May 1, 2008
U.S. Reaches Out In Africa Al Qaeda Fight
Allen Pizzey Reports On How U.S. Soldiers Train Ugandans To Combat Terrorism
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Play CBS Video Video U.S. Soldiers Train Ugandans American soldiers are training Ugandan soldiers to combat terrorists, preparing them to go to Somalia to fight Islamic insurgents so the U.S. doesn't have to. Allen Pizzey reports.
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Video Eye To Eye: Ugandan Allies "Only on the Web": The U.S. military is training Ugandan troops to assist in the war on terror. Allen Pizzey speaks with army trainer Sgt. Daniel LeGeer.
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American soldiers are training the Ugandans to combat terrorism. (CBS)
"Put two rounds in him," an American soldier says. "Bang, bang!"
This time the rounds are blanks. But they won't always be. American soldiers are training the Ugandans to combat terrorism, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports, preparing them to go to Somalia to fight Islamic insurgents so the U.S. doesn't have to.
"If we help this country to stabilize now, we teach them how to combat extremism and terrorism now, we won't have to worry about a further escalation of problems in the future," U.S. Army trainer Sgt. Daniel LeGeer says.
Al Qaeda and other militants have expanded their operations to Africa. Across the top of the entire continent, rebel groups and discontented youth make ideal recruits-a situation made all the more dangerous by growing American dependence on African oil. It's something the U.S. cannot ignore.
"You don't even have to go back as far as Afghanistan to see what ungoverned spaces left alone can have an effect on the United States," Lt. Colonel Greg Joachim says.
The U.S. counterpunch is a new military command called Africom. The man in charge is four-star General William Ward.
He has been crisscrossing Africa trying to convince skeptical Africans that Washington wants partners-not new military bases. It's been a tough sell.
The hardest job facing Africom is image-making. In the words of a senior American official, "It's open season on U.S. foreign policy. We have to convince people that this is not some diabolical George Bush plot."
At a remote camp, General Ward watches U.S. soldiers vaccinating cattle-a month-long project to help farmers displaced by a vicious civil war rebuild their lives.
"When our uniformed folks are working with the uniformed folks of these nations, the people can also see that their militaries are here trying to help them, as opposed to not," General Ward says. "And those are all very good messages."
"That's soft power at work," General Ward says.
To make Africom succeed, the general has to spend as much time being a diplomat as a soldier. If he does it well enough, the enemy gathering in Africa won't be America's alone.
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And just why do people need convincing that Dubya''s not diabolical?
Maybe because like other tyrants throughout history, he invades other countries solely to effect regime change...
DE OPPRESSO LIBER !!
Maybe this person was a terrorist. Maybe he was ''affiliated with Al-Qaida''. Or, MAYBE, like George Washington, he was simply a freedom-fighter, fighting for control of his country. A PATRIOT.
I don''t know. But, more importantly, NEITHER does the U.S. AIR FORCE WHO KILLED HIM FROM 3000 FEET IN THE AIR via a drone aircraft (along with 10 others who happened to be in the area).
I understand that we need to fight Al-Qaida. But, when we''re killing Somalians who ''may'' be associated with Al-Qaida, HOW different from A-Qaida have we become? I don''t care HOW smart you think you are. An AMERICAN CANNOT understand the politics of Somalia like a Somalian can, because we JUST DONT CARE ABOUT SOMALIA. But... here''s the reality:
By assassinating people around the world who may just be the ''George Washingtons'' of their country, the Air Force risks a 9-11-style attack from the outraged compadres of those we''ve assassinated. If this guy was a Somali terrorist: let the Somali''s deal with him. AND... IF THEY CANT. Maybe he actually represents the desires and wishes of HIS OWN PEOPLE, people we work against at our own eventual peril.
He just said, "We need to drill more Oil wells & we''ll never have to go to War in the Middle East again"
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The Africans are right to be suspicious. We never intended to build bases in Iraq originally but that is just what we are doing now.
Africa into a north and south country as they do in all other countries, a hang over from their civil war.
Look over the whole website. There is a way for you to be involved in PEACE and not be subversive or negative. Wage PEACE now!
"When our uniformed folks are working with the uniformed folks of these nations, the people can also see that their militaries are here trying to help them, as opposed to not," General Ward says. "And those are all very good messages."
"That''s soft power at work," General Ward says.
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And if those people get some crazy, exotic disease...they will insist the Americans gave it to them in whatever was in those "vaccines" ..... Does our military need jobs? come home and vaccinate our own cattle and rebuild those torando and hurrican ravaged cities.
We would be doing the world a huge favor if we just took a deep breath, start taking care of our own and reinvested in ourselves for a few years--not to mention the money we''d save for our own country.
Translation: If we can use these people for cannon fodder, we can extend our fake wars and cut costs all at the same time, not to mention start getting rid of so many people of color by helping them to kill each other even more. LOL LORDS OF WAR
Name the any group or country we have trained that have not eventually stabbed us in the back (and usually with our own weaponry) Now name the ones who have. Guess which list is longer.
No
Posted by Pensacola88 at 12:57 AM : May 02, 2008
That is not all. That double standard applies to wars too.
We are perhaps the only country on the planet that can illegally invade a country based on lies, bomb and kill its people...claim we are fighting a war "over there so we don''t have to fight it here" and still call ourselves the heroes and Good guys. Even during the occupations of France and China the axis was never that gallingly crass.
1. We train people in other countries to fight
2. We provide the weapons and the skills
3. We hope they will work FOR us and fight our foes and die for us
4. Instead, they go rogue and either turn on their government or start huge crime/terrorists cells with our money and weapons as their springboard
5. Eventually they become big enough, bad enough and dangerous enough that we have to step in to "put down" our new baby
6. Our "trainees" use the same skills, weapons and trainging to turn on us and since they are in their own countries and can blend in better and speak the languages and know the terrain--they have the advantage....
That way, we keep our military industrial complex a humpin''.
LORDS OF WAR. LMAO
Overseas, we call a pirate a terrorist, but here, we idolize the life of a pirate and build pirate ships for our theme parks to entertain our children.
Here, we don''t call a violent organized crime group a terrorist group, but overseas we do.
We call a drug cartel overseas a group of narco-terrorists, but here, we don''t call drug dealers here in our own country terrorists. We call them drug gangs and dope rings.
Overseas, we easily call armed gangs of people warlords. Here, we call them militias.
Overseas, when a child goes to their school and attacks his peer group with gun or bomb, he is called a terrorist. Here, when a student goes to their school and attacks his peers, he is called a crazed gunman.
We have a huge defect in our culture and thinking and are surprisingly applying a double standard about how we label or profile people.
- by trishab4 May 2, 2008 2:43 AM EDT
- Noooooo!!! It can''''t be. Stop training them to fight evil Al Queda!!
- Reply to this comment
See all 19 CommentsIt will drive liberals nuts!!
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Posted by libagenda at 11:27 PM : May 01, 2008
I guess nobody will comment on your useless comment. Libs are busy!