Tag: AFRICOM

Africa–“We Are Here To Help”

The Great War on Terror!

The ‘Dark Continent’…..after 9/11 the US started go around the world make others line up for a great War on Terrorism…..another of those waste of money like that multi-generational waste known as the War on Drugs.

Africa was no different the US started throwing money and manpower at the countries in Africa….

Throwing money?

Yes to the tune of a trillion dollars…..The State Department provides nearly $280 million of funding for Africa counterterrorism efforts each year. Additionally, the Department of Defense spends at least $500 million a year for counterterrorism efforts in the area.

What was the result of our money spent on this War on Terror?

I wrote about the situation in Africa a couple of months ago….

Is Africa A Failure?

But if you are too busy or lazy to check it out I will go on….

Deaths from terrorism in Africa have skyrocketed more than 100,000 percent during the U.S. war on terror according to a new study by Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Pentagon research institution. These findings contradict claims by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) that it is thwarting terrorist threats on the continent and promoting security and stability.

Throughout all of Africa, the State Department counted a total of just nine terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2003, resulting in a combined 23 casualties. At that time, the U.S. was just beginning a decades-long effort to provide billions of dollars in security assistance, train many thousands of African military personnel, set up dozens of outposts, dispatch its own commandos on a wide range of missions, create proxy forces, launch drone strikes, and even engage in ground combat with militants in Africa.

Most Americans, including members of Congress, are unaware of the extent of these operations — or how little they have done to protect African lives.

Last year, fatalities from militant Islamist violence in Africa rose by 20 percent — from 19,412 in 2022 to 23,322 — reaching “a record level of lethal violence,” according to the Africa Center. This represents almost a doubling in deaths since 2021 and a 101,300 percent jump since 2002-2003.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/africa-terrorism/

Someone tell me if that is money well spent?

Once again the US has made things worse trying to extend our hegemony over Africa….this is a reoccurring nightmare for most of the 3rd world…..’we are here to help’ seldom does anything near help.

Profits are killing Africans.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Secrets The Dead Reveal

I once heard a major say that the “dead reveal their secrets”….he was referring to the Viet Cong that been killed and the intel that was garnered off their bodies…..but the same could be said for many other dead….like those Americans killed around the world or more specific in Africa…..

Because of American dead we learned that we have troops operating in countries like Niger and Mali to mention only a few……in Niger we had 4 Americans killed in an ambush and in Mali we had friendly killing friendly…..

Further Reading:

https://lobotero.com/2017/10/27/what-are-u-s-forces-doing-in-niger-anyway/

https://lobotero.com/2018/11/07/suspicious-death-in-mali/

As the Pentagon was in the midst of reviewing new plans for special operations missions in Africa reducing overall troop numbers on the continent, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis designated three new named contingency operations.

The most recent quarterly report from the Department of Defense Inspector General notes the creation of Operation Yukon Journey, a counterinsurgency operation, and counterterrorism operations in both northwest and east Africa.

Those were named in February, according to the report. The report covered activities in Operations Inherent Resolve from July to September.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/11/06/report-reveals-few-details-about-new-named-contingency-operations-in-africa/

Another report is out and it looks like AFRICOM will be losing some of its operating overhead…..

The Pentagon is mulling plans to wind down special operations missions on the African continent and reassign troops to other, more in-demand regions.

The plans, submitted by a top U.S. military commander, align with the Trump administration’s strategy to focus on near-peer threats from countries like China and Russia.

“No decision has been officially made regarding the U.S. counterrorism forces operating in Africa,” a Pentagon press official told Military Times. “In light of the [2018 National Defense Strategy’s] updated priorities, the [DoD] is reviewing plans, operations, and military investments across the globe to develop the best options that address the evolving threat to U.S. national interests.”

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/08/02/report-africom-looks-to-cut-special-ops-missions-pull-out-hundreds-of-troops-from-africa/

I for one would like to see more of our troops return home…..we already have enough wars we are fighting why look for more?

