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Feature
Losing Mali
The administration will not avoid further involvement in an African tribal war.
(Page 2 of 5)
Kelvin Anderson was experienced enough to know that with the present political climate, a war-weary nation, and an election year, a decision to intervene in the interminable on-off Tuareg wars was likely to be examined with great prudence. The colonel, a laconic Texan with a wry sense of humor and an easygoing manner who commands without raising his voice, understood that if intervention was not already on the options list, well, sorry about that.
Instead, the mission, dubbed Atlas Accord 2012, was to teach the Malian forces how to deliver men and supplies through drops or landings on improvised fields.
If you are going to fight Tuareg and al Qaeda terrorists in the Sahara, which is the size of the U.S. east of the Mississippi, air drops are crucial. And not just to supply guns and ammo to kill the armed bandits (as everyone calls them in Bamako—when they’re being polite), but also to deliver food and water to the populations those bandits are turning into desperate refugees.
That last part is not unimportant. The Americans hoped to show that these same skills and equipment can be used to undertake the kinds of humanitarian missions in which our services, particularly the National Guard, have long experience. In a region like the Sahel, where disaster is hardly uncommon, you can’t rely only on the United Nations or the Red Cross. This is a component of what we call soft power.
The 369th Sustainment Brigade, New York National Guard, ran the show on the ground, and Col. Reginald (Reggie) Sanders was delighted to have been placed in command. After serving in the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York, he had a second career, while staying in the Reserves, as an executive with the Chrysler Corporation. Now he was on his third career as the C.O. of the legendary 369th, famous for never giving an inch, for always getting the task done.
As a sustainment brigade, the 3-6-9 is the backbone we often hear about but rarely see in action, the force that makes everything else possible. They deliver transportation, supplies, food, medicine, and every conceivable item to the front line, with the same promptness and care as UPS brings your wife the present for your anniversary.
The 3-6-9 helped destroy the color line in the American military. During World War I, the 369th Infantry, unpopular with commanders still committed to the idea that white men fight America’s wars, was loaned to the French. They proved their worth, and earned the nickname Harlem Hellfighters.
A century and several wars later, the 3-6-9 is as integrated—diverse, in current jargon—as the city and state that continue to furnish its ranks. Here in Mali, they were ready to do the job—and to help the Malians see that they were on the right path, and that there was always a way to get from A to B, even if your political leaders are a gang of thieves and your superior officers bought their commissions.
As Justin Lenz, the regimental command sergeant major (the highest non-commissioned rank in the Army), pointed out, “There’s no such thing as can’t. If you say you can’t, I say it means you won’t.”
Complex Mali
MALI IS POPULAR with soft power advocates because it’s
democratic. The State Department, and the other free-and-fair types
who get their money from State, seldom mention the vote stealing,
the massive abstention, and the vanishing polling boxes that have
come to characterize Mali’s elections. Cynicism? Maybe not—consider
how New York worked in Boss Tweed’s democracy. The real problem was
that our policy bigs believed their own wishful thinking, and—as in
some other places where we have been rather heavily engaged of
late—pretended not to see the signs of disaffection and
misery.
Malians chose the path of liberal democratic development following the overthrow of the military dictator Moussa Traoré in 1990. Mali quickly became Americans’ favorite West African country, a model. (We didn’t do everything we could have, like letting Malian cotton into the U.S., but in a contest between free trade and the farm lobby, the outcome was predictable.) At the same time, it was curious that given our official aim of protecting black Africa from the jihadists we gave so little thought to the Tuareg Question.
It would have helped if we’d learned a little history.
During the first months of World War I, Italy tried to impose order on Libya. It had taken over this backwater of the Ottoman Empire in 1912, but the local Arab and Berber tribes resisted their new masters. As Douglas Porch relates in The Conquest of the Sahara, “[The Italians] abandoned 5,000 rifles and ammunition by the cratefuls. For the first time in their history, the desert tribes were extremely well armed.”
Porch, who wrote his fine history in 1984, could not know how important this abandonment would become 90 years later in the global war on terror. But he would have known that given the chance, something like it would happen again.
About the Author
Roger Kaplan, a Washington-based writer, covers the Middle East and Africa (and tennis) for The American Spectator.
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MelvinNC| 1.4.13 @ 7:50AM
I first instincts would say, "F-ck em." I know my opinion is a bit course and not worthy of some who post eloquent and deep thought remarks, but maybe that is why I am not a diplomat.
Being a former infantryman I am sick and damn tired getting involved in little brush wars that we have no intention of winning, but merely keeping the status quo from spreading.
Another major fact is that I am also sick and damn tired of allegedly saving Nations and ungrateful residents who call me and my Nation a bunch of infidel S.O.B.'s, and then join the enemy that I and my fellow grunts are trying to save them from.
