White House wants Sahara Desert as new front for war on terror

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=eb70e20b6a94ea84

The U.S. government reportedly plans to spend $500 million over five years to make the Sahara Desert a vast new front in its war on terrorism.

The operation is called the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative, begun in June to provide military expertise, equipment and development aid to nine Saharan countries. This is an area where lawless swaths of desert are considered fertile ground for militant Muslim groups, the San Francisco Chronicle said.
more...
We are accelerating our prescence in the MidEast not reducing it...

[mike_c]

1. the "war on terror" is a scam....

It's a marketing jingle for perpetual militarism, fascism, and imperialist expansion. There is no "war on terror" in any coherent sense.

[EFerrari]

8. I agree with you.

It is simply a lever that can be pulled when the little people get restless.

It's like the War on Macy's White Rose Day. Bullsh!t.

[ixion]

16. any war of abstraction is not a war by defintion

a war is between to tribes or nation-states, not between one country and the shadows on the wall. That is not a war, that is insanity by defintion.


Our culture has set a dangerous precedent by accepting this idea of war on abstact ideas, and it shows that people have forgotten what a true war in the classic sense is all about.

[hang a left]

17. Exactly...

it is the slogan for The New World Order. War On Terror Inc.

[Richard D]

2. You got me excited there for a second . . .

. . . thinking of the whole white house staff sitting in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Oh well.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Hmmmm, the new willing collation...

Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia were listed as participants in the initiative.


What? Not Libya? No Egypt? Sudan is not playing footise with us?

[ticapnews]

4. With the support of Mauritania we are sure to defeat

whomever it is we're supposed to be fighting.

Who needs Egypt? We've got some guy named Chad!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Not even Western Sahara...

oh wait. Morocco won't let them be free.

[NVMojo]

5. let's send Chimp there with no SPF protection ...

[orleans]

9. let's send his poisoned-womb mother over there too!

that rotting bitch:

[ugarte]

7. Total waste of money

not to mention that these weapoms will be turned on domestic opponents. So much for the "democracy" rhetoric.

[Eugene]

10. More like fertile ground for oil exploration

The Bushies want to develop and secure Africa's oil.
The countries listed in the article show promise
either as sources of oil or as routes for pipelines.

[Roland99]

22. I was confused as to the interest in Africa until I came to the OIL part.

Nevermind that the Sudan is committing heinous atrocities against humanity (the current admin justification for having taken out Saddam). Let's go protect the oil!!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

11. Gee Dubyah- the new Desert Fox.

Somehow, it just doesn't seem to work.

[DemonFighterLives]

12. How many fronts does dubby need.

A disaster in the making!
:argh:

[aquart]

13. He's going to fund the murders in Darfur, isn't he?

[Theduckno2]

14. Recently read an article that implied that China showed great

interest in Africa. It would seem that the struggle for oil/resource supplies is underway, now that peak oil is near.

There was a very recent posting, saying that U.S. defense spending will be headed down so I guess that business will have to go somewhere. :sarcasm:

As far as fighting terrorism with military resources goes, I'm relying on a bit of Scott Ritter's insight, it is a bit like sticking Jello to a tree with a fork. :9

[bdot]

15. The worlds greatest threat: camels.

[Rose Siding]

18. Here's the Chronicle piece with more detail

U.S. takes terror fight to Africa's 'Wild West'
Critics say Saharan plan backs despots, is magnet for trouble
Jason Motlagh, Chronicle Foreign Service

Tuesday, December 27, 2005
.....
Some observers say terrorism in the Sahara is little more than a mirage and that a higher-profile U.S. involvement could destabilize the region.

"If anything, the (initiative) ... will generate terrorism, by which I mean resistance to the overall U.S. presence and strategy," said Jeremy Keenan, a Sahara specialist at the University of East Anglia in Britain.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/27/MNGISGDLR91.DTL&hw=Trans+Sahara&sn=001&sc=1000

[Roland99]

20. I thought this was fake until I saw it was printed in the Chronicle.

Amazing.

[Dover]

19. similar to why we entered the Balkans

if Brzezinski is to be believed. He made the argument for the Balkans that it was a new 'front line' for U.S. expansionism.

[Ezlivin]

21. Is that Eastasia or Eurasia that we're at war with?

We've always been at war with one of them...

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

23. What part of the Sahara...

...is in the middle east?

[Toots]

24. Halliburton must want to build a pipeline across the Sahara

:shrug: