U.S. sends more troops to Pentagon Africa Command

With little fanfare or publicity the U.S. is increasing its military presence in Africa to project U.S. power throughout the continent. A brigade of U.S. troops is being assigned to the Africa Command.

The troops will spread out through many countries. They will train local forces and also participate in military exercises. No doubt there will be special forces active in the background as well as in countries such as Mali where a U.S. trained captain successfully overthrew the elected president. He later negotiated a return to a civilian government but gained influence in that government as well.

Often the regimes where there will be training and military exercises are undemocratic. Instead of direct occupation to project power there will be a shadow war often using proxy militias to ensure that the U.S. retains influence. Not only will the training form bonds with the U.S. military but also the U.S. will supply military equipment making the security forces dependent upon the U.S. as well.

The Pentagon Africa Command now trains and equips armed forces in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal and several other countries. The ubiquitous war on terror is often part of the justification. These missions prevent terrorist from establishing sanctuaries. However, militancy seems to be spreading rather than receding in many areas. Often U.S. intervention spawns more radical militancy as happened in Somalia.

General Odierno says the plan is “part of a new effort to provide U.S. commanders around the globe with troops on a rotational basis to meet the military needs of their regions,” Odierno forgot to specifically mention the supposed terrorist threat to the U.S. Within the U.S. there is virtually no discussion of this military expansion and no debate about the deployment in the U.S. Congress. For more see this article. or here.