African Union Force In Somalia – Dying For Dollars

The L.A. Times’ David Cloud has a look inside the US proxy force in Somalia.

The U.S. has been quietly equipping and training thousands of African soldiers to wage a widening proxy war against the Shabab, the Al Qaeda ally that has imposed a harsh form of Islamic rule on southern Somalia and sparked alarm in Washington as foreign militants join its ranks.

Officially, the troops are under the auspices of the African Union. But in truth, according to interviews by U.S. and African officials and senior military officers and budget documents, the 15,000-strong force pulled from five African countries is largely a creation of the State Department and Pentagon, trained and supplied by the U.S. government and guided by dozens of retired foreign military personnel hired through private contractors.

Like CIA drone strikes in Pakistan and Somalia, and the overthrow of Moammar Kadafi’s regime in Libya, the U.S. backing of African troops in Somalia is an example of how, after a decade of ground combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Obama administration is trying to achieve U.S. military goals with minimal risk of American deaths and scant public debate.

The U.S. can underwrite the war in Somalia for a relative pittance ”” the cost over four years has been less than $700 million, a tenth of what the military spends in Afghanistan in a month ”” but the price tag is growing. More than a third of the U.S. assistance has been spent since early 2011.

…The U.S. is supplying the African forces with surveillance drones, ammunition, small arms, armored personnel carriers, night-vision goggles, communications gear, medical equipment and other sophisticated aid and training, documents show.

Before the soldiers deploy, they receive boots, uniforms, protective vests and 13 weeks of basic training in combat skills and detecting hidden bombs. There’s also more specialized instruction for medics, intelligence officers and combat engineers.

These African soldiers will be dying for the US too. “This is real war, and we expect to see the body bags coming back home,” said Brig. Gen Komba Mondeh, Sierra Leone’s chief of operations and plans.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is headed to Africa, “where U.S. officials say she will give a speech warning African states about the potential perils of Chinese investment”. Because US guns and body bags are better for Africa than Chinese investment, or something.

When did I slip into an alternate dimension?