Michael Smerconish | A feel-good mission stirs uneaseCOULD THE HORN of Africa become the next al Qaeda breeding ground?

The U.S. military thinks so, which is why I found myself in Djibouti last week. It was the final stop in the military immersion project in which I participated, called the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference. By the time we flew to Djibouti, we'd seen the military command posts in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Djibouti gets lumped with seven other African nations, and Iraq, Iran and Pakistan as being part of the military's CENTCOM region: 27 countries, 651 million people and 65 percent of the world's known oil supply.

Djibouti is located in the northeast corner of the continent - bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, next to Somalia. It's about the size of Massachusetts and is 94 percent Muslim.

Until the late 1970s, it was a French colony. Now, Camp Lemonier, a former French Foreign Legion Post, is home to the American military, which is where I found myself being briefed in a makeshift movie theater by Rear Adm. Richard Hunt, the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force of the Horn of Africa. Also present was the U.S. ambassador to Djibouti, W. Stuart Symington.

They showed a short but impressive video about the problems of the Horn of Africa and the unique ways in which our military is addressing them.

"We do this so we don't get an Afghanistan," explained Adm. Hunt, regarding humanitarian efforts. He referred to the area as "phase zero" in the war on terror, and said that we need to "change the environment to prevent conflict."

The U.S. ambassador agreed.

"The conditions to support terrorism are ripe," said Ambassador Symington. He made reference to the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and the attack on the USS Cole while docked in Yemen in 2000.

The military is trying to "win the peace" and ensure that Djibouti and other Horn of Africa nations don't end up in the hands of Muslim extremists. The effort began in 2002 to prevent terrorists fleeing from Afghanistan from establishing a safe haven, according to Hunt.

I noticed that the presentation was devoid of any mention of the African leadership. So I asked what was being done to remedy corrupt government.

The ambassador made the point that there was nothing uniquely African about government corruption. "People need to push up from the bottom," he offered, before making reference to Cook County, Ill., as once having corruption issues of its own. I wanted to tell him that any corruption in Chicago came after running water.

Djibouti looks like something you'd see in Bono, or more recently, Madonna, footage.

Blazing heat. Impoverished conditions. Disease. A male life expectancy of 42 years. And a pervasive addiction to khat, a psychotropic shrub that folks there chew to get high. Khat is grown in Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen. For longer than anyone can remember, Muslims have chewed the leaves as a more Koran-friendly means of getting stoned than alcohol. You can't buy khat in the U.S. or Europe, but it is openly sold in Djibouti.

After our briefing, we took a short helicopter ride to Tadjoura, a local village. There, some of the town fathers and a local doctor escorted us through a medical clinic that is being upgraded with U.S. military support.

Then we walked a short distance, past a burial ground where rings of stones form the perimeter of graves - and to my naked eye, too many looked the size of children - to a local school where Navy Seabees are building a dormitory so that young girls from distant villages can get an education.

The teacher-student ratio was 1:50, the classroom was rudimentary and the flies abundant. It was the kind of stuff you see on TV. It was heartbreaking.

The military is trying to do something about these conditions. In the Horn of Africa, we do not maintain a "direct action" force, we don't seek to engage enemy forces in combat. Our primary "maneuver elements" include military-to-military trainers, doctors, nurses, veterinarians, civil engineers and well drillers.

Seeing our humanitarian involvement, I felt good to be an American, and recognize that, far from home, other Americans were making economic contributions to the least fortunate.

But on the long flight home, I gave the matter more thought. I fear that the American hearts are in the right place, but I'm not sure about the mindset.

I'm not convinced that the American military should be helping villages in the Horn of Africa. It feels good. It looks good. It may do plenty good. But it doesn't seem to comport with their mission. Winning the peace? That would seem to be more of a State Department matter. Or a faith-based initiative. Or something for Bono and Bob Geldof.

There is another consideration. On a long flight from Djibouti to Washington, I had plenty of time to read. In my material was the Philadelphia Inquirer from the day of my departure, one week earlier. The front-page lead story was titled "Bury Your Mistakes," and it reported that between 2003 and 2005, at least 20 children died of abuse or neglect after coming to the attention of the city's Department of Human Services.

A follow-up this past Wednesday reported on the passing of Danieal Kelly, a bedridden and nearly paralyzed 14-year-old with cerebral palsy who wasted away to 46 pounds and died of neglect despite the fact that a private company was paid by the city to visit her home twice a week. Maggots were found in her wounds. This was right here, in Mantua, a neighborhood in West Philadelphia. The point being that one does not need to travel 16 hours and 8,000 miles to find folks in need. Isn't charity supposed to begin at home?

