Top General Looking To Expand War-On-Terror Capabilities In Africa

And he said that while a number of Special Operations forces are trained in African languages and cultures, the military is not moving fast enough to provide similar training to other troops.

Al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups in Yemen and Africa have increasingly targeted Western interests, with al-Shabab in Somalia luring Somali-Americans home for terror training in hopes of sending them back to the U.S. to wage attacks.

U.S. officials have acknowledged that Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula poses the most immediate threat for smaller, less sophisticated terror attacks within the U.S. AQAP leaders in Yemen have been linked to the failed Christmas Day airliner attack and the recent foiled plot to mail bombs hidden inside computer printer cartridges from Yemen to the U.S.

Militants regularly travel back and forth between Yemen and Somalia.

There is a lot of concern, said Republican Sen. George LeMieux of Florida, about the increase in communications between al-Shabab and AQAP, and "the fact that they may be recruiting folks through Yemen and training them in Somalia."

Much of the U.S. military has been tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, but as those wars wind down and troops become available Ham said more should be trained in African languages and cultures.

"The extremist threat that's emerging from East Africa is probably the greatest concern that Africa Command will face in the near future," Ham told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday, during a hearing on his nomination.

Senators called the challenges facing Africa Command staggering and said it was imperative the command get what it needs to counter terror threats, including personnel, funding, equipment, as well as intelligence and surveillance assistance.

Ham said that he also wants to work with the Pentagon's Southern Command to try and stem the illicit drug trafficking that routes narcotics from South America through West Africa and into Europe. He suggested the military could help stem the flow of drugs through maritime operations along Africa's coast.

The U.S. military currently has a base at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.

___

Online:

US Africa Command: http://www.africom.mil/

Comments

[1776 or 1984]

08:34 AM on 11/19/2010

This story got buried asap - just like the story announcing the Empire will soon send Legionnaires to garrison oil-rich Yemen.

I don't trust political sites who have oil, wall street and military ads running nonstop (like the Sunday talk shows, NPR and now this site- look at all of the shell, chevron and GE ads on this site).

"Bought and brought to you by..."

[rsaillant1]

06:33 AM on 11/19/2010

Our military showing us how to do "job creation."

All it takes is one General in full regalia, seated before some
congressional commission, projecting the image of AlQueda,
drug overloards and....voila, funding for more troops, more tanks
more planes and trucks, more humvees and more bullets. Jobs.

The military/industrial complex will sleeep well tonight.

Me, not-so-much.

[Brad Majors]

05:45 AM on 11/19/2010

It would be easier if he just said..

Somalia has untapped reserves of uranium, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt and natural gas that America needs to secure and control for US Corporations.

[1776 or 1984]

06:38 AM on 11/19/2010

Before Somalia descended into chaos under elder Bush's reign, the northern region (across the straits from Yemen) had huge oil potential - - and US oil companies had gotten the rights to them.

Do you really think Bush 41 sent troops to Somalia in his last month of office to feed Africans?

LOL, read my Ali Mohamed post a page or two back. Ali trained Somali cells to take on the US military -- and Ali also worked had worked for the US Special Forces, C I A, F B I, and even defense company Northrup-Grumman. This war-on-terr0r narrative's goal is, in large part, a grab for the worlds black gold of the Mid-East. Empire's oldest motive - profit and power.

[Brad Majors]

07:44 AM on 11/19/2010

Sadly I worked on the muscle end of US Foreign Policy for many years and have first hand knowledge of people like Ali Mohamed.

[BARRISTER]

05:34 AM on 11/19/2010

Every Empire in History was lead down the path of inevitable collapse by its Military ambitions. So go we!

[haanel]

05:20 AM on 11/19/2010

Could it be that the US is planning some kind of substitute economic war against China?
The war on terror has never made any sense, talking up the pirates in Somalia as global threats neither. But positioning armies in the middle of Asia, something unthinkable during the Cold war and next to China's access to minerals and oil in Africa makes complete military sense if you are American. This means bombing yourself out of an economic crisis and fighting of China. Not sure if I am right, open to contemplation though...

[Egor Hayes]

05:01 AM on 11/19/2010

It's time to cut the Pentagon's $550 billion per year budget. These Generals obviously

have too much money and too much time on their hands planing America's next military

adventure.

