OBAMA’S WAR – part II
Posted on August 24th, 2011
Hela Puwath
ObamaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s secret war in Somalia where ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”the Americans are creating a monsterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ by Paul Woodward on August 11, 2011
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-MercenaryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ is a word with lots of ugly connotations ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ not least for men whoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ve been jailed for being mercenaries.
- ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ So, Bancroft Global Development, a private company based in Washington DC currently providing ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-military servicesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for the US State Department and the UN in Mogadishu, doesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t like the term ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-mercenaries.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
- It describes itself instead as a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to finding permanent solutions to violent conflict.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
- It also has what might be a unique distinction of operating in the United States as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit charitable organization.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The Obama administration clearly doesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t feel comfortable employing mercenaries or ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-mentors,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ as BancroftƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s soldiers call themselves, and so they get paid by the governments of Uganda and Burundi who then get reimbursed by the State Department.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Richard Rouget, the French-born South-African Bancroft employee who is the primary source for the New York Times article cited below, letƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s the companyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s PR mask fall momentarily and reveals a 19th century colonial mentality when he refers to his Somali adversaries as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-savagesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the 1970s, Rouget is said to have been active in neo-fascist organizations such as Groupe Union DƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚©fense (GUD).
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This is how GUD (founded in 1968) and a similar ultra-right group, UnitƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚© Radicale, were described in The Guardian:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
- Both the GUD and UR, founded in 1998, are rabidly racist, anti-semitic and anti-American, declared enemies of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-global, cosmopolitan financeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, supportive of the September 11 attacks and believers in la France blanche .
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ While they profess to be genuine ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-nationalist revolutionariesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ rather than neo-Nazis, the paraphernalia of the Third Reich is never far from their gatherings.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Meanwhile, through its creation of the Somali National Security Agency ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ an intelligence organization financed largely by the CIA ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ the Obama administration is backing what one Somali official says is becoming a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-government within a government.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-No one, not even the president, knows what the NSA is doing,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ he said. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The Americans are creating a monster.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The New York Times reports:
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Richard Rouget, a gun for hire over two decades of bloody African conflict, is the unlikely face of the American campaign against militants in Somalia.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A husky former French Army officer, Mr. Rouget, 51, commanded a group of foreign fighters during Ivory CoastƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s civil war in 2003, was convicted by a South African court of selling his military services and did a stint in the presidential guard of the Comoros Islands, an archipelago plagued by political tumult and coup attempts.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Now Mr. Rouget works for Bancroft Global Development, an American private security company that the State Department has indirectly financed to train African troops who have fought a pitched urban battle in the ruins of this city against the Shabab, the Somali militant group allied with Al Qaeda.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The company plays a vital part in the conflict now raging inside Somalia, a country that has been effectively ungoverned and mired in chaos for years. The fight against the Shabab, a group that United States officials fear could someday carry out strikes against the West, has mostly been outsourced to African soldiers and private companies out of reluctance to send American troops back into a country they hastily exited nearly two decades ago.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We do not want an American footprint or boot on the ground,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ said Johnnie Carson, the Obama administrationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s top State Department official for Africa.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A visible United States military presence would be provocative, he said, partly because of SomaliaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s history as a graveyard for American missions ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ including the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Black Hawk DownƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ episode in 1993, when Somali militiamen killed 18 American service members.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Still, over the past year, the United States has quietly stepped up operations inside Somalia, American officials acknowledge. The Central Intelligence Agency, which largely finances the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s spy agency, has covertly trained Somali intelligence operatives, helped build a large base at MogadishuƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s airport ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ Somalis call it ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the Pink HouseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for the reddish hue of its buildings or ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-GuantƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¡namoƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for its ties to the United States ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚ and carried out joint interrogations of suspected terrorists with their counterparts in a ramshackle Somali prison.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And while Washington continues to look at Somalia through the mind-numbing prism of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-global terrorism,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the people of this war-torn nation struggle to survive.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A staggering ten percent of children under five are now dying from starvation every 11 weeks.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ [emphasis ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” contributorsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢]