U.S. Green Berets Train Mali Troops

SF Gate ^ | March 17, 2004 | EDWARD HARRIS

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TIMBUKTU, Mali -- U.S. Green Berets ran mock ambushes Wednesday in the sand dunes of central Mali, where Malian troops fired blanks at a pretend enemy -- and shouted "bang! bang!" when the blanks ran out.

The exercise is part of a months-long American effort to train troops in Mali and three other impoverished West African nations where Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida are alleged to have operated. The Associated Press was among the first media allowed to observe.

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Our guys helping others help themselves.

[Blackyce]

It's a good thought, I suppose. But when has training Islamic troops not come back to bite us in tha ass?

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Malian soldiers from the 512th Motorised Infantry company complete their training by U.S. Special Forces, top, in the desert near Timbuktu in Mali, Thursday, March 18, 2004. The training is part of the U.S. Pan-Sahel Initiative which aims to secure the Sahel region from being used by terrorists. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Malian soldiers train during exercises under US teams supervision near the Malian desert city of Timbuktu, March 17, 2004. U.S. military experts have begun training soldiers in Mali to tighten border control on the fringe of the Sahara desert, where Washington fears Islamic militants could be moving along ancient trade routes. Reuters /Luc Gnago

Malian soldiers from the 512th Motorised Infantry company enact an ambush exercise under the supervision of U.S. Special Forces in the desert near Timbuktu in Mali Wednesday, March 17, 2004. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

[zimdog]

Mali's soldiers are not "Islamic troops". They are mostly Muslims and soldiers in the regular army of a friendly secular state.