Revisit The “Dark Continent”

I have written about the ever expanding special ops in Africa….not just a few countries I mean the whole damn continent.

https://lobotero.com/2016/07/13/africa-the-dark-continent/

As I said “the ever expanding” role of US Special Ops in Africa….

Around 200,000 US troops are stationed in 177 countries throughout the world. Those forces utilize several hundred military installations. Africa is no exemption. On August 2, Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier took command of US Army Africa, promising to “hit the ground running.”

The US is not waging any wars in Africa but it has a significant presence on the continent. Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other special ops are currently conducting nearly 100 missions across 20 African countries at any given time, waging secret, limited-scale operations. According to the magazine Vice, US troops are now conducting 3,500 exercises and military engagements throughout Africa per year, an average of 10 per day — an astounding 1,900% increase since the command rolled out 10 years ago. Many activities described as “advise and assist” are actually indistinguishable from combat by any basic definition.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/08/30/us-military-presence-in-africa-all-over-continent-still-expanding.html

Writers like myself try to keep people informed on how the US military is being used (or should that be “misused”)….mostly without their permission (that means elected official is not authorizing these wars of attrition)……

It hardly matters where you look. There are the nearly million-and-a-half weapons that the Pentagon shipped to war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. As a recent study shows, it evidently lost complete track of hundreds of thousands of them, many of which seem to have simply gone on the open market in countries where buyers are unlikely to be the crew of our dreams. Or there’s the $6.5 trillion (that is not a misprint) that the accountants for a single service, the U.S. Army, seem to have lost track of in 2015. Or there’s the simple fact that the Pentagon is utterly incapable of conducting a successful audit of itself or, on a minor note, that its officials can’t even keep track of which of their underlings go to strip clubs, “adult entertainment establishments,” and casinos on the taxpayer dollar. You could say that, though it swallows up at least $600 billion-plus a year of our money, it’s an organization that seems remarkably comfortable knowing remarkably little about itself (which means of course that you know next to nothing about it).

http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2016/09/06/mission-impossible-keeping-track-us-special-ops-africa/

The point is the more places and troops deployed the better the chances are that someone will be killed……and that needs to be controlled by the representative bodies….as it is today…they are not!

Somebody Screwed Up

I wrote several posts about the deaths of 4 special ops troopers in the West African nation of Niger…..(in case you have not been watching this situation)…….

https://lobotero.com/2017/10/30/niger-wtf/

https://lobotero.com/2017/10/27/niger-more-news-more-questions/

https://lobotero.com/2017/11/20/deaths-in-niger-update/

Finally more info aboiut this attack and the deaths…..but as usual the Pentagon states the obvious……

The deaths of eight soldiers, including four U.S. soldiers, in Niger in early October could have been prevented and were the result of an improperly executed mission to collect information on high-ranking Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, a new report claims.

Sources told BuzzFeed News that the deaths at the village of Tongo Tongo could have been avoided if the mission was better planned and that it is not known whether decisions were made by the soldiers or their commanders back at the base.

http://thehill.com/policy/international/364095-deaths-of-american-soldiers-in-niger-were-avoidable-report

Someone screwed up.  Seriously?  That is the best the Pentagon can do….stating the obvious is not “getting to the bottom” of this situation.

Closing Thought–05Dec17

I had written about the death of a Green Beret at he hands of 2 SEALs in Mali…..read my two posts….

https://lobotero.com/2017/10/31/usafricom-wtf/

https://lobotero.com/2017/11/13/death-in-mali/

Sorry to say there is not much more info about this man death….but there was another article written about his situation recently…….

The family of Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar laid him to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on November 20, five months after his mysterious death during a secret assignment in Africa.

A medical examiner said Melgar was strangled to death, but the most striking thing about the case isn’t that a 34-year-old member of the Army’s Special Forces was killed overseas. It’s that two men under investigation are members of SEAL Team 6, arguably the most revered unit in the entire US military.

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/11/27/16666096/navy-army-seals-homicide-mali

If this report is true then what the Hell is going on in AFRICOM?  What kinda of military is this where Americans are killing Americans?

