Word: centcom
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...military command, there is a growing sense that a showdown with Iran--over its suspected quest for nuclear weapons, its threats against Israel and its bid for dominance of the world's richest oil region--may be impossible to avoid. The chief of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), General John Abizaid, has called a commanders conference for later this month in the Persian Gulf--sessions he holds at least quarterly--and Iran is on the agenda...
...Pentagon has nine combatant commands, with responsibility for Africa awkwardly divided among three: the European Command, Pacific Command and Central Command (Centcom); the last is responsible for Iraq and Afghanistan. An African Command would eliminate that cumbersome structure. But critics say it could compound an existing problem: "The size and number of headquarters already are skewed too far in favor of 'tail' at the expense of war-fighting 'teeth,'" says a retired military officer...
Intelligence and military officers have long urged that more attention be paid to Africa; some believe an enhanced presence would cut the need for "teeth." Centcom has had a small contingent in the Horn of Africa state of Djibouti since 2002, and Centcom commander General John Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that the unit has helped "discredit extremist propaganda and bolster local desires and capabilities to defeat terrorists before they can become entrenched." How? By training local forces, digging wells and building schools--not to mention goodwill...
...John Abizaid, the Centcom commander, laid out a laundry list of concerns to the Senate Armed Services Committee last March. While Abizaid spoke about the Horn of Africa, the threats stretch across much of the continent. "The Horn of Africa is vulnerable to penetration by regional extremist groups, terrorist activity, and ethnic violence. Al-Qaeda has a history of planning, training for, and conducting major terrorist attacks in this region, such as the bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The volatility of this region is fueled by a daunting list of challenges, to include extreme poverty, corruption, internal...
...days of a female captive in the city, of a soldier with blond hair. "As the situation developed over time, we began to get some indications...that there may be an injured U.S. military member held in this hospital," said U.S. Air Force Major General Victor E. Renuart, Centcom's director of operations. Then, on about March 27 or 28, Mohammed Odeh Rehaief, a lawyer in Nasiriyah, approached some Marines just outside the downtown area and told them of a blond captive inside Saddam Hussein General Hospital...