ABC reports on SF in Northern Africa

[JCDenton]

World News Tonight did a special on a SF team training African commandos.

Picture gallery here:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/popup?id=1755773

Four videos here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1757154

Older article here:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/...1659256&page=1

Green Berets Train Mali Soldiers to Fight Terrorism
Guarding the Sahara Is Main Objective
By JONATHAN KARL

GAO, MALI, Feb. 24, 2006 — - A Mali soldier stationed at this Sahara crossroads showed me his rifle: a Chinese-made AK-47 with well-worn wooden handles manufactured in 1956. It looked more like an artifact than a weapon. He told me he only gets to fire it once a year during annual training exercises, as that's all the ammunition the Mali Army can spare.

The U.S. military has a long way to go in its efforts to train and equip these soldiers so that they can keep terrorists from transiting through the Sahara.

"It's difficult for the local military to get out there and patrol the borders just because it's a huge border and their budget's pretty small. So they need some assistance," said Capt. Eddie, the leader of a 12-man special forces A-Team that has spent two months in Gao working with Mali soldiers based here. To maintain anonymity, a special forces soldier can be identified publicly only by rank and first name.

Capt. Eddie's is the third special operations team the Pentagon has dispatched to Gao in the past three years. It's given many of these Mali soldiers the kind of training they've never had. Instead of once-a-year practice at the fire range, the Mali soldiers are going through daylong exercises and learning to use more advanced U.S. equipment. On Friday three of the Mali soldiers took part in a paratroop exercise, jumping out of a U.S. C-130 into the desert sands.

Helicopters to Supplement Camels

Mali isn't exactly a hotbed of terrorist activity, but when a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda took 32 Europeans hostage in 2003, it took them to Mali. After a reported ransom of $5 million was paid, the hostages were freed here in Gao. The leader of the terrorist group, Ammari Saifi, evaded capture in the lawless expanses of the Sahara for about a year before finally getting caught in Chad in early 2004.

The regional commander for the Mali army here, Maj. Salif Traore, said he was grateful for the U.S. effort. But he also said that to go after terrorists like Saifi, his troops would need something more: specifically, helicopters.

He said "it's very, very hard" to track terrorists in the vast, roadless areas of the Sahara that surround Gao. "We lack helicopters, and to my personal view this is the only means to be able to track them down," Traore said. The Mali army, however, does have camels. And in this area, a camel is sometimes the most reliable mode of on-the-ground transportation. Next week Traore plans to take the U.S. Army Special Forces team he's been working with out farther into the desert to work with Mali's Camel Corps. These Green Berets will learn a little about desert military training on camelback -- proving this training can work both ways.

[QRQ 30]

Been there since the beginning of time. Look at the Monrovia clip on firing positions and you will see the problem.

[Pete]

God, those pictures bring back memories..

There are many types of desert terrain between the green savannas of Africa and the Med. Hills, no hills, sand hills, rock hills, black hills, brown hills, tan hills, flat sand, rolling sand, fine sand, thick sand, hard packed sand, sand over a swamp, wadis and plenty of trails that go nowhere and disappear. And flies everywhere after you stop for a short time.

The people never change. Start from scratch every time you go over.

Pete

[Ambush Master]

The tail end of the first video says it all, when the reporter talks about building rapport and the indig soldier shakes hands and slaps the SF member on the shoulder and says "Thank you Brother!"!!! They understand!!

Later
Martin

[JCDenton]

Edit.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by JCDenton

I am assuming from this news piece that there is not an active insurgency or source of instability against the North African governments the SF is assisting. However, if the Sahara was considered "hostile territory" not controlled by the HN, but rather a hostile regime(s) and the indigenous military decided to attack said groups, would this operation be considered a FID or UW mission?

It is said that it is better to keep one's mouth closed and appear to be a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Reread your post and think about it.

TR

[Ambush Master]

Originally Posted by JCDenton

I am assuming from this news piece that there is not an active insurgency or source of instability against the North African governments the SF is assisting. However, if the Sahara was considered "hostile territory" not controlled by the HN, but rather a hostile regime(s) and the indigenous military decided to attack said groups, would this operation be considered a FID or UW mission?

You would do yourself a favor by concentrating on the 25M Target and not the Global Stage. What this is, if you decide to enter this line of work, will be explained to you in due time!! Without a member of the Team involved commenting or it's Command, none of us would know what the real mission encompassed. It was just a News Story.....

[zuluzerosix]

I thought it was a good news report. Thanks for doing what you do.

[Neo]

Great read and video.

[Airbornelawyer]

For more on the region and the issues at play:

"Political Islam in West Africa and the Sahel," Military Review, January-February 2006, http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/C...6/Laremont.pdf

"EUCOM Leader Calls Africa Global Strategic Imperative," American Forces Information Service, March 8, 2006, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2...0308_4428.html

GEN Jones' prepared statement referred to in the article above: http://armed-services.senate.gov/sta...2003-07-06.pdf

"New Counterterrorism Initiative to Focus on Saharan Africa," American Forces Information Service, May 16, 2005, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2...0516_1126.html

[S3Project]

Sirs,

I have uploaded a different Nightline - SF in Algeria video to my server. It's 5 minutes and 35 seconds long, 18.3 MB, .wmv format. A couple clips are the same.

http://www.jokeith.com/nightlinesf.wmv

(Right click, save target as)

Have a good day,

- Derek

[Kuri]

I appreciate the link! Thanks again.

Originally Posted by S3Project

Sirs,

I have uploaded a different Nightline - SF in Algeria video to my server. It's 5 minutes and 35 seconds long, 18.3 MB, .wmv format. A couple clips are the same.

http://www.jokeith.com/nightlinesf.wmv

(Right click, save target as)

Have a good day,

- Derek