Marines to Africa
As we reported the other day, there is a small contingent from the 1st Infantry Division in the Sudan for evacuating the State Department people in that country as violence escalates. Four US troops were injured during the weekend. So the administration is sending about 150 Marines from Spain to Djibouti in case they are needed to assist the Army force with the evacuation, reports Fox News;
A senior U.S. Defense official told Fox News that 150 Marines are being moved from Moron, Spain, to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, in case the State Department asks for their assistance in evacuating U.S. citizens left in South Sudan. So far, no request from the department has yet come in to evacuate the roughly 100 U.S. citizens left in the country.
The decision comes after four U.S. troops were injured Saturday when gunfire hit evacuation aircraft. Three of those troops are stable and being sent to the military hospital in Germany, a spokesman said, while the fourth continues to get treatment in Nairobi, in neighboring Kenya.
A few dozen U.S. troops already are in South Sudan providing security. Others are in Djibouti, where the U.S. maintains its only permanent military base in Africa. Ten aircraft are now stationed there including Osprey helicopters and C-130 transport planes.
So, this is escalating rather nicely. Good thing we’re shifting our military focus to the Pacific Rim.
Category: Terror War
Nobody in the White House since Eisenhower has given two shits about Africa, and frankly, rightly so. One of the few military non-interventions Billy Jeff got right was the call to NOT get involved in Rwanda back in 1994.
Even Bush 43 was more than happy to send a few billion down the sinkhole in the name of AIDS relief and let it go at that.
Yeah, well, somewhere along the line this isn’t going to work out well. From what I’ve read, commercial flights share runways with our stuff, although a separate drone zone was established after a mishap on the shared Djibouti runway. Somalia is next door and all but a few percent of the happy citizens of Djibouti are Muslim. We’ve expanded the base there to some 600 acres and we’re leasing the space. The locals helped with the expansion so the layout and key buildings are well known by them. It would not take much to turn this SAfrican footprint into a boot our ass. I hope somebody knows what we’re doing but I can’t be optimistic about that at all.
I thought there was no money for this kind of thing. What did I miss?
OH! Is it coming out of bodaprez’s vacation expenses?
@3–racist.
His rented vacation home this time around is costing $24,000 per week. Yeah, you read that right. He is truly a man of the people, our Emperor is. He feels your pain.Oh, and he is down with the struggle. Happy Ramadan. Or is that over?
Air Cav, don’t be dissin’ Barrycade, he >i>did sign up for Barrycare. Even though he and the family get their medical care through Bethesda. Can anyone say “symbolism”?
You said, “I hope somebody knows what we’re doing but I can’t be optimistic about that at all.” With Hagel and Barrycade at the helm? I’m reminded of that saying about both hands, ass, and a flashlight.
I made a bet with a young captain at work that we’d be in at least a proxy war in Africa in the next three years.
Any takers?
Our discussion continued over who would own the other proxy–China or Russia.
@7 I would hate to take the other side of your bet because I believe the Emperor has an agenda for Africa he is not sharing. Logistically we are in another shithole. Surrounded by, yet again, Muslims. Get our people quickly and get the hell out of there before we have any more losses.
@7 for the past five years, I have been saying we’ll be in a shooting war with China in Africa within the decade. I think the proxy war is a given, and it’s just a matter of time before the Cold War turns hot.
I took a Middle East Studies class for my undergrad and we had a couple from Mali in the class. They said every time they went home for summer break, there was a new position in the government bureaucracy and a shiny new building to match it, courtesy of the Chinese. They are the new imperialistic colonizers, but since they aren’t white Europeans, nobody is worried.
@4 NHSparky 😛 PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!
150 Marines? Yeah that’s about right—have the whole continent pacified in a coupla’ weeks–
(hee hee–couldn’t avoid a poke)