Persian Gulf or Korean Peninsula, but commanders say emerging threats require the Pentagon to pay more attention to the continent. "Africa, as can be seen by recent events, is certainly a growing problem," Gen. James L. Jones of the Marine Corps, the head of the European Command, said in an interview this week. "As we pursue the global war on terrorism," the general said, "we're going to have to go where the terrorists areand wipe them out like cancerous cells. And we're seeing some evidence, at least preliminary, that more and more of these large uncontrolled, ungoverned areas are going to be potential havens for that kind of activity." United States military and intelligence officials say vast swaths of the Sahara, from Mauritania in the west to Sudan in the east, which have been smuggling routes for centuries, are becoming areas of choice for terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda. Not sure how deep we want to get there - but better be enough force to search and destroy terroist networks as well as peacekeeping duites - I suggest we separate the functions, mainly MPs and fire support for peacekeeping, snake eating terrorist busters for the rest! |
| Posted by:Fiddler |