Don't worry about Africom, State
Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 9:14AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett

U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Hearing: Exploring The U.S. Africa Command And A New Strategic Relations

A good source on how Africom is shaking out.

Note also State's defensive tone.

But if CJTF-HOA is any indicator, State will remain in control far more than most alarmists assume, simply because Africom, like Southcom, will be severely resource-constrained.

Some automatically assume that means anything Africom does is a drop in the bucket, but that's wrong. The modeled behavior for local African militaries is everything, whereas it's the humanitarian aid that's marginal. In short, don't confuse means with ends.

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