Posted on 06/30/2005 1:13:33 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- The U.S. military has wrapped up exercises aimed at getting north and west African troops ready to fight al Qaeda-linked terrorists and making sure the militants don't get a toehold in a region of porous borders and weak states.
U.S. commanders said Thursday they hope the exercise was only the beginning of a long-term relationship.
Starting June 6, 700 U.S. troops ran about 2,100 soldiers from nine North and West African nations through counterterrorism exercises including mock patrols, target practice -- even airborne parachute drills that sent hundreds of African soldiers drifting from U.S. C-130 transport aircraft.
"The exercise accomplished what we set out to do, which was to get cooperation from all the nations," said U.S. Maj. Gen. Thomas Csrnko of "Operation Flintlock," which officially ended Thursday.
"This is hopefully the beginning of a long relationship between our forces and their commands," he said by telephone from command headquarters in Germany.
"We want to help them create stable environments inside these countries," he said of the nations, many of which contain vast expanses of largely unpatrolled desert inside poorly guarded borders.
Csrnko said American troops would push for specialized units inside each country with skills honed for providing "internal security and sovereignty -- as well as a regional capability."
The United States is researching how to help equip and train these units as they're created, he said. He didn't rule out supplying some units with weaponry, saying assessments were in an "initial phase."
Csrnko cited a recent clash between Mauritanian troops and Algerian-based Islamic insurgents as a prime example of what the Americans hope to train local troops to fight.
Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an al Qaeda-affiliated movement, loaded fighters onto a dozen trucks earlier this month and attacked an isolated Mauritanian army outpost near the Algerian and Mali borders.(Full story)
The surprise assault left 15 Mauritanian soldiers and nine Salafists dead. Csrnko said insurgents from the group, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization, fled with captured arms and ammunition.
The Salafists "contribute to destabilization and undermine security," he said.
The Salafists are accused of kidnapping 32 European tourists in the Sahara in 2003 and of carrying out numerous attacks in Algeria itself.
Csrnko is the special forces commander for U.S. European Command, or EUCOM, which oversees U.S. military activities in Europe and all of Africa, excluding the Horn.
Africa's "ungoverned" spaces -- particularly deserts where security forces are hard to come by -- are the chief concern of American commanders fearful terrorists may seek refuge there.
Csrnko said in an earlier interview as many as 25 percent of foreign fighters in Iraq had gone there from North Africa to fight U.S. forces and their allies. U.S. officials say a small number of fighters are returning to North Africa as well, trained in guerrilla tactics and bomb-making.
U.S. forces began training armies in Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad in 2003. That effort has been expanded to Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal, and commanders hope to boost its budget from $6 million to US$100 million for five years, starting in 2007.
Let's see, Mauritania deals openly in slaves, so we consider that government worth saving WHY?????
My buddies little bro was a Marine sent over to "train" these jokers. To put it mildly, expect no help from them.
We can count on no one but ourselves in this WOT. And lately I'm questioning some of our own. (non-military.)
Let's not be too hard on them. I'm a believer in the saying, "There's no such thing as bad troops -- only bad leaders." With time adequate time and training, I think these local troops could become good soldiers.
But the Flintlock 05 exercise (if I understand it correctly) was simply meant as a short, small-scale exercise for familiarization -- it didn't involve the kind of time and resources that would be needed to make a real difference.
Well let's not short-change many of our really good friends, from the UK to Australia to Poland and other "new Europe" countries.
Just remember what Spain did when it got close to home.
And don't forget our "friends" the Turks!
ping
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