Africa command considered

[BMT (RIP)]

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=240458

BMT

[Team Sergeant]

No comment...

[lksteve]

"Rear Adm. Richard W. Hunt, the commander of Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, told civil affairs teams in July that they will have to win the “hearts and minds” of the embassies first."

why bother...? fighting our own political appointees should never be an issue...let the POTUS tell the State Department toadies to comply or die...

[jfhiller]

Originally Posted by lksteve

"let the POTUS tell the State Department toadies to comply or die...

+1

[x SF med]

+2

[Airbornelawyer]

“It would be a sign of a significant strategic shift in administration policy, reflecting the need to put more emphasis on proactive, preventative measures rather than maintaining a defensive posture designed for the Cold War.”

Someone has bureaucratic jargin down pat, but does this sentence actually say anything?

The creation of an African command would allow one unit to set U.S. military policy for the region and create a cadre of planners who understand the region and have relationships with the host nations and embassies.

OK, cleaning up those organizational charts is certainly a high priority.

I would think that the argument about whether to create a dedicated military command would be based on strategic considerations - where your interests are, what enemy threats there are to those interests, how to allocate resources to address the threat. There is certainly an argument to be made for separating out a command (as well, I suppose, for other commands like a South Asia Command or a Southeast Asia Command). Wouldn't it be nice to actually see such an argument, rather than fluff about DOD/DOS truf wars?

By the way, one aspect of that argument? As of 2005, according to EIA statistics, 6 of the top 20 sources of crude oil exports to the United States are on the African continent - Nigeria, Angola, Algeria, Gabon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea. Cameroon, though not a major source of crude for the US, controls the pipeline through which Chad's crude reaches ports on the Gulf of Guinea. The oil-producing nations of the Gulf of Guinea, especially Nigeria and Cameroon, are vulnerable to rebel movements and Islamist terrorist groups.

To the north, the belt of poor countries stretching along the southern fringes of the Sahara, a region known as the Sahel, is also particularly vulnerable to Islamist terrorist infiltration, as many 3rd Group participants in the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative are no doubt familiar. To the east, the problems in the Horn of Africa are only growing with the rise of the Islamists in Somalia.

Looking further into the future, China continues to make headway in the region, seeking to curry favor with local regimes and competing with the US for energy resources.

[The Reaper]

I see a lot of opportunities for Flag billets, a robust staff, and a hollow force apportionment of units that will not be made available due to committments elsewhere.

If it happens and the country teams resist something that virtually every other theater has, it will be their loss.

Can't see us putting US forces and resources into the bottomless pit that is central Africa though.

TR

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Pick a country, any country in Africa and if our role was one of UW destablization we would have a field day. This continent has been screwed up from the very first day that borders were drawn and countries were named. Tribal mores, beliefs, anamosties and loyalties are the rule of the day and they are not constrained by the artificiality of political borders. If you think you have cultural challenges in dealing with the muslim world you can multiply that by many factors when you start to deal with "the dark continent". I don't even want to start thinking about the factions within this country who think that they have some roots and ties to Africa that are going to try to influence policy or feel that we have exploited the continent and its peoples for centuries.

[Matta mile]

Sir, I agree.
I think we need to stay Out of Africa and only "respond as required". Thats is, only partake for a well defined mission with measureable and plainly understood end states....or be a small of an area command scenario as depicted by TR in a previous posting.

While I typically favor a pro-active approach at most levels, your points pertaining to Africa bring back some memories of being there as part of an ODA trying to get Kikuyou tribesman to at least talk to Samburu hurder militia while children suffered and the Military saw themselves as somewhat priviledged. Two hours after we left country a civil war errupted between the Airforce and basically, the seat of government...
I dont know the scope of the intended presence but if we approach without thinking long and hard, we will likley form new enemies and a new location for taxpayer dollars to be pissed away.
Chet

[uboat509]

I agree completely with the last three posts. I don't know much about the rest of Africa but I know a fair bit about West Africa and the HOA. Fixing those regions is going to take more resources than we have to spned.

SFC W