"The African Front In The Neocon War On Terror"

The U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon's first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, launches Wednesday amid questions at home about its mission and deep suspicions in Africa about its intentions.

U.S. officials have billed the new command, known as Africom, as a sign of Africa's strategic importance, but many in Africa see it as an unwelcome expansion of the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a bid to secure greater access to the continent's vast oil resources. Several countries have refused to host the command, and officials say Africom will be based in Stuttgart, Germany , for the foreseeable future.

U.S.-based aid groups and some in Congress have expressed worries that Africom will tilt U.S policy in Africa away from democracy-building and economic development and toward security objectives such as stemming the growth of militant Islamist groups in Somalia and North Africa , some of which have ties to al Qaida .

U.S. covert operations in Somalia and elsewhere have fueled the controversy. In late 2006, the U.S. military provided intelligence to help Ethiopia topple a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Somalia , an invasion that's fueled a violent Islamist insurgency.

U.S. forces have since launched several strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Somalia . While one of the strikes killed a top militant commander, Aden Hashi Ayro , in May, Somalis say the attacks also killed and badly wounded civilians.

Underlining the skepticism in Washington , the House of Representatives voted last week to provide $266 million to fund Africom's first year of operations — $123 million less than President Bush had requested. The House Appropriations Committee said the reduction was due partly to "the failure to establish an Africom presence on the continent."

The fledgling command's image problem, at home and abroad, is cause for concern because of Africa's growing importance to the United States .

The Department of Energy says that 17 percent of U.S. crude oil imports now come from Africa , more than the U.S. gets from Persian Gulf countries. But rising powers such as China have strengthened their ties with Africa and become a powerful counterweight to American influence.

Pentagon officials reject claims that Africom is about oil or China , but those perceptions remain strong in Africa .

After Bush announced the creation of Africom in February 2007 , the Pentagon began issuing mixed messages about its mission, with some officials suggesting that the new command would help "coordinate" U.S. policy in the region. Experts immediately questioned whether U.S. troops would participate in humanitarian programs and other non-combat operations that have long been run by the State Department and U.S. embassies.

Pentagon officials have acknowledged mistakes in marketing Africom, and they no longer list humanitarian projects as part of its mission. Instead, they say that Africom will support other U.S. government agencies and focus on helping bolster African militaries.

"Africom will support, not shape, U.S. foreign policy on the continent," Teresa Whelan , Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, told a congressional hearing in July.

(Quote From The Biden-Palin VP Debate By Democratic Senator Joe Biden)

I don't have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur. We can now impose a no-fly zone. It's within our capacity. We can lead NATO if we're willing to take a hard stand. We can, I've been in those camps in Chad. I've seen the suffering, thousands and tens of thousands have died and are dying. We should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own movement to provide the helicopters to get the 21,000 forces of the African Union in there now to stop this genocide.

Darfur,Sudan,Oil,America and China

Innocent Africans die in wars
while foreign oil industries
battle for regional oil contracts.

    While the national and world focus has been on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, the neoconservative, military-industrial complex has quietly been setting up a new front in the so called "War On Terror" in of all places on the continent of Africa. Under the pretense of concern about genocide and al-queda terrorist bases, the US Pentagon has established a new strategic command over Africa, called Africom. As I see it, this military intervention in Africa, particularly in Chad, Sudan and Darfur,  is all about oil. The 163 million dollars that the US Congress has already appropriated for Africom is just the beginning. Senator Joe Biden is already talking about sending military aid and troops into the region, ostensibly for humanitarian aid but in my opinion, the real reason is oil! (Please view the above very relevant You Tube video) If non-interventionism in the affairs of foreign countries is an important principle to you, then a vote for Barack Obama or John McCain is a vote against that principle. Look at Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin for a genuine anti-war, non-interventionist President in '08.  Now that would be change we can believe in!

tags: africa  darfur  sudan  chad  war  warpeace  war on terror  africom  bush  neocons  military industrial complex  oil  

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