Thousands of American troops headed to Africa to fight… Ebola?

Hot Air.com ^ | September 16, 2014 | NOAH ROTHMAN

[Kaslin]

Africa is rapidly becoming an environment rich in both targets and threats.

In Nigeria, the fundamentalist terror group Boko Haram has seized vast swaths of territory and declared the foundation of an African Islamic caliphate. The group known for kidnapping, killing, and enslaving children has embarked on a crusade to destroy the ancient Christian communities in the territory it controls and has imposed Sharia law on locals.

In Libya, the Islamist militias which arose after Gaddafi fell have captured the country’s capital. On Tuesday, new mysterious airstrikes were reportedly carried out against positions occupied by the Islamist militia, Libyan Dawn. The last time similar airstrikes were executed in Libya, they were revealed to be the work of the UAE and Egypt. Neither Abu Dhabi nor Cairo bothered to inform Washington of their plan to open hostilities in North Africa, and it is just as likely that these latest strikes came as a surprise to the administration, too.

And in sub-Saharan Africa, an outbreak of Ebola is rapidly becoming the worst of its kind in human history. Last week, the World Health Organization warned the epidemic is growing “exponentially” worse. Since December, over 3,700 people have been infected and there have been more than 2,200 deaths reportedly due to this disease. The United Nations predicts that there may be up to 20,000 confirmed cases of Ebola before the outbreak is contained.

Of these crises, guess which one the United States is committing 3,000 American Defense Department personnel to fight?

“Under pressure to do more to confront the Ebola outbreak sweeping across West Africa, President Obama on Tuesday is to announce an expansion of military and medical resources to combat the spread of the deadly virus, administration officials said,” The New York Times reported.

The president will go beyond the 25-bed portable hospital that Pentagon officials said they would establish in Liberia, one of the three West African countries ravaged by the disease, officials said. Mr. Obama will offer to help President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia in the construction of as many as 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 treatment beds.
…
Officials said the military expected to send as many as 3,000 people to Africa to take charge of responding got the Ebola outbreak.

“The total cost of the program is estimated at $763 million over six months,” USA Today reported. “The administration has asked Congress for an additional $88 million for the anti-Ebola program, officials said. And the Department of Defense, which is heading up the program, has requested the re-programming of $500 million.”

This unprecedented outbreak requires an unprecedented response to combat, and it is commendable that the president is willing to commit resources to contain this epidemic. A rapidly mutating Ebola outbreak will not remain contained to Africa for long.

It is odd, however, that the president is so willing to commit American defense personnel to a non-combat operation with limited repercussions for America’s national security when there are so many conflicts on that continent and nearby which are far more pressing. Will Obama deliver a speech to the nation in which he carefully explains why committing nearly twice the number of troops to combat Ebola in Africa is a circumspect mission which is critical to American security, or will he simply order their deployment without a care to the politics of the matter? One suspects the latter will be the more likely outcome.

[PGR88]

American Super Cops to the rescue!

[MrB]

How many rounds of ammo is this going to take?

[null and void]

Send them to the hot zone, some will get infected, bring those back here, because it's just not fair that Africa gets to hog all the Ebola.

The game of Ebola Roulette continues...

*click* spin *click* spin *click* spin…

Eeeee-bolllll-aaaaaa ping!

Bring Out Your Dead

We’re gonna need

a bigger cart!

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

[Carry_Okie]

No, they’re there to bring it back.

[Paulie]

Their return will mark the beginning of the pandemic in the lower 48.

It’s there for all to see, but no one lifts a finger to stop the madness.

[Navy Patriot]

Thousands of American troops headed to Africa to fight… Ebola?

This will work out well.

...

From Mohammed's point of view.

[Mamzelle]

I am convinced this is a way to bring the plague to both our military and the US. Mad, mad...

[MeshugeMikey]

[BunnySlippers]

Absurd! Our troops are not doctors for the most part. They should not be asked to fight an illness in Africa.

[cripplecreek]

So what happens when those troops are confronted with a desperate machete wielding mob many of whom may be infected with Ebola?

Will they be allowed to fire to defend themselves? Will they face charges if they do? What will those governments say?

[grania]

Uhhh...a repiratory disease spread through the US as schools opened this year. One has to assume its source is the hordes of Central Americans and others in the schools. So how about the US military protecting OUR borders?

DC Senators and HOR are not going to step up. They'll just wait and use all of Obama's bad actions (they're all bad) as election issues. The nation doesn't have time for their inaction.

Oh, and about that medical assistance? How about taking care of the needs of US Veterans?

[listenhillary]

The mission seems to be building hospitals. Still will be tricky to keep the population away when building them.

Wish we could drop hospital kits, clean suits and supplies from the air with no boots on the ground.

[Morpheus2009]

It’s largely a posture by Obama to say that he supports Democracy, like putting up a proposal about toppling Assad, remember. If there are troops in Liberia, their purpose is a massacre and torch people and villages to stop the disease.

[listenhillary]

Good questions and I’ve already heard rumblings about that. Countries declaring martial law and we get to enforce it. Nice.

[dfwgator]

Obama learned nothing from history.

The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 was mainly fueled by soldiers returning from Europe after WWI.

Now Obama is knowingly sending them into a pandemic area. What could possibly go wrong?

[Paine in the Neck]

A huge factor in the spread of the Spanish flu pandemic was the return of troops from the European theater where the flu was rampant and their dispersal throughout the US upon repatriation. So, it’s a good idea to send thousands of US troops into Ebola’s heartland and then bring them back stateside.

[skeeter]

That was my first thought. This pr*ck is using them as carriers.

[Morpheus2009]

They have the deadly armor-penetrating AK-47s in Africa too, you know.

[donozark]

Well, Billy Ayers did say 25 million Americans would need to be killed before socialism could take root in our country. What better way to start? Destroy our military first. Our enemies will do the rest...