Thousands More US Troops Headed to Liberia to Fight Ebola

Pentagon Develops Isolation Units for Planes

by | Oct 26, 2014

Thousands of additional US troops are heading to Liberia, according to commander Major General Gary Volesky, the lead of the ongoing war on Ebola in western Africa.

Volesky praised the “great team” of troops being sent to Liberia, and vowed that the forces would “stamp out Ebola” across the region. The initially stated “war goal” was to build 17 treatment units in Liberia for the large number of Ebola patients.

The treatment units are supposed to be completed by December, but the latest indications are that the US military involvement there will not end with this construction.

The clearest indication of that is the Pentagon’s development of “isolation units” for its transport planes, which will allow the military to transport a number of Ebola patients per plane. The units are not expected to be deployed in the field until January at the earliest.

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.

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