Also noted in the evening edition of Instapundit yesterday. EFL.
U.S. forces have disrupted several planned terrorist attacks against Western and other targets in the Horn of Africa and local authorities have killed or captured more than two dozen militants, the U.S. general in command of an anti-terrorism task force told The Associated Press. Of the hundreds of foreign fighters detained by U.S. troops in Iraq, approximately 25 percent come from the seven countries that fall under the purview of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, Marine Brig. Gen. Mastin Robeson told AP in his first in-depth interview since taking command in May 2003. Robeson said suspected terrorists from Tanzania, through the Horn of Africa, all the way to southern Egypt and Saudi Arabia are working with each other to promote radicalism. ``There are three issues here: there is transnational terrorist networking, at large, there are specific cells planning terrorist attacks, and there’s the recruiting, training and shipping of foreign fighters into Iraq,’’ Robeson said Saturday night at his headquarters on a former French Foreign Legion post in Djibouti.
Where’s the Legion: off eating croissants?
``They are down here training and recruiting,’’ he said. ``They are trying to create numbers and what we want to do is prevent them from creating numbers.’’ U.S. officials in the past have said at least five senior al-Qaida terrorists with close ties to Osama bin Laden live in the Horn of Africa. Robeson said initial estimates were too low. ``A year ago, it was basically thought that there were probably five to seven, maybe 15, depending on who you talk to,’’ Robeson said. ``There have already been 25 captured or killed, and now it’s in the hundreds of named people that we and host nations would like to find and talk to preferably in Bagram or Gitmo.’’ Robeson said his job is to empower governments in the region to stop terrorism by helping them improve their militaries, police, coast guards and intelligence services. His troops also help the governments fight poverty through humanitarian projects. All the governments - with the exception of Somalia, which doesn’t have any government whatsoever a central government - are fully cooperating in what Robeson said is a long-term effort that will take years to complete.
| 'Nother words, the locals see us as a goody basket... |
He said that just as attacks have increased elsewhere in the world, the Horn of Africa also faces a growing problem. ``There are more terrorist threats, right now ... than has ever been listed in this region,’’ he said. ``The increase in the attacks that you see in Iraq and Afghanistan are parallel here. The difference is we have been successful here with host nation partnerships at disrupting those plans.’’
| My guess is that it's more a recruiting ground for cannon fodder — lots of ignorance to be preyed upon in the area — than it is an operations area. |
``I think we have frustrated the terrorists,’’ Robeson said. ``Mission success does not necessarily only resonate in how many people we either capture or kill, because when we put them on the move, they’re now out of their comfort zone and they are vulnerable.’’
Hard to be a terrorist when you’re always looking over your shoulder.
The 1,800 troops permanently based in Djibouti work throughout the region and are establishing a model for future operations that will depend more on intelligence and less on firepower. The focus is on helping poor countries stop terrorism before a massive U.S. military intervention, like the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, is required. ``We like to use the analogy that if Iraq and Afghanistan were an apple and an orange, we’re a Volkswagen,’’ he explained. ``Our mission is pure and simply to help host nations control their own destiny.’’
This man sounds like he knows the job. |