The US military is planning to establish a base for drones in northwest Africa on the Mali-Niger border, with the alleged justification of having greater surveillance of Islamist groups in the region.
US officials told the New York Times that the drone base would be used for unarmed drones only, but that is highly unlikely. Armed drones – a secret, unaccountable way to bomb unidentified groups of people in foreign countries – have become the central “counter-terrorism” tool at the Obama administration’s disposal.
The Pentagon is using the US-backed French military intervention in Mali as a way to justify the drone base.
“This is directly related to the Mali mission, but it could also give Africom a more enduring presence for I.S.R.,” one US military official told the Times, referring to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
US military and intelligence involvement in Africa has increased markedly since the establishment of AFRICOM in 2007. Much of this has been justified by unnecessary military interventions that don’t address direct threats to the US, like the NATO-backed regime change operation in Libya and the deployment of US forces to Uganda.
Beyond that, these expansions into Africa are justified by citing militant groups which are also non-threats, like al-Shabab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the militants now fighting in Mali.
One of the real threats Washington perceives in the increasing presence in Africa of Chinese economic interests. China is viewed by Washington as a rising power and a peer competitor in terms of economic weight, military strength, and geo-political sway.
The Obama administration has already assembled “a constellation of secret drone bases” in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, as the Washington Post reported in 2011. Drones lifting off from these bases – which lie in Ehtiopia, Djibouti, the Seychelles, and beyond – go on to bomb Yemen and Somalia and most likely perform surveillance missions in East Africa and the Persian Gulf.
Since the beginning of civilization, the rich ruling class has desired above all things the ability to kill off the leaders of anti-government rebellions. A neat trick if you can do it, for then rule by the rich becomes perpetual and human society becomes a living hell unending.
I would have to conclude that we, the anti interventionist right, have a ways to go and need to work harder to stop this insanity.
Yet another base for drones?! Hot diggity damn!… The empire rolls along.
The president of Mali had only few months left in his term, when the US-sponsored coup took him out. After about one day of "consternation" about the coup, comes the real goods. The rebels — most still wearing Qatari uniforms provided for the "revolutionaries" in Libya, are now perfect pretext for whoesale invasion. Obama, leading "from behind" , leads NATO into the first phase of recolonizing Africa. While NATO says, we are not doing this! France starts, UK joins, US will build the military infrastructure on the soil of the first fully NATO-complicit regime. Any of the NATO countries will "pull back" to prevent mass outrage at home, while staying on. So, France is "scaling back" to blunt the opposition, while Cameron is putting "sizeable" force in. As US trained Mali military leadership commits crimes against civilians on a MASS scale — the reason is understandable. Sorry, we forgot to give them courses in ethics! Do NOT expect indictments in Hague for such trifling massacres of thousands. Sorry, we make mistakes, but we ALWAYS mean well!