thedrifter
05-10-04, 06:21 AM
U.S. Marines bring hope
to a poor African nation
French Foreign Legion joins Marines
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By P.T. Brent
Djibouti, Horn of Africa >> A Jeep bus careens wildly around a corner and the side mirror whacks the head of a local man; he drops, apparently dead. Djiboutians take little notice. Life is cheap is this lawless land.
Maj. Tom Prentice, a Marine from Texas, calls Djibouti "the kind of place where you'd expect to see Indiana Jones." This former French colony, contiguous with Ethiopia and Somali, is in a tough neighborhood. According to the Marine Corps commanding officer Col. Bill Callahan, an Irishman from West Hartford, Conn., the primary values are location, location and location.
Djibouti (ja-BOOT-ti) is on the Horn of Africa, at the crossroads of the Red Sea, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and of course Arabia's rich oil fields. It is slightly smaller than Massachusetts, with a population of 600,000 mostly Muslim Africans. It has virtually a zero economy, little potable water and the life expectancy for a Djiboutian born today is barely 40 years. This sorrowful statistic is no doubt well assisted by the AIDS epidemic that scientists believe originated in Africa; sadly, 12 percent of Djiboutians now have HIV. One of the Djiboutians' few recreations is a stimulant called "khat," which they get from chewing the leaves of the catha edulis plant.
Each day at 1300 the Marines see the cargo plane from Ethiopia land with the daily khat sales to be distributed through a legally organized set of vendors. Khat is widely used even at the highest circles of government.
Travel here is at your own risk. The roads have no signage, even at railway crossings. Livestock wander onto the highways. Vehicles, free of safety measures, often seem to be out of control.
Terrorists will thrive in these lands without governance. America had to learn this the hard way. Where we failed to stop Osama bin Laden in Ethiopia and Afghanistan, we now intend to stop al-Qaida from establishing a base on or near the Horn of Africa. Thus enter the Marines, who now have satellite bases on Kenya's coast and in Ethiopia, operated from Djibouti as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Marines also provide humanitarian relief, which currently includes building whatever structures were destroyed and purifying water tainted by recent flooding in the normally arid region.
This is a hardship post for the Corps; usually no more than a six-month deployment is required. This small base is reminiscent of the old posts in Latin America, where Marines often represented the only semblance of law and order.
During the Gulf War, Djibouti was the base of operations for French forces, and France still maintains a garrison of the renowned French Foreign Legion (see story on this page). President Omar Gelleh is a strong ruler who favors Djibouti's long-standing relationship with France. He also favors the economic assets the United States offers his country. The Germans also have some forces in Djibouti. Perhaps France and Germany, too, would have been targets in Djibouti land, had their governments not vetoed the U.S. resolutions at the United Nations.
This the third point in the AOR triangle (area of responsibility). Our Marine general officers Lt. Gen. Chip Gregson and Brig. Gen. Jerry McAbee from Oahu have the responsibility for this, as well as the Iraqi and Afghanistan areas.
Meanwhile, our Marines stand guard at a post in a critical location in the global war on terrorism. Be assured, says Col. Callahan, this will not be a future home for al-Qaida.
http://starbulletin.com/2004/05/09/editorial/special.html
Ellie
to a poor African nation
French Foreign Legion joins Marines
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By P.T. Brent
Djibouti, Horn of Africa >> A Jeep bus careens wildly around a corner and the side mirror whacks the head of a local man; he drops, apparently dead. Djiboutians take little notice. Life is cheap is this lawless land.
Maj. Tom Prentice, a Marine from Texas, calls Djibouti "the kind of place where you'd expect to see Indiana Jones." This former French colony, contiguous with Ethiopia and Somali, is in a tough neighborhood. According to the Marine Corps commanding officer Col. Bill Callahan, an Irishman from West Hartford, Conn., the primary values are location, location and location.
Djibouti (ja-BOOT-ti) is on the Horn of Africa, at the crossroads of the Red Sea, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and of course Arabia's rich oil fields. It is slightly smaller than Massachusetts, with a population of 600,000 mostly Muslim Africans. It has virtually a zero economy, little potable water and the life expectancy for a Djiboutian born today is barely 40 years. This sorrowful statistic is no doubt well assisted by the AIDS epidemic that scientists believe originated in Africa; sadly, 12 percent of Djiboutians now have HIV. One of the Djiboutians' few recreations is a stimulant called "khat," which they get from chewing the leaves of the catha edulis plant.
Each day at 1300 the Marines see the cargo plane from Ethiopia land with the daily khat sales to be distributed through a legally organized set of vendors. Khat is widely used even at the highest circles of government.
Travel here is at your own risk. The roads have no signage, even at railway crossings. Livestock wander onto the highways. Vehicles, free of safety measures, often seem to be out of control.
Terrorists will thrive in these lands without governance. America had to learn this the hard way. Where we failed to stop Osama bin Laden in Ethiopia and Afghanistan, we now intend to stop al-Qaida from establishing a base on or near the Horn of Africa. Thus enter the Marines, who now have satellite bases on Kenya's coast and in Ethiopia, operated from Djibouti as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Marines also provide humanitarian relief, which currently includes building whatever structures were destroyed and purifying water tainted by recent flooding in the normally arid region.
This is a hardship post for the Corps; usually no more than a six-month deployment is required. This small base is reminiscent of the old posts in Latin America, where Marines often represented the only semblance of law and order.
During the Gulf War, Djibouti was the base of operations for French forces, and France still maintains a garrison of the renowned French Foreign Legion (see story on this page). President Omar Gelleh is a strong ruler who favors Djibouti's long-standing relationship with France. He also favors the economic assets the United States offers his country. The Germans also have some forces in Djibouti. Perhaps France and Germany, too, would have been targets in Djibouti land, had their governments not vetoed the U.S. resolutions at the United Nations.
This the third point in the AOR triangle (area of responsibility). Our Marine general officers Lt. Gen. Chip Gregson and Brig. Gen. Jerry McAbee from Oahu have the responsibility for this, as well as the Iraqi and Afghanistan areas.
Meanwhile, our Marines stand guard at a post in a critical location in the global war on terrorism. Be assured, says Col. Callahan, this will not be a future home for al-Qaida.
http://starbulletin.com/2004/05/09/editorial/special.html
Ellie