Guest Thinkers — September 26, 2010

Uganda: America’s Pawn?

“In sending troops into Somalia, the Ugandan president is doing Washington’s bidding and endangering his country.” England’s The Guardian assesses U.S. foreign policy.

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A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“The dangers of turning Africa into a front in the ‘war on terror’—much as it was a front in two world wars and a cold war that were not of its making—have been starkly revealed in Uganda following the 11 July bombings that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final in popular nightspots. That atrocity was attributed to Somali al-Shabaab extremists seeking to carry out retribution for the presence in Somalia of Ugandan ‘peacekeeping’ troops. … Bolstering the Somali peacekeeping forces may be good news for US contractors such as DynCorp International, who equip and train the peacekeepers in Somalia with US state department funding. But it is hard to see how it is good for anyone else.”

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

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