April 18, 2012’s USA Today featured a story “Al-Qaeda
expands its reach to ‘like-minded’ groups in Africa” (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-04-18/al-qaeda-helps-africa-radical-groups/54399376/1
which is also the photo source).
The article talks about Boko Haram, a Nigerian religious
sect whose goal is to foster an independent Islamic nation in part of Nigeria.
Somalia and Mali are also cited as countries with similar problems. Somalia was
singled out due to the merger of al_shabaab with al-Qaeda.
Terrorist activity, like organized crime, knows no borders.
Conventional wisdom has long indicated that it is easier to prevent something
from building to critical mass than it is to deal with a burgeoning organization
with seemingly growing momentum and resources.
It makes sense for MISO to provide support in environments
where we can influence the action. For example many defense contractors are
active in Western Africa. Peace Support operations are taking place in a number
of countries, some requiring French, Portuguese or Castilian Spanish Speakers.
However, the skills being sought are more traditional skills such as combat
arms training and staff operations. Isn’t it advisable to help these
governments, particularly their military, develop and maintain influence
operations expertise?
Given the current level of MISO engagement globally and the
growing budget pressures, it would seem that the train the trainer approach makes logical
sense and is also cost effective.
We cannot under estimate our enemy’s ability to weave
together alliances wherever disaffected souls or religious zealots reside. The
US has long reached the point where we cannot be the world’s savior,
consequently it is incumbent on President Obama’s administration to meld
Department of State and Department of Defense cooperation and channel resources
into the prevention game as a way to minimize conflicts later in this century.
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