Humanitarian cover

Senegal/Mali-based journalist Peter Tinti writes that debates in Washington over the US approach to counterterrorism in Africa have more to do with “keeping policy frameworks apace with practice” than actually shaping that practice:“Under the Obama administration, U.S. military operations in Africa have rapidly expanded in scope, depth and breadth, creating a skeletal infrastructure that enables a panoply of near-constant training exercises with partner governments — as well as clandestine activities.Though Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti is technically the only permanent U.S. military base in Africa, in reality, there are hundreds of military outposts and locations dotting the continent, with several thousand uniformed U.S. military and civilian Department of Defense personnel, as well as an unknown number of defense contractors, working across the continent at any one time. U.S. special operations forces regularly work within civil-affairs and humanitarian assignments that provide cover for covert counterterrorism activities.”

[ed notes:also read.. MUST READ!!! AFRICOM’s Rough Start http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/10/africoms-rough-start-httpcsis.html  [[[[[[[[Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations African affairs subcommittee, thought Africom was "something that would show real respect for Africa." But there was no question, Feingold said, that the concept had "a neocolonialist feel to it." ]]]]]]]]]

Obama's national security policy towards Africa www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/61614Somalia: Manifestation of stealth trusteeship http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/04/somalia-manifestation-of-stealth.html US Military and Africom: Between the rocks and the crusaders http://thenakedfacts.blogspot.com/2011/04/us-military-and-africom-between-rocks.html