[Egor Hayes]

04:50 AM on 11/19/2010

"Civilians can scarcely understand or even believe that many ambitious military professionals truly yearn for wars and the opportunities for glory and distinction afforded only in combat. A career of peacetime duty is a dull and frustrating prospect for the normal regular officer to contemplate.... Wars and emergencies put the military and their leaders on the front pages and give status and prestige to the professionals. Wars add to the military traditions, the self-nourishment of heroic deeds, and provide a new crop of military leaders who become the rededicated disciples of the code of service and military action. Being recognized public figures in a nation always seeking folk heroes, the military leaders have been largely exempt from the criticism experienced by the more plebeian politician. Flag officers are considered 'experts,' and their views are often accepted by the press and Congress as the gospel.... Standing closely behind these leaders, encouraging and prompting them, are the rich and powerful defense industries. Standing in front, adorned with service caps, ribbons, and lapel emblems, is a nation of veterans -- patriotic, belligerent, romantic, and well intentioned, finding a certain sublimation and excitement in their country’s latest military venture." --David Shoup, former Commandant of the Marine Corps and member of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, "The New American Militarism," The Atlantic, April 1969

[Egor Hayes]

04:49 AM on 11/19/2010

"At some level of the government, at some point in time ... there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened [on 9/11]." --John Farmer, Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission and Attorney General of New Jersey

"If I had to narrow it down to one person ... I think my prime suspect [in the 9/11 attacks] would be Diick Cheney." --Dr. Robert Bowman, Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech, former U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and Director of Advanced Space Programs Development for the U.S. Air Force in the Ford and Carter administrations

[hottingers]

04:30 AM on 11/19/2010

I think we should privatize our wars but the companies don't get paid until they win.

[Egor Hayes]

04:58 AM on 11/19/2010

I think we should stop funding the Empire builders and warmongers.

[acudoc]

03:21 AM on 11/19/2010

I wish this guy with all the medals would go out and get a real job.

We're not in enough trouble domestically and internationally already? Let's print a few more trillion dollars so this American general, who will retire in a few short years with an obscene pension, can commit this nation to the policing of Africa.

Is this the Twilight Zone or what?

In a related note---but requiring the pursuit of some logic chains of economic thought---

Crash JP Morgan---buy and take possession of silver! Bring down the banks to end America's over-extended imperial military adventures and return us to a republican form of government. Do it for your children.

[FZliveson]

02:59 AM on 11/19/2010

When I was in college there was a bumper sticker, a badge and many posters that said;

"What if they gave a War and Nobody Came?"

Unless they can get private contractors, I hope they get neither volunteers nor funds so that slogan can see daylight 42 years after its birth.

[alinseatac]

02:13 AM on 11/19/2010

What about those islands off the coast of Argentina, maybe we better have another look at those. Only to protect our allies of course.

[pierre F Lherisson]

01:59 AM on 11/19/2010

Africa is a wrong address to expand that Pyrrhic War. Stop the genocide.

[mousse69]

01:21 AM on 11/19/2010

Come on people, you know very well the conditions in which terrorism spreads. Africa has been on the radar for years as has yemen. Because of the Iraq and aghanistan wars, we are playing a global game of whack-a-cell with an amorphous group of radicals who can operate anywhere independently of central leadership. Once the poor, zealous, and marginal saw Iraq and Afpak as the face of the new crusade, the motivation for terror could not be contained. Now we are faced with killing the people with this idea in africa (including americans!) or we wipe out the underlying rational for terror.

[giantspaceship]

02:01 AM on 11/19/2010

Bollocks ...the war on terror is a fraud ...tell me how the "underwear bomber" got on a plane without a passport ?
And them tell me how increasing "scans" at airports in America stops "underwear bomber"s boarding planes overseas .

[Brad Majors]

05:52 AM on 11/19/2010

BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

How to become a Terrorist and Enemy of America in 1 easy step...

Refuse to do business with US Corporations.

Every Country that is a so-called enemy or threat to America REFUSES to play ball with Amer

[Core-Sample]

01:15 AM on 11/19/2010

It's job security