The US Army's 3rd Special Forces Group has Africa as their Area of Responsibility and Tactical Area of Operations. Primarily, they operate mobile training teams that offer military instruction to friendly nation military forces, particularly when both our nations face threats from the same or similar enemies, or when the troops receiving the instruction have received US military equipment from the Foreign Military Aid Program in which specific technical or safety instruction is a must. Among other skills, US Special Forces trainers are frequently fluent or at least conversant in the language of those who they instruct; in Mali, about 80% of the locals speak the Bambara language, and most of the USSF trainers who are not familiar with it have a passing capability in French. Mali has been torn by recent conflict worsened by the availability of weapons brought in from the late Col. Kadaffi's Libya, resulting in the French Operation Serval. A joint operation, troops and air forces from France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and the US have taken part, and there are likely others that have escaped my- and hopefully, everyone else's- notice.
Why use them in this act of terrorism, when other terrorist attacks are ignored by Obama.
It is my understanding that a half dozen or so of those being held hostage were US Citizens, [AmCits] for whom the US military traditionally does that which is possible to protect, even to the point of conducting rescue operations at risk to their own lives.
As for the political motivations or limitations faced by the President, such matters of state are above my pay grade and limited understanding of abnormal psychology. However, the role of an individual in the US military is to take a bullet which otherwise might kill a fellow American or national ally. This role is most usually observed and explained to young Marines, but it sometimes falls to those of other services as well.
In 1978, Americans caught up in the fighting in Zaire that became known as the Battle of Kolwezi were eventually rescued by French and Belgian forces while the US Airborne Ranger unit from Ft Stewart, Georgia sat around on the tarmac of Hunter Army Airfield waiting for orders to go, conducting equipment checks and haircut and shoeshine inspections in the mean time. Following which at least one young officer chose not to reenlist in his train hard to do-nothing unit, and following his discharge, enlisted for a five year hitch with the French Foreign Legion as, eventually, a sergeant; second enlistment he made lieutenant again.
Unless we are to lose others like him to other services or private contracting, we had not only better let them do their jobs, but celebrate them when they do so.Merci!
Special Forces adviser with Malian troops performing maintenance check on AK47 and SKS rifles, 2007.