Moreover, can military humanitarian efforts really put a dent in the problem? My gut tells me that there are tens of thousands of villages like Tadjoura in Africa. A school here and a clinic there are a drop in the bucket. We can't fix them all. I can't imagine committing the funding or manpower to scratch the surface. And then there is the question of whether feel-good measures really address the underlying problem. Remembering the lack of discussion of corruption in the presentation I had received from the admiral and ambassador, I am not convinced that our current policy addresses the root cause.

Moelestsi Mbeki is the brother of South African president Thabo Mbeki and the author of analyses of the failure of African relief. He has written that "at the root of Africa's problems are ruling political elites that have squandered the continent's wealth and choked its productivity over the last 40 years. The list of abuses is long and impressive. African political elites have systematically exploited their positions in order to line their own pockets."

He goes on to say that "merely handing more aid money to African governments only reinforces the pattern of abuse."

And he is not a voice in the wilderness. Others who have studied the issue have come to similar conclusions.

William Easterly is a professor of economics at New York University and author of books on the failure of Western aid to Africa. Reflecting on 2005, a year that included the G8 doubling of foreign aid to Africa from $25 billion to $50 billion a year, and the Live 8 concert, he wrote: "Economic development in Africa will depend - as it has elsewhere and throughout the history of modern world - on the success of private-sector entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and African political reformers. It will not depend on the activities of patronizing, bureaucratic, unaccountable and poorly informed outsiders."

He believes that the true saviors of Africa can only be the people of Africa.

Relative to terrorism, we clearly need a strategy for the Horn of Africa. Confirmation of that requirement came in the form of the cancellation of our planned side trip to Ethiopia due to increased terror risk. But I am concerned that while we are currently on a righteous path, we are not necessarily on the right path.

Is this not the article that someone posted a week or two ago hoping to get you to comment on it? It seems pretty similar if it's not.

It's good your mission there is getting some attention.

I posted an article but it was about the Ethiopian intervention in the Islamic Court's offensive in Somalia. Did someone else post a Djibouti article? If so, the Horn of Africa is feelin' the love.

It's good when the horn feels the love.

Because it spunks all over Yemen.

Well, these JCOC people...they certainly try and warm right up to you, and then write articles that pretty much misrepresent what is actually going on here. This is prolly, the fifth or sixth article that I have now read from people in the JCOC, that went back to the states, and wrote about this place.

And in my opinion, if your mind was to have a clean slate and was completely ignorant about this place, I believe it'd probably be seen as a negative project.

There's so much stuff that's wrong with the article. Misrepresentation's, lack of information, assumptions...

The oil crack really get's. It burns my buttons. Oil has absolutely positively nothing to do with this mission. It's just another cheeky shot at trying to make everything that Bush does is about oil. When...the entire area of operation is pretty much devoid of oil.

He's upset that the Admiral and the ambassador didn't talk about curroption and thinks we should be dealing with that. Well, go read the articles about UIC and how it spread. It was because we were involved in trying to solve curroption in Somalia and it blew up in our faces. It's like assuming nothing is being done, or tried to be done about it, simply because officials didn't come right out and explain it. That makes me mad.

He thinks it's not the job for the military. Goes on to say that the state department and NGO's should be doing this. Ya know, the Bob Geldofs of the world and infallible Bono. Maybe the UN. Yet, in the beginning he does an awfully poor job at describing how awful it is, and goes on to describe Tadjoura (an awesome place), as something truly awful and sad. It's almost beyond belief. But I digress... The author doesn't realize that NGO's, the state department, the Bono's of the world, and the UN...they don't go into the places where we go. They don't go to Yaboki, Djibouti, or even Tadjoura. They don't go to Gode, Ethiopia, or Harar, Ethiopia. It's simply not efficient, and the big reason is that it's not safe. NGO's do NOT work in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, and the border regions of Kenya and Somalia. NGO's have no ability to fight the LRA in Uganda. We do. Furthermore, I don't think the man took the time to really look at what NGO's, the UN, and the State Department have accomplished in this region. It's pretty much nothing. They do nothing. The State Department hands out bags of grain with USA written on the side, and the UN hands out book bags to children as handy advertising tools. Awesome huh?

