Remote U.S. Base At Core Of Secret Operations

[longknife]

-- Washington Post

DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti — Around the clock, about 16 times a day, drones take off or land at a U.S. military base here, the combat hub for the Obama administration’s counterterrorism wars in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.

Some of the unmanned aircraft are bound for Somalia, the collapsed state whose border lies just 10 miles to the southeast. Most of the armed drones, however, veer north across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, another unstable country where they are being used in an increasingly deadly war with an al-Qaeda franchise that has targeted the United States.

Camp Lemonnier, a sun-baked Third World outpost established by the French Foreign Legion, began as a temporary staging ground for U.S. Marines looking for a foothold in the region a decade ago. Over the past two years, the U.S. military has clandestinely transformed it into the busiest Predator drone base outside the Afghan war zone, a model for fighting a new generation of terrorist groups.

Read more .... Remote U.S. base at core of secret operations - The Washington Post

My Comment: Camp Lemmonier is probably America's most important counter terrorism base outside of the United States.

 

[waltky]

Obama gonna shake Djibouti with anti-terrorist drones...

Report: US Expanding Anti-Terror Operations in Djibouti
October 26, 2012 - A Washington newspaper reports the United States has sharply escalated its counter-terrorism operations at a military base in the East African nation of Djibouti.

The Washington Post says unmanned drones on missions over Somalia and Yemen take off or land at the base an average of 16 times per day. It says about 300 personnel plan raids and coordinate the flights from inside a high-security compound at the base, Camp Lemmonier. Speaking to reporters Friday, U.S. Defense Department spokesman George Little said the base plays an important role in U.S. international security efforts. "[As] you know, Africa is becoming more and more important for the security and prosperity of the international community," he said. "There are threats in the region and our presence there is intended in part to address some of the threats in the region," Little said.

The Post said the Djibouti base has also become home to a squadron of F-15 fighter jets, which it reports are flying combat missions over Yemen in the war against al-Qaida. The Pentagon spokesman confirmed there are fighter jets at Lemonnier but did not confirm they are used in operations over Yemen. The U.S. is also known to operate drones from two other East African countries -- Ethiopia and the Seychelles islands.

An undated handout image courtesy of the U.S. Air Force shows a unmanned MQ-1 Predator drone.

But the Post says those operations are nothing compared to the one at Camp Lemonnier. The paper calls Lemonnier the centerpiece of an expanding U.S. network of drone and surveillance bases in Africa, created to combat terrorist groups across the continent, including al-Qaida and Somalia's al-Shabab. It says the Defense Department is planning to spend $1.4 billion to expand its facilities at the Djibouti base. Pentagon spokesman Little said the size of the camp is not expanding but that the U.S. is doing additional construction at the site. Camp Lemonnier is the only U.S. military base in Africa.

The Post says it based its report on unclassified military records it obtained, including construction blueprints, drone accident reports and internal planning memos. Earlier this month, the Post reported the Obama administration is considering military strikes against al-Qaida militants in North Africa. Al-Qaida-affiliated groups seized control of northern Mali after a coup toppled Mali's government in March.

Source

 

[whitehall]

Apparently drone attacks are rather messy and inefficient. The last democrat coward in the White House seemed fond of Cruise missiles but they were messy too. Pretty ironic that the bogged down Troops in Afghanistan can't get an artillery strike when they need it unless they drag some fat assed pentagon general out of a cocktail party to sign off on it but they have kids running killer video games with drones in real life.