The United States is Training Militaries With Dubious Human Rights Records-Again (by Nick Turse)

7/23/2019 The United States is Training Militaries With Dubious Human Rights Records-Again (by Nick Turse)

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The United States Is Training Militaries With Dubious Human Rights

RecordsAgain (By ic! Turse"

Africa is a challenging place today and one that, if left unattended, is likely

to be the birthplace of many more challenges in the future, Army Secretary

John McHugh said recently. Since 9!!, in fact, the continent has increasinglybeen "ie#ed by the $entagon as a place of problems to be remedied by

military means. And year after year, as terror groups ha"e multiplied,

pro%ies ha"e foundered, and allies ha"e disappointed, the &nited States has

doubled do#n again and again, #ith America's most elite troops(&S Special

)perations forces *S)+(leading the #ay.

-he public face of this engagement is a yearly training e%ercise called

+lintlock. Since //0, it has brought together &S special operators and elite

1uropean and 2est African troops to strengthen security institutions,

promote multilateral sharing of information, and de"elop interoperability

among the partner nations of the -rans3Sahara 4ounter -errorism

$artnership *-S4-$.

5irected by the Joint 4hiefs of Sta6, sponsored by S)4A+784A(the special

operations contingent of &S Africa 4ommand *A+784)M(and conducted by

Special )perations 4ommand +or#ard32est Africa, the +lintlock e%ercises

ha"e sought to de"elop the capacity of and collaboration among African

security forces to protect ci"ilian populations across the Sahel region of

Africa. -his year, for instance, !,// troops representing : countries(

including &S Army ;reen uests to attend. Spinning

tales of tough3talking American commandos barking orders at ra#, poorly

e>uipped African troops under the pe#ter sun in the su6ocating heat

and the ?ne Saharan sand on a dusty training ground in the rocky

badlands of 2est Africa, they dutifully report on one three3#eek &S special

ops mission.

2hat goes on the rest of the year is, ho#e"er, shrouded in secrecy as the

&S military pi"ots to Africa and shado#y contingents of =a"y S1A@s and

Army ;reen


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-he &S military says little about J41- acti"ities in Africa or else#here.

Special )perations 4ommand, #hich o"ersees America's most elite forces,

#ill not e"en disclose the number of J41-s carried out by American

commandos on the continent. A+784)M, for its part, refuses to re"eal the

locations of the missions, citing operational security reasons and host

nation sensiti"ities. And #hat little information that command #ill di"ulgeonly raises additional >uestions.

According to A+784)M, special operators conducted appro%imately nine

J41-s across Africa in +iscal ear /! and !: in /!. 5ocuments obtained

by -om5ispatch through the +reedom of 8nformation Act from the oBce of

the assistant secretary of defense for legislati"e a6airs indicate, ho#e"er,

that there #ere !9 J41-s in /! and / in /!. -he reports pro"ided by

the $entagon to keep 4ongress informed of training of Special )perations

forces sho# that, from )ctober /!! to )ctober /! *?scal years /!

and /!, there #as only one month in #hich &S commandos did notconduct Joint 4ombined 1%change -raining some#here on the African

continent. 8n all, according to those documents, Special )perations forces

spent nearly ,// days in ! countries under the J41- program alongside

more than ,:// African soldiers.

A+784)M attributes the confusion o"er the numbers to di6ering methods of

accounting. Ho#e"er one tallies them, such missions increased last year

according to ?gures pro"ided by the command and they seem to be on the

rise again this year. 8n /!C, the number of J41-s Dumped to E.


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C9 percent can be for the bene?t of the partner and this certainly is a "