Iraq, with an impotent central government propped up by US troops and sectarian militias, is in practical terms a failed state. Afghanistan is in deep trouble. Pakistan’s dictator president is publishing a memoir aimed at burnishing his anti-US credentials. Hezbullah is sitting pretty in Lebanon. Gaza is in ruins. Iran is daily gaining clout in the Middle East. The CIA says US foreign policy, in particular the elements of it creating large numbers of dead people, is manufacturing terrorists faster than we can capture or kill them. So what to do?

One of the answers appears to be “On to Africa.” An August 31 Reuters story referenced a “Combating and Preventing Terrorism in Africa” conference in connection with which Pentagon officials said they were considering establishing a unified Africa command. More recent stories confirm that the idea is close to becoming a done, if evolving, deal.

From a military standpoint, a unified Africa command makes sense. It’s a big continent with a lot of oil and several potential, if not actual, safe havens for terrorist organizations, and no US administration will want to be caught flat-footed on either issue in the region: if the Bush administration doesn’t establish an Africa command, the next administration, Republican or Democrat, will.

The problem is that this is the Bush administration, and they don’t have what one could describe as a stellar record on creating new bureaucracies, or enhancing the safety of the US, or increasing the stability of whatever region engages their attention. It’s the worst president ever operating in tandem with what may prove to be the worst secretary of defense ever. It’s a gang of arsonists who are perfectly capable of doing for Africa what they’ve done for the Middle East.

The US has reason to be concerned about oil, not just in Africa and the Middle East, but closer to home as well. China and India are both moving aggressively to secure oil purchase and development deals throughout the world — including South America, which is among the reasons Hugo Chavez and other disobedient South American leaders make the administration so jumpy — both individually and, increasingly, in tandem.

It’s never a good idea to get between the US and our oil (and it’s all our oil), but given this administration’s spectacularly limited repertoire of responses to challenging situations and the exposure of our conventional military forces as inadequate to some tasks, squeezing the US, intentionally or not, is increasingly dangerous for all parties.

George Bush is not our redeemer. The creation of a unified Africa command would very much best be left to someone else. Anyone else.

Bookmark and Share

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™