Word: djiboutis
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...President Bush is trying something similar. For much of 2006, Administration officials fretted about Somalia, where some of the ruling Islamists had terrorist ties. Next door in Djibouti, America stations around 1,000 troops. But instead of sending them in, we turned to Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor and longtime rival. When the Ethiopian military rolled into Mogadishu and sent the Islamists fleeing last week, the Bush Administration kept a low profile, applauding the invasion and thanking its lucky stars that it was Ethiopia that launched...
...about emulating them. Clerics threatened death to those who did not pray five times a day and enforced strict dress codes while Courts leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys declared holy war on Ethiopia, whose eastern parts he claimed belonged to a greater Somalia, along with northeastern Kenya and Djibouti, home to a U.S. base. As TIME reported earlier this year As TIME reported earlier this year, the Courts also sent fighters to Lebanon in the summer to help Hizbollah fight Israel, and in return received weapons from Syria and Iran. The Courts even won backing from Osama bin Laden...
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...
...Many military experts have long advocated paying more attention to Africa. While Central Command has had a small military contingent based in Djibouti (called Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa or 'CJTF-HOA') for several years, intelligence agencies and military officers have warned that the US should be spending more time and money in Africa...
...Abizaid did point out that the small operation in Djibouti has produced bang for the buck: "Working closely with U.S. Embassy personnel in the region, CJTF-HOA assists partner governments in building indigenous capacity to deny terrorists access to their territory. This not only includes training local security and border forces, but also involves assisting with low-level civic projects throughout HOA such as digging wells, building schools and distributing books, and holding medical and veterinary clinics in remote villages." These efforts, Abizaid said, engender goodwill and help "discredit extremist propaganda and bolster local desires and capabilities to defeat terrorists...