A few projects here...a few projects there... I guess he didn't tour Tadjoura too much. We built the school, we've already built two dormitories, we built the hospital. There isn't a village in Djibouti that doesn't have at least two or three projects. The Ogaden is fairing out pretty well too. Even on our meager logistical assets. And he also doesn't mention that this base is being expanded by about...oh...9 times the size that it is now and is becoming a permenant duty station. The capacity for good is growing here. Our ability to accomplish more will quickly be accelerating.

It's an awful piece, and I'm really sad that I even wasted time talking to those people at lunch one day. Cheeky fucks.

I would think that making a strong push to solve corruption issues would be more of an infringement on their soverignty than the current aid programs. Other than tailoring aid to avoid putting it in the hands of officials, how exactly do you combat corruption as an outsider? I thought we weren't supposed to be the world police and bully others into doing what we want.
I for one am all for the private sector and NGOs to do these kinds of aid projects, but what we hear about NGOs in Afghanistan - they seem to be good at doing only one thing in war zones and that is spending money on SUVs.

Well, I gotta be honest. I know some people here that work for NGO's. It's not an easy thing. There is no way you could possibly run an NGO in Djibouti without an SUV or at least a pick'em'up truck. What's really amazing, and even daunting, is when you look at how much money goes into these relief operations, and how much money is actually put into projects. When you remove cost of labor, it's even more dubious.

*Bump*

Seeing as LW is closer to the action on the ground, I was wondering if he could inform us further on the developments on the ground in Somalia. If I recall correctly he had a semi-favorable view of the now nearly deposed Islamic Courts. I haven't been following the news recently, but before these recent developments it appeared to me that they were fairly well entrenched and Ethiopian troops were being pushed out of the country, but apparently not. Now it seems that U.S. warships are doing their part in a sort of naval blockade to prevent the Islamists from leaving the Horn. So what happens now, and what does this mean for the Horn? Is this going to be portrayed as anything other than Western meddling in an Islamic country?

Of course we will be seen as meddling.

Here's how this base works. We tell the UN what we want to do, where we want to go. And the UN tells us yes or no. Some places they allow us to go: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Yemen, Djibouti. And other places they don't want us: Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan. So even though you have governments like Sudan, Puntland, and Somaliland begging us to come and do humanitarian assistance projects, we can't simply because the international community frowns upon it. Eritrea and Somalia don't want us in there period.

So, because we are allowed to help Ethiopia, and we do, it will be percieved as meddling. It already has been. They are saying we simply used Ethiopia as a proxy to do our dirty work for us. It's kind of ridiculous.

I know back when General Ghormley was still operating HOA that we were doing everything we could to get into Puntland and Somaliland. Strategically it was absolutely vital territory. We had two governments that were not only cooperating with us, but begging us to come in. They knew what we had done in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and they wanted some help. But the international community wouldn't let us do it because that would mean implicitly recognizing Puntland and Somaliland as independent nations (which they are), and we just can't have that according to the IC.

What has happened? Oh, Ethiopia wooped the shit out of the Islamists. It wasn't even really a fight. They obliterated them in Baidoa, and intimidated the shit out of the UIC. The UIC fled to Moqdishu, and a couple days later abandoned that. After that they went to the southernmost port city of Kismayo, where they got their asses kicked again. Now, they say, that only 600 of them are holding out in thick woods near Kismayo along the Kenya border. The Kenyan military has shut down its border and stationed its troops along the border and have caught many, many Islamists. They have a vested interest in this as it is believed that three men responsible for the Nairobi, Dar as Salaam embassy bombings are key players in the UIC, and are still in hiding. The US, as you have said, has a naval blockade of sorts going. Just remember that Ethiopia whooped some ass.

As for my semi-favorable rating of the UIC...I wouldn't call it that. It was a lose lose situation in my book. The UIC would have done nothing but foster future terrorism and bigger problems in the future. It's only positive was that it brought peace and security to Somalia. But at what cost? Freedoms repressed and a future home for terrorists? A war would have been fought there eventually, and I think this was about as good of an outcome as you could possibly imagine. They say a couple thousand died. Which sure beats what it might have been five years from now. The US wasn't involved, and Ethiopia got the job done. Now we must look to the future. The international community must step up to ensure that peace, security, and stability are establised in that broken nation. It is extremely vital to the security of the entire region. The nation needs an immense amount of resources. They need food aid, security aid, assistance in establishing their government. They need assistance to stand up a unified army and police force. They need assistance in investment. Hopefully the world will stand up to the challenge. Those people deserve it.

