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Pres.
Sirleaf's advocacy of AFRICOM in Liberia, and the
Progressive's propaganda
Monday,
November 5,, 2007
By Masu Fahnbulleh
With
yet another major US Military Command being erected
after September 11, 2001, to strengthen Americas
resolve in the ongoing war on terrorism around the
world, US Military Command (AFRICOM), appears not to
be getting the kind of support anticipated when it was
first announced by the White House in February of 2007.
US
Military Command (AFRICOM) comes as a result of the
overhauling of two strategic military commands-Central
Command, with headquarters at Mac Dill Air Force Base
in Florida, and European Command (outfitted in
Germany), which were primarily responsible to respond
to crisis and contingencies on the African continent.
What is more, both CENTCOM and the European command
are far removed from the shores of Africa, were their
projected capabilities and reaches are minimized in
terms of how quickly they respond to contingencies
such as: humanitarian crisis, low-level conflicts and
genocide, just to highlight a few of the
multi-complexities of problems that face this part of
the world.
That
2007 will be remembered as the year that so many
Liberians, indeed Africans, debated this pertinent
issue as to the permanent placement of a large US
Military Force on Africa’s soil. The debate over US
Military Command (AFRICOM) has moved definitively to
the center stage of Africa’s national politics. The
question becomes: Is it about Africa’s
re-neo-colonialism, or is it premises upon the policy
from colonialism to cooperation? This lingering
question has been the hallmark of how the Bush
administration explains it position when it comes to
Washington’s engagement with Africa in the 21st
century.
Many
in Liberia, particularly the remnants of the
progressive movements: Movement for Justices in Africa
(MOJA) and the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL)
have begun a campaign of ‘fear, distortion,
misinformation and intimidation of the Liberian
people. And so too, we have seen in countries were the
newly appointed decorated military Commander of US
AFRICOM, Lieutenant General (LTG) Ward has toured in
an effort to outline and educate the citizenry of the
importance of having AFRICOM.
A
paramount concern for so many African leaders is that
AFRICOM could overreach its intended policy, by
strengthening the African Union (AU) Military Forces
particularly when it involves internal political
conflict, while others maintain that the new command
could move aggressively into such sphere as
potentially influencing security policies in other
regions of Africa.
However,
when you look at two particular events, Rwanda and
Darfur, Sudan that occurred on the African continent,
the response and capabilities of the African Union
Military Forces or ECOMOG Troops were inadequate. Let
me take you closer to home, Liberia, when President
Samuel Kanyon Doe was escorted from the Executive
Mansion in September of 1990, and taken into custody
by forces under the control of Prince Yormie Johnson
of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia
(INPFL), at the Freeport of Monrovia on Bushrod
Island. Liberians were left with a sense that the
removal of Doe and his subsequent assassination would
have subsided the on-going conflict and bring a halt
to the massive bloodshed in the streets of our
capital.
But
something important escaped all of us. Our Armed
Forces and other security organizations that were
constituted to support effective state actions were
aligned tribally with the Doe regime, and at best
ineffective in protecting the Liberian people. And
when you look back at Rwanda under the Clinton
administration and Darfur, Sudan under the current
Bush administration, one is left to argue: Could a US
Military Command (AFRICOM) presence serve as a
deterrence in mobilizing how quickly Africa respond to
peacekeeping and other contingencies on the continent?
Also
there is the skepticism on the part of American
citizens, those constituents whose decisions count the
most when it comes to the deployment of US Forces
around the world. Of particular importance is the case
of Somalia in 1994, in the Horn of Africa under the
Clinton administration and the late US Secretary of
Defense Les Aspen. The policy that emanated from 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue was that of a ‘Humanitarian’
mission for the dying people of Somalia, and warlord
Mohammed Farrah Aidid’s fight to keep control of the
Mogadishu elements of my Command, the 18th Airborne
Corps Paratroopers of Fort Bragg, who were part of the
US Military Forces assembled in Mogadishu. The streets
of the Somali capital were not kind to us as some of
America’s finest were gruesomely murdered (the movie
“Black Hawk Down” tells the riveting story).
Moreover,
US Secretary of Defense Les Aspen resigned under
pressure for his failure to approve additional
‘Military Hardware’ for US Forces now caught in
the civil war in Somalia. The remaining years of the
Clinton administration were clouded with the question,
as always: Under what condition should US forces be
deployed? The conditions in Somalia as were in Rwanda
and now Darfur, Sudan were dire. The issue of the use
of American Forces around the world raised to new and
unprecedented levels the gruesome murder of American
GI’s in the streets of Mogadishu, led to outrage and
backlash. Instead of making the American people more
sympathetic and responsive to humanitarian crisis
around the world, the inhumane treatment of the bodies
of US servicemen by some Somalis with vivid images on
national television around the world and in the living
rooms of Americans, led to the unfortunate and
unintended consequence of directing public attention
to domestic issues such as homelessness and healthcare
for the poor.
ENGAGEMENT
AND ADVOCACY
However,
as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Minister of
Defense, Brownie Samukai continues to make their case
for AFRICOM to have a home in Liberia, so too are the
many African leaders who are strongly oppose to having
such a large scale military presence close to their
capitals. Also in Liberia, remnants of the
progressives are holding their breaths and wondering
just what will happen to them when AFRICOM is
headquartered in Monrovia.
For
her part, President Sirleaf must continue to make her
case for AFRICOM. Washington must join in this
enterprise to highlight the significance of US
military presence not just in Liberia, but Africa as a
whole. Both sides should engage in a campaign of
sensitization to spell out the benefits that AFRICOM
holds. If Washington must remain true to her
commitment ensuring that stability returns to Liberia,
then both the US State Department and the Pentagon
should utilize resources and contacts previously
established, when US Special Operations Forces (SOSCOM)
were involved in the training of selective African
countries soldiers in years past, through US
Department of Defense Military Assistance Program.
When
the Americans come, so too followed their respective
institutions: Banking, other businesses and
educational system…opportunities for Liberians to
increase their standards of living, creation of
employment in areas such as the construction of
military barracks, housing for US civilian personnel,
road networks linking military installations and
perhaps, WAL-MART may follow, another added benefit
for our unemployed elderly population. And not just
the Americans are going to come to Liberia, but other
nationals will follow in part to the realization that
there is still strength and security in the AMERICAN
DOLLAR.
Today,
Liberians must be very mindful of the progressives and
their cheap propaganda to derail this process by
instilling fear by disseminating misleading
information and this project. Yes, I am not
insensitive to the True Whig Party rule in Liberia.
However, what I must argue here is that the True Whig
Party was an institution, and to replace it was no
small fete. For his part, the late President William
R. Tolbert, Jr. was doing a remarkable job in trying
to break the party’s stronghold on the state. In
every ministry or governmental agency, whole new
generations of Liberians were responding to a call to
public service –they were returning home in large
numbers to serve their country. The same is not true
today. We must all stand with President Sirleaf in her
initiative to anchor US MILITARY COMMAND (AFRICOM) in
Liberia, for this engagement will pay significant
dividend.
Masu
Fahnbulleh served for over 11 years in the US Armed
Forces as a paratrooper, and participated in numerous
combat and World Wide Contingency Operations. In
support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he worked as a
Logistics Coordinator on Defense Contracts with KBR-a
Halliburton Company in Iraq and respectively with CSA,
Ltd. in Kuwait. He can be reach at fahnbullehm@hotmail.com.
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