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<P class=title><FONT size=3><STRONG>Mali, Unintended Consequences, and Endless
War</STRONG></FONT></P>
<DIV class=details3><FONT size=3><STRONG>John Glaser, January 14, 2013
</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
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<P><A
href="http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/01/14/french-led-military-intervention-supported-by-us-destined-to-make-mali-into-bigger-quagmire/"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>Kevin Gosztola over at FireDogLake</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT
size=3><STRONG> has a helpful round-up of news stories describing US involvement
in the French-led military intervention in Mali:</STRONG></FONT></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG><IMG class="alignright size-full wp-image-17774"
alt="" src="http://antiwar.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Mali.gif"
width=257 height=274>CBS News </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57563710/u.s-aiding-frances-military-operation-in-mali/"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>reported</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT
size=3><STRONG> the ”United States is providing communications and
transport help for an international military intervention aimed at wresting
Mali’s north out of the hands of Islamist extremists.” Though the mission is
taking place in a “lawless desert in weakly governed country,” French foreign
minister Laurent Fabius said the operation was “gaining international backing.
The US was providing communications and transportation
support.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>On January 12, “US officials” told CBS “they had
offered to send drones to Mali.” Drones excel in weakly governed and lawless
deserts and lawless parts of countries it seems such parts are where the US
likes to use drones the most.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>The <EM>Wall Street Journal </EM>reported,
“France asked Washington late last week to deploy unmanned aerial drones and
aircraft that could be used to refuel French fighter planes in the air. Paris
also asked the US to provide satellite imagery and share intercepts of
militants’ communications.”</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>According to <EM>WSJ</EM>, unnamed US officials
told the newspaper the role of America “would be non-lethal in nature,
focused on intelligence collection and providing other support to French and
any allied African forces.” But drones were used to carry out strikes in Libya
in 2011 and mission creep could easily lead to a situation where military
drones were not just providing non-lethal tactical support to enable French
military operations.”</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>Also, Tom Vanden Brook of <EM>USA
TODAY</EM> </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/14/us-military-warplanes-france-africa/1832669/"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>reported</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG>, “US military
warplanes assisted French forces battling Islamic extremists in two African
countries over the weekend, according to the Pentagon, highlighting the
growing threat of al Qaeda-linked terrorists in the
region.”</STRONG></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>It is important to remember, as I
wrote </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/26/mali-coup-has-us-interventionism-written-all-over-it/"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>almost a year ago</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG>, that
the unrest in Mali that is now the excuse for Western military intervention is a
direct consequence of the US-NATO war in Libya in 2011. Former Gadhafi militias,
including lots of Tuaregs from northern Mali, returned after an influx of arms
flooded Libya. The resulting unrest led to a military coup - led by
by Captain Amadou Sanogo, trained by the US military
- against President Amadou Toumani Toure. So not only did the rise of
Islamist rebels in Mali result directly from a separate US war in Muslim lands,
but the subsequent collapse of the Malian government was instigated by militias
that were trained and armed by the US.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>“Over and over, western intervention ends up – whether
by ineptitude or design – sowing the seeds of further intervention,”
</STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/14/mali-france-bombing-intervention-libya"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>writes</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG> Glenn Greenwald,
with regard to the intervention in Mali. “Nobody is better at creating its own
enemies, and thus ensuring a posture of endless war, than the US and its
allies,” Greenwald adds. “Where the US cannot find enemies to fight against it,
it simply empowers them.”</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>Walter Russell Mead </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/01/14/nyt-calls-us-anti-terror-strategy-in-north-africa-a-catastrophe/"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>writes</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG> at <EM>The
American Interest</EM> that Obama’s “counter-terrorism” policies in North Africa
have failed catastrophically:</STRONG></FONT></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>Since Obama took office the US spent almost $600
million to combat Islamic militancy across North Africa. In countries
like Mali and Niger US forces trained local soldiers in counterterrorism
skills. Arms and equipment were bought so local governments could protect
their territories. This strategy, in theory, would protect North Africa from
falling into the hands of Islamist militants—who would impose strict Sharia
rule on unwilling locals and use lawless territory to launch attacks on
Western targets—without involving a heavy deployment of American troops like
in Iraq and Afghanistan.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>That was the theory. But as heavily armed Islamist
militants battle French forces in the Battle for Mali, it’s clear Obama’s
strategy to help weak North African states protect themselves from terrorists
has failed catastrophically.</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>“This has been brewing for five years,” one US special
ops officer told the <EM>NYT</EM>. “The analysts got complacent in their
assumptions and did not see the big changes and the impacts of them, like the
big weaponry coming out of Libya and the different, more Islamic” fighters who
came in from Libya.</STRONG></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>The <EM>New York Times</EM> </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/world/africa/french-jets-strike-deep-inside-islamist-held-mali.html"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>reports</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG> that some US
officials believe a Western assault on Mali “could rally jihadists around the
world and prompt terrorist attacks as far away as Europe.”</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><STRONG>Indeed what has been happening in the news is revealing:
the French-led air assaults seem to have </STRONG></FONT><A
href="http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=304001"><FONT
size=3><STRONG>emboldened</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG> the Islamist
fighters. Either Mali becomes a long lasting military quagmire, or a
misleadingly quick mission leads to even worse blowback somewhere else in
Africa’s Sahel region, prompting yet another Western
intervention.</STRONG></FONT></P></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>