Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete
Mali conflict: US deploys 100 troops to neighbour Niger
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21550867
"The US has deployed 100 troops to Niger to assist French forces in neighbouring Mali, the US president has said.
The armed troops will provide intelligence support, President Barack Obama informed Congress on Friday...................... '
A few more are on their way. Links at the bottom of the story to other news agency's stories on the subject. |
Hmmm! Here we go again. Africa is going to be the battleground of the future IMO. Let's just hope that we can get on the correct side of these conflicts. By that I mean, too often we have ended up supporting fundamentally corrupt regimes (Vietnam and Iran come to mind as just two examples) for the sake of protecting regional stability only to foment the seeds of revolution from oppressed peoples. Following the French in support of their interests stemming from the colonial era has not worked out so well in the past. I am more than a little skeptical of doing that again.
Too illustrate my point, do the counter-factual mental experiment and ask yourself (1) what if the US had supported Ho Chi Minh in his effort to expel foreign interests from his country and unite North and South Vietnam? And (2) what if the United States had not installed the Shah (Rheza Pahlevi) in Iran?
In this same line of thinking I will argue that overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was exactly correct and aligned with our values. The counter-factual question is - rather than invade Iraq with conventional military force, what if we built alliances with the Kurds, Shia, and Sunni that overthrew Saddam in a populist revolution? Could that even be done with a UW strategy? Could it be done with a UW strategy to initiate the revolution followed by conventional military to protect the SF lead rebels?
I think that discussion like these can lead to some new insights and possibly some new directions for our foreign policy that is more in line with our core values. It is this latter point, the disconnect between what we espouse and what we do, that has and is continuing to get us into trouble.
Just some food for thought
