So when did we go to war with Chad? WTF!

[Melodybe]

Hello, Rome much?

[tom_paine]

1. Just WHAT does that mean? Got a link?

[americanstranger]

4. CNN just reported a 'stealth operation' in Chad.

To which I second the 'WTF???'

-as

[nostamj]

7. oh, well, that's very different then...

WTF?

[nostamj]

2. were you looking for

DadistUnderground perhaps? :shrug:

monkey icepick tokyo yahoo?

[linazelle]

3. lol

[Melodybe]

5. They are talking about a secret war on Lou Dobbs

I am confused.

[CaptainClark23]

8. hey! thats "chatter!"

Orange Alert! Orange Alert!

monkey icepick tokyo yahoo....somewhere deep in the bowels of ECHELON, note has been taken....

[nostamj]

10. tangerine skillet verb echelon pudding lesbian

if you catch my drift....

;-)

[lazarus]

6. Maybe someone got confused

After all that stuff during the Florida recount?

[salin]

9. Is this related to the captured mercenaries in Zimbabwe?

Read earlier to day an article suggesting that among that group were ties to US, Brit and Spanish intelligence.

[tigereye]

12. America land of the quick and dirty invasion

at this location for the last 150 ? years

[thinkingwoman]

11. something serious is going on in Africa

that we're not being told about. I know of a military doctor that was deployed to Spain a month or so before the Iraq war began, to deal with soldiers injured in iraq war. He worked at a major hospital set up, like the one in Germany.

That doctor came home last fall and now is being deployed to Ethiopia.

Judging from the way he was deployed before, that would indicate that something big is about to happen in Africa. Can anyone enlighten me?

[salin]

13. I am getting the same sense...

but it is very disturbing... with so many things with this administration one gets an indication... they are just clunky - like bulls in a China shop.

As much as I try to read the news closely... I am completely lost at having seen indicators as to what is brewing/happening. Very disturbing.

[thinkingwoman]

17. I'm going to try to find out

if the doctor knows where the injured will be coming from this time and how many are expected. If I find out, I'll post.

[abbyhoffman]

14. we went to war

with Chad in the movie "wag the dog"

[Hell Hath No Fury]

15. Found this press release...

From the DOD website at www.dod.gov/news/Mar2004/n03082004_200403085.html

It seem there is a program called the Pan Sahel Initiative which is describes as a "U.S. State Department security assistance program".

From the site:

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) teach mounted infantry tactics to soldiers from the Malian Army in Timbuktu, Mali, as part of the Pan Sahel Initiative. The initiative is a State Department program in the northern African countries of Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad designed to enhance border capabilities throughout the region against arms smuggling, drug trafficking, and the movement of trans-national terrorists.

From the full press release, it's clear we have "advisors" all over the Saharan area of Africa. And anyone over 40 knows what the meaning of having "advisors" on the ground it...

[Lindsay]

16. Oh, yeah, I remember "advisors."

Yippee...here comes World War IV.

[Fla_Democrat]

18. Well, they were hanging them in Florida, in 2000

:smoke:

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Link, for those who didn't see the CNN report

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/11/us.chad/

A small group of U.S. troops quietly helped Chad's military in a running battle this week against an Algerian Islamic group, U.S. sources said Thursday.

[salin]

21. thanks for the link... completely missed that story.

[htuttle]

20. Found this from today

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/11/chad.clashes.reut/

Chad kills 43 militants in clashes

N'DJAMENA, Chad (Reuters) -- Chad's army has killed 43 Islamic militants during two days of heavy fighting near the border with Niger, the government said Thursday.

The government said in a statement that those killed belonged to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a hard-line Algerian Islamic militant group that recently pledged its allegiance to al Qaeda.

(snip)

Washington has vowed to assist Mauritania, Niger and Chad to combat security threats.

(snip)

Soldiers captured five prisoners, including a Chadian said by the government to be a member of a the country's rebel movement.

There have been sporadic outbreaks of fighting in the arid north of the country between government troops and the rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice over the past few years.

This one has mention of the US military's actions:

U.S. backs Chad against extremists

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A small group of U.S. troops quietly helped Chad's military in a running battle this week against an Algerian Islamic group, U.S. sources said Thursday.

U.S. forces have been providing communications, intelligence and reconnaissance support to the Chad forces, but have not participated in combat, U.S. sources said.

(snip)

The effort is part of a broad, low-key, U.S. military initiative to support Algeria, Mali and Niger against the Algerian terrorist organization Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which the United States consider a terrorist group and which has declared its allegiance to al Qaeda.

(snip)

Publicly, the United States has only acknowledged that it is providing training for African military forces in the region. The U.S. military mission is not covert, but officials have not talked about the details because of sensitivities in the region concerning the presence of U.S. forces.

(snip)

U.S. military officials said this military support is separate from U.S. Special Forces training in Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/03/11/us.chad/

[PsychoDad]

22. All part of the ongoing crusades

Nothing to see here...

[bicentennial_baby]

23. O-I-L??

Africa's Dangerous Treasure

By Korinna Horta and Delphine Djiraibe
Wednesday, March 10, 2004; Page A29


Recently Chad, one of the poorest nations in Africa, received its first income from the massive Chad-Cameroon oil and pipeline project, the continent's largest current investment. That ought to be a good thing. But unfortunately, oil production in African countries has often brought, instead of prosperity, greater poverty, destruction of the environment and violent conflict. All the more reason to wonder what will happen in Chad, a central African nation governed by a dictatorship best known for corruption and human rights abuses.



The initial indicators are troubling. Soon after the project's official inauguration last October, the government closed down the country's only independent radio station, FM Liberté, which had close ties to the country's human rights organizations. Then residents of the capital city, Ndjamena, witnessed the first public executions in more than a decade. According to Chadian human rights advocates, the brief trial of some of the executed was a sham -- a sad chapter in the power struggle within the oil sector -- and was meant to send a clear message to critical voices in the country to be silent or risk their lives.

This oil project was supposed to be different, thanks to an innovative partnership between the World Bank and an international consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp. The consortium made construction of the project dependent on the World Bank's participation as an insurance policy for its investments in a region that is a potential political powder keg. The World Bank, the single largest source of funding for development, co-financed the project, hailing it as a groundbreaking initiative in which oil wealth would be translated into direct benefits for the poor, while any damage to the environment would be repaired.

Citizen organizations pleaded with the World Bank to postpone funding until Chad had built the capacity and established legal frameworks to ensure environmental protection, respect for human rights and transparent management of oil revenue. In response to these protests, the World Bank called for environmental studies, passage of a law in Chad to ensure transparency in the use of oil revenue and establishment of an oversight committee to monitor implementation of the law. These were indeed innovative and welcome measures

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44690-2004Mar9.html