I was looking through your photo blog, and your portrait photography is ridiculously good

did you never look at his photos he was posting before? just fucking amazing the mood and feelings hes able to capture while doing the work he does

You guys need to check the Release section more often...

LW, I'm disappointed with you. Only Commies can take good pictures. Are you going Red on me?

In all seriousness, thanks for the info. Seeing as how the interim government was so weak as to let the UIC step all over them in the first place, what are the chances of any sort of central government being sucessful at any point in the future?

http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/vie ... 62#1613262

This is for News and Debaters that neglect the release section. Go see the commie in me!

CBS: U.S. Strikes Al Qaeda In Somalia
CBS News Learns Air Strikes Were Aimed At Alleged Al Qaeda Members Linked To 1998 Embassy Bombings

(CBS/AP) A U.S. Air Force gunship has conducted a strike against suspected members of al Qaeda in Somalia, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports exclusively.

The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reports. Those terror attacks killed more than 200 people.

The AC-130 gunship is capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, and sources say a lot of bodies were seen on the ground after the strike, but there is as yet, no confirmation of the identities.

The gunship flew from its base in Dijibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reports, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.

Once they started moving, the al Qaeda operatives became easier to track, and the U.S. military started preparing for an air strike, using unmanned aerial drones to keep them under surveillance and moving the aircraft carrier Eisenhower out of the Persian Gulf toward Somalia. But when the order was given, the mission was assigned to the AC-130 gunship operated by the U.S. Special Operations command.

If the attack got the operatives it was aimed at, reports Martin, it would deal a major blow to al Qaeda in East Africa.

Meanwhile, a jungle hideout used by Islamic militants that is believed to be an al Qaeda base was on the verge of falling to Ethiopian and Somali troops, the defense minister said Monday.

While a lawmaker had earlier told The Associated Press that the base was captured, Somalia's Defense Minister Col. Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire said troops had yet to enter it and that limited skirmishes were still ongoing, though troops were poised to take the base.

Ethiopian soldiers, tanks and warplanes were involved in the two-day attack, a government military commander told the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Shire said there had been heavy fighting with high numbers of casualties.

"There are a lot of casualties from both sides," he said, declining to give details.

Residents in the coastal seaport of Kismayo, some 90 miles northeast of Ras Kamboni, said they saw wounded Ethiopian soldiers being loaded onto military helicopters for evacuation.

"I have seen about 50 injured Ethiopian troops being loaded onto a military chopper," said Farhiya Yusuf. She said 12 Ethiopian helicopters were stationed at the Kismayo airport.

Somali officials said the Islamic movement's main force is bottled up at Ras Kamboni, the southernmost tip of the country, cut off from escape at sea by patrolling U.S. warships and across the Kenyan border by the Kenyan military.

In Mogadishu, Somalia's president made his first visit to the capital since taking office in 2004. During the unannounced visit, President Abdullahi Yusuf was expected to meet with traditional Somali elders and stay at the former presidential palace that has been occupied by warlords for 15 years, government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.

U.S. officials warned after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that extremists with ties to al Qaeda operated a training camp at Ras Kamboni and that al Qaeda members are believed to have visited it.

Three al Qaeda suspects wanted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa are believed to be leaders of the Islamic movement. The Islamists deny having any links to al Qaeda.

Somalia's government had struggled to survive since forming with backing from the United Nations two years ago, and was under attack by the Islamic militia when Ethiopia's military intervened on Dec. 24 and turned the tide.

But many in predominantly Muslim Somalia resent the presence of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population. The countries fought two brutal wars, the last in 1977.

On Sunday, gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops, witnesses said, sparking a firefight in the second straight day of violence in the capital, Mogadishu.

lw, in the process of researching for a paper, i ran across this article about iceland's energy situation, and it mentions djibouti:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130626

In the interconnected global economy, Iceland is discovering new ways to export renewable energy—whether it is building geothermal-powered tourist attractions or using hydroelectric power as an inducement for industrial companies like Alcoa. And today, Iceland views its expertise as a means of becoming a bigger player on the world stage. "We can contribute to the economic development of foreign countries by teaching them to use this resource," says Gunnar Orn Gunnarson, managing director of Reykjavik Energy Invest, a unit of an Icelandic utility that is currently working on a project in Djibouti—which lies astride East Africa's Rift Valley—that could provide electricity and water for drinking and irrigation.

I once made a nice comment about LittleWing

Yeah, I was like..."WHOA!" when I read that...

As a follow-up, stick to photography. Leave the political/social commentary for the grown-ups.