@gjohnsit @gjohnsit

time.

The people of the African, like those in the Middle East, are sitting on OUR assets and we do not intend to allow them to think otherwise. It is what it always is, military madness in support of ' our American Empire'.

So how many U.S. military bases are there in Africa? It’s a simple question with a simple answer. For years, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) gave astock response: one. Camp Lemonnier in the tiny, sun-bleached nation of Djibouti was America’s only acknowledged “base” on the continent. It wasn’t true, of course, because there were camps, compounds, installations, and facilities elsewhere, but the military leaned hard on semantics.

Take a look at the Pentagon’s official list of bases, however, and the number grows. The 2015 report on the Department of Defense’s global property portfolio lists Camp Lemonnier and three other deep-rooted sites on or near the continent: U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, a medical research facility in Cairo, Egypt, that was established in 1946; Ascension Auxiliary Airfield, a spacecraft tracking station and airfield located 1,000 miles off the coast of West Africa that has been used by the U.S. since 1957; and warehouses at the airport and seaport in Mombasa, Kenya, that were built in the 1980s.

That’s only the beginning, not the end of the matter. For years, variousreporters have shed light on hush-hush outposts -- most of them built, upgraded, or expanded since 9/11 -- dotting the continent, including so-calledcooperative security locations (CSLs). Earlier this year, AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez disclosed that there were actually 11 such sites. Again, devoted AFRICOM-watchers knew that this, too, was just the start of a larger story, but when I asked Africa Command for a list of bases, camps and other sites, as I periodically have done, I was treated like a sap.

“In all, AFRICOM has access to 11 CSLs across Africa. Of course, we have one major military facility on the continent: Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti,” Anthony Falvo, AFRICOM’s Public Affairs chief, told me. Falvo was peddling numbers that both he and I know perfectly well are, at best, misleading. “It’s one of the most troubling aspects of our military policy in Africa, and overseas generally, that the military can’t be, and seems totally resistant to being, honest and transparent about what it’s doing,” says David Vine, author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.

Research by TomDispatch indicates that in recent years the U.S. military has, in fact, developed a remarkably extensive network of more than 60 outposts and access points in Africa. Some are currently being utilized, some are held in reserve, and some may be shuttered. These bases, camps, compounds, port facilities, fuel bunkers, and other sites can be found in at least 34 countries -- more than 60% of the nations on the continent -- many of them corrupt,repressive states with poor human rights records. The U.S. also operates “Offices of Security Cooperation and Defense Attaché Offices in approximately 38 [African] nations,” according to Falvo, and has struck close to 30 agreements to use international airports in Africa as refueling centers.
https://www.blackagendareport.com/node/4844

Research by TomDispatch indicates that in recent years the U.S. military has, in fact, developed a remarkably extensive network of more than 60 outposts and access points in Africa. Some are currently being utilized, some are held in reserve, and some may be shuttered. These bases, camps, compounds, port facilities, fuel bunkers, and other sites can be found in at least 34 countries -- more than 60% of the nations on the continent -- many of them corrupt, repressive states with poor human rights records. The U.S. also operates “Offices of Security Cooperation and Defense Attaché Offices in approximately 38 [African] nations,” according to Falvo, and has struck close to 30 agreements to use international airports in Africa as refueling centers.

There is no reason to believe that even this represents a complete accounting of America’s growing archipelago of African outposts. Although it’s possible that a few sites are being counted twice due to AFRICOM’s failure to provide basic information or clarification, the list TomDispatch has developed indicates that the U.S. military has created a network of bases that goes far beyond what AFRICOM has disclosed to the American public, let alone to Africans.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_america's_empire_of_african_bases

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/us-military-bases-africa

EDIT: added link for map

NOTE: : the site accepted this post without problem originally. When I added the link for the map (from Mother Jones) it wouldn't accept it because it said my first line was too long. NOTHING HAD CHANGED and it's done this a few times now. Not complaining because it's not a big deal to get around. Just making a note of the event's occurance.

warning: link to my old DKos diary

But it's a real good diary

And this Docudharma essay from 2011

You might have read something about Somalia as the U.N. prepares to declare the nation in a “full phase-five famine” situation. Translated, that means when a ‘humanitarian emergency’ tips into ‘famine/humanitarian catastrophe’.

  Malnutrition wards are filling up. The crisis is already worse than the situation that led to U.N. intervention in 1991. We are staring into the face of a regional famine the world has not seen since Ethiopia in 1984. There are millions of people currently at risk.

 This is generally a situation that calls for people and nations to come together to prevent a catastrophe of epic proportions. Human decency and civilisation requires it. So what is our government doing in Somalia in the name of America and humanity in general?

  For starers, we are increasing our bombing campaign of Somalia. After all, if they are dying anyway we might as well help them along.

  However, let us not be said that we don’t have something special for the ones that are living – torture cells.

@detroitmechworks

A nice little padded bubble and nice, soft bombs to toss around, so that they can't hurt themselves.

Oh, great, HP is claiming that my computer needs to restart - and I suspect that HP isn't supposed to be operative, since everything expired... except that it said recently that I could no longer get replacement parts for my several-years-old computer, dated as of several months earlier. and now there's a message to disable apps to improve performance... Hope I can get back on without any problems, says the computer illiterate...

While sending poor bastards to be shot at.

I'm starting to wish we could just start putting Generals in a nice little bubble where they THINK they're bombing people, and get all the shiny baubles they think they deserve.

@Cassiodorus
Somalia was one of the countries on the Deep State To-Do list according to Gen. Wesley Clark.
Clinton would have done the same damn thing.

The same things happen regardless.

@Cassiodorus

... Jill Stein as President.

The same things happen regardless.

@Timmethy2.0 @Timmethy2.0

that machinery, which Brian Williams calls "beautiful"

I need to relocate that video and bookmark it. Should I accidentally swallow antifreeze, it will be the perfect thing to watch.

EDIT: Especially since you can't get ipecac any more.

I wonder what would be the reaction in Somalia if we dropped loaves of bread instead of high explosives?

Caring about desperate people gets in the way of enjoying all that machinery, which Brian Williams calls "beautiful", and which brings ever more desperation to these poor people.

@dkmich

Don't worry, the other half will be bombed shortly, too. Bomb production will be ramped up as the military expands - although pay will have to be eliminated for the lower ranks. But food of some variety will be available for those active at the moment in combat duty. Turnip is good for you.

Words fail me.