Staff Sgt. Cynthia Ramirez sums up the mission of AFRICOM, the Pentagon's newest command: 'Hearts and minds. And we're showing the bad guys we can go anywhere.' (Tribune photo by E. Jason Wambsgans / January 13, 2008)From Chicago Tribune:
So what, then, will the long war against Islamic extremism look like—not next year, but a decade or two down the road? One answer lies next to the airport in Djibouti city, the dilapidated capital of Djibouti and host to the only U.S. military base in Africa.
Camp Lemonier, rented from the Djibouti government for $30 million a year, has all the hallmarks of an overseas U.S. military post at the dawn of the 21st Century: 20-foot-high blast walls; Marines in watchtowers; ranks of locomotive-size generators that drown the area in an industrial hum day and night; and a contractor-run Green Bean Coffee Hut that sells $2.75 Latte Frappes.
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My Comment: This is cheaper than fighting a high kinetic war.