- U.S. troops may be headed for Africa:
-
Under discussion: everything from positioning a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group off Africa’s vast west coast to establishing one or more forward operating bases in Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Equatorial Guinea or the tiny island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.
The spurs for what may prove an unprecedented U.S. military beachhead in sub-Saharan Africa are the region’s instability, potential attractiveness to terrorists and, most pivotal, its rich oil resources, Pentagon officials and Africa experts say.
As much as 15 percent of America’s oil now comes from West Africa – about the amount imported from Saudi Arabia. By next year, the West African portion is expected to jump to 20 percent.
Citing what he described as “large, ungoverned areas … that are clearly new routes of narco-trafficking, terrorism and a hotbed of instability,” U.S. Gen. James Jones recently signaled the Pentagon’s new focus on West Africa.
“I think Africa is a continent that is going to be of very, very significant interest in the 21st century,” Jones, who is head of the U.S. European Command, told a Senate panel in May.
- Israel wants to reopen a 50 year old pipeline for a piece of the spoils: Israel eyes Iraqi oil