AS more is released I will be keeping my readers up to date.

I am a bit ashamed that these post have not gotten more attention from my readers…..it will not go away if you ignore it because I will  never let it go until the whole story is told.

Have a good evening….and look for me tomorrow….I will be back…..chuq

When Is A Scandal Not A Scandal?

The newest scandal in DC proper is the one all the world is talking about…..the sex parties at the DEA…..not the ones from a couple of years ago but no…..we have new ones….it is so tacky that the head of the DEA has had to resign………

The embattled head of the Drug Enforcement Administration says she plans to retire after three decades with the agency. The announcement came amid mounting pressure for her resignation from members of Congress who questioned her handling of misconduct allegations against agents. Michele Leonhart, a career drug agent who has led the agency since 2007 and was the second woman to hold the job, had been widely criticized for her response to a scathing government watchdog report detailing allegations that agents attended sex parties with prostitutes in a foreign country. After Leonhart appeared before the House Oversight Committee last week to respond to an inspector general’s allegations that the agents had received lenient punishments, a bipartisan group of lawmakers issued a statement saying they had lost confidence in her. Leonhart will leave the agency next month, Attorney General Eric Holder said in announcing her retirement. “Michele has led this distinguished agency with honor, and I have been proud to call her my partner in the work of safeguarding our national security and protecting our citizens from crime, exploitation, and abuse,” he said, crediting her with helping dismantle violent drug-trafficking organizations.

These people need to be scrutinized closely…..but while the Congress is having their field day…..I suggest that they continue to look for these violations …….

You see the military command in Africa is falling through the cracks while the politicians go for the red meat….the easy kill…….

Read it for yourself and then you decide……

 

AFRICOM Behaving Badly by Tom Engelhardt — Antiwar.com.

Out Of Africa

Nope not some Meryl Streep movie that the world will fall in love…..
Recently our president held a summit of the major leaders of Africa…..it is about investment and trade….but Obama has asked for an extra $550 million for Africa….but for what you may ask……

But first let’s look at our attempt to “help” Africa with security and crisis management…..it is called AFRICOM……..I’ll bet that most Americans are sitting there reading this and going….HUH?

The US saw a need for a presence of the US in Africa and went about forming a military command to deal with any situation that appeared on the continent…..Africa has been the way it is for centuries but now we need to be there ….why is that?

Glad you asked!

Is it really for a response to say a crisis or is it there to protect corporate interests?

I bring this all up for one reason…..an announcement during the summit of African leaders…..

President Obama has unveiled a five-year $550 million “rapid response force” plan for Africa today, during the third day of a summit with African heads of state in Washington.

The program is to begin this year with an initial $65 million in military subsidies to African Union member nations Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Tunisia.

The plan will eventually expand to include other AU member nations and will cost $110 million annually, with hopes of increasing their military capacity for launching AU and UN “peacekeeping” missions.

It appears that the new plan is to scrap AFRICOM and go with throwing money at countries to handle their own situations.  So in 2006 the formation of AFRICOM was announced and then activated as a functioning entity in 2008….their mission statement was thus……

The United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.

U.S. Africa Command supports American national security interests by conducting a wide range of programs and activities that help African states—at their request—meet their goals of building capable and professional militaries that are subordinate to civilian authority, respect human rights, and adhere to the rule of law.

I give you this limited look at the newest military command because….first you need to know and second that after less than six years it is to be scrapped!  It seems the Obama foreign policy machine has a better idea……silly right?

I understand that our country is at a crash point….we need to cut spending and try and get a grip on the debt…..but is this a good idea to help that attempt?

We spent millions to establish this commend and now we will scrap the whole program and just give money to saiud countries to help in their “rapid responses” to dire situations.

I would say that about half the countries in Africa have corrupt politicians and we are about to hand them the keys to the bank.  I ask is this really a good idea?  And just how will this save the country money?  We are still throwing money at a problem….money that will not be spent on any situation but rather find its way into a secr4et bank account somewhere in the Caymans…….

We really need to find NEW thinking in our foreign policy!