Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
December 3, 2007 By Thom Shanker
CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, Monday, Dec. 3 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in the Horn of Africa today to inspect one of the most unusual missions in the American military, one that has not captured or killed a single terrorist or foreign fighter, yet is viewed by Pentagon officials as a model military deployment.
The mission of the Task Force Horn of Africa is an application of the “soft power” Mr. Gates advocated in a Nov. 26 speech, when he told an audience at Kansas State University that American counterterrorism efforts require not just combat operations, but a broader range of economic development and diplomacy.
American combat personnel here train regional armed forces to build up their own counterterrorism abilities. Combat engineers build schools and hospitals and dig wells in an effort to promote social stability and prevent terrorists from taking root.
Task force commanders speak of “waging peace,” and note that here in the Muslim world, where critics of American policy accuse the Bush administration of waging a campaign against Islam under the cover of counterterrorism, American military engineers have even been invited to repair mosques, for example in Ethiopia.
In his first trip to Djibouti, referred to by some as the hottest full-time inhabited place on earth, Mr. Gates was scheduled to visit Camp Lemonier, a former French Foreign Legion compound. The post is home to the 2,000 troops in the task force and support missions, an operation that already is shaping how the Pentagon will organize its efforts in coming years.
The American military is organizing a new Africa Command, the first American combatant command dedicated solely to Africa. The lessons learned from the operation in Djibouti will shape the new command’s emphasis on defense as well as diplomacy and development, according to senior Pentagon officials.
The mission has evolved significantly since Task Force Horn of Africa was established in late 2002 at a base so primitive that the most serious security threat came from attacks by roaming hyenas and jackals on soldiers doing their daily physical training runs.
The mission initially was devised to trap terrorists expected to flee Afghanistan along traditional smugglers’ routes down the Persian Gulf, into the Arabian Sea and past the Horn of Africa.
But the overlapping ground, maritime and air patrols across the region seem to have deterred the use of that route, prompting some fighters for Al Qaeda and the Taliban to hunker down in Pakistan along the Afghan border.
American intelligence and military officers express certainty that Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups continue to transit through the region, with small numbers believed to be operating in ungoverned corners of Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen, where they may be able to enhance the abilities of local terrorist or anti-government groups.
December 3, 2007 By Thom Shanker
CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, Monday, Dec. 3 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived in the Horn of Africa today to inspect one of the most unusual missions in the American military, one that has not captured or killed a single terrorist or foreign fighter, yet is viewed by Pentagon officials as a model military deployment.
The mission of the Task Force Horn of Africa is an application of the “soft power” Mr. Gates advocated in a Nov. 26 speech, when he told an audience at Kansas State University that American counterterrorism efforts require not just combat operations, but a broader range of economic development and diplomacy.
American combat personnel here train regional armed forces to build up their own counterterrorism abilities. Combat engineers build schools and hospitals and dig wells in an effort to promote social stability and prevent terrorists from taking root.
Task force commanders speak of “waging peace,” and note that here in the Muslim world, where critics of American policy accuse the Bush administration of waging a campaign against Islam under the cover of counterterrorism, American military engineers have even been invited to repair mosques, for example in Ethiopia.
In his first trip to Djibouti, referred to by some as the hottest full-time inhabited place on earth, Mr. Gates was scheduled to visit Camp Lemonier, a former French Foreign Legion compound. The post is home to the 2,000 troops in the task force and support missions, an operation that already is shaping how the Pentagon will organize its efforts in coming years.
The American military is organizing a new Africa Command, the first American combatant command dedicated solely to Africa. The lessons learned from the operation in Djibouti will shape the new command’s emphasis on defense as well as diplomacy and development, according to senior Pentagon officials.
The mission has evolved significantly since Task Force Horn of Africa was established in late 2002 at a base so primitive that the most serious security threat came from attacks by roaming hyenas and jackals on soldiers doing their daily physical training runs.
The mission initially was devised to trap terrorists expected to flee Afghanistan along traditional smugglers’ routes down the Persian Gulf, into the Arabian Sea and past the Horn of Africa.
But the overlapping ground, maritime and air patrols across the region seem to have deterred the use of that route, prompting some fighters for Al Qaeda and the Taliban to hunker down in Pakistan along the Afghan border.
American intelligence and military officers express certainty that Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups continue to transit through the region, with small numbers believed to be operating in ungoverned corners of Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen, where they may be able to enhance the abilities of local terrorist or anti-government groups.