This latest article in Foreign Policy Magazine reveals America’s extensive military activity in Africa, most of it under the radar of the general news media.
(Several very informative maps on FPM site).
The United States may be deploying 10 additional troops to Mali, but that’s just a drop in the bucket of the U.S. military’s presence in Africa, which has been quietly building for the last decade.
… a U.S. military presence in more than a dozen countries — from Cape Verde in the West to the Seychelles in the East and Morocco in the North
In 2012, Africa Command planned 14 major exercises with African militaries, according to the command’s website. Meanwhile, the Foreign Military Financing program gave African militaries $45 million to buy American-made weapons in 2011. Tunisia received the most cash ($17 million), followed by Morocco ($9 million) and Liberia ($7 million).
Here’s the mission statement of the Commander of AFRICOM, the regional U.S. military command. Why do we get to divide the world up by regional United States commands? It’s presumptuous.