Policing is not security

ARTICLE: U.S. Kills Top Qaeda Militant in Southern Somalia, By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and ERIC SCHMITT, New York Times, September 14, 2009

Second crank on this one: note how all we need to police Africa in a "global war" sense is a few special ops guys, not a ton of bodies. But remember this as well, it's the effort of places like Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (small piece, big puzzle) that build the security. Killing bad guys is always nice, but it ain't security.

So your answer is a bit o' Leviathan and a larger SysAdmin effort, understanding--as I have long argued--that the SysAdmin is ultimately more civilian than uniform, more USG than DoD (U.S. gov than Dept. of Def), more world (esp. China in Africa) than U.S., and more FDI than ODA (foreign direct investment than official developmental aid).

So this--again--isn't about a lot of military presence and spending.

(Via WPR Media Roundup)