We're trying to save them, but from what, they don't want to be saved and we don't have the heart to stick with it. The residents know this and the enemy knows this. So that is the main reason the residents won't lift a finger to help themselves.
"So f-ck em." This remark is also to include the politicians who are the ones that are not dying and comeing back in pieces from some 6th world shit-hole.
OP4| 1.5.13 @ 2:12PM
This old Infantry Marine seconds that opinion.
Before WWII we fought our numerous "small wars" better in 2 ways.
1. The JAG's, Lawyers, and bureaucrats weren't invited. Marines and soldiers got the dirty work done out of sight and weren't second guessed.
2. Those Banana Wars at least made American businesses money and were not just a needless drain on the economy.
Those days are gone. Time we let the Third World sort itself out.
markenoff| 1.6.13 @ 3:45PM
Ditto. No oil? Who cares. Artificial borders drawn by European powers. Let them deal with it.
Tomper| 1.4.13 @ 8:16AM
Our muslim president will be no help.
Joellen| 1.4.13 @ 8:16AM
Why would the democrats do anything in Africa, when they refuse to bring order and peace right here in oh I dont know let's say CHICAGO!
Please, Mr. Kaplan, with all due respect, this administration doesnt have the moral authority to stop a fist fight within their own headquarters.
cicero| 1.4.13 @ 9:24AM
This appears to be just another event where we feed the locals so that they will be healthy enough to support their Muslim conquerors after the rape, murder, and pillage is over. If we were serious about winning this war against violent Muslim expansion, we would destroy every Muslim incursion into new territory. However, this would require that we use the power that we have,. and not try to buildd nations where none exist. The only viable strategy is to run them to ground where ever they appear, and kill them before they can kill those who do not submit to them. Perhaps burying them with a ham sandwich in their pockets would take some of the religious fervor out of the jihad. (Just kidding - but maybe not.)
Pecos Pete| 1.4.13 @ 9:25AM
Is Mali another Afghanistan? Yes indeed. Tribal affiliations and religions that our "statesmen" don't understand. Mali is not worth one American death, nor one American dollar, until our Lords deign to fight a war that requires winning instead of slowly giving way as they play their diplomatic games.
Mnestheus| 1.4.13 @ 9:47AM
Having eaten a ham sandwhich while flying over Mali. I fail to see what the fuss is about.
BShep| 1.4.13 @ 10:03AM
I do believe that my Middle Eastern policy can be easily applied to the continent of Africa.
In any conflict, arm the losing side until they become the winning side, then arm the other side until the conflict is over, and then send in the CIA to start the cycle over again. Eventually, they will run out of people to wage war and in the meantime they will leave us alone, win – win all the way around.
In addition, provide an AK47 and 250 rounds of ammunition to any female who asks. That will really make the males upset, especially the muslims.
If the above is too simplistic, then please, someone explain to me why I should care at all about this. I am sure not a one of them cares a whit about, say, the murder rate in Detroit or Chicago. While explaining, please use small words and type slowly so my poor brain can understand. BTW, do not bother with the “no man is an island” argument. I am not buying it.
wombat1| 1.4.13 @ 1:02PM
Since when was Mali ours to "lose"?
Have we learned nothing from Iraq and Afghanistan? We can defeat any foe militarily, but that's it . Unless we are willing to stay 50 years, as in occupied Germany and Japan, there is no hope of transforming a nation's character. In this case, the situation is that much worse because there is, properly speaking, no such thing as a nation to work with, And not only are the people effectively living in about 500 A.D., they are willing to fight and die for the privilege of staying there.
But, as usual, any patch of desert or jungle can be declared "strategic" as soon as some gun toting nitwit can be found screaming "death to America". Then the good old circus begins again. "Advisors" and "trainers" give way to combat troops. Billions of dollars are spent on the military effort, which mainly consists of shooting ammunition into the blue and getting our troops ambushed. More billions go to the country building /pacification effort, which means transferring the money from the American taxpayer to Zurich via our " allies".
I vote we pass on this one.
The way to get out of trouble here is to keep out.
Stan Redmond| 1.4.13 @ 2:07PM
If we could somehow get the Mali citizens to vote democrat we would be there in a second.
Pecos Pete| 1.4.13 @ 2:30PM
Stan: In that case they would become the 58th state.
cicero| 1.4.13 @ 3:41PM
Since we' re not serious, and not willing to actually fight to win, I agree that we best stay home. However, if we are going to do that, we also should stop funding either side in these regime change/wars of conquest. If and when they come here, retribution must be severe and swift, with the end result being the totat destruction of those who attacked us or gave them comfort and aid. Not like last time, where we kicked the smot out of them, then stayed to build them up better than they were before they attacked us. Pakistan, anyone?, Iraq?, Afghanistan?,
air max en france | 1.5.13 @ 3:52AM
You can listen to music or read a book or discuss various matters with your mates—does God exist, should you marry your girlfriend, the reports on the outbreak of African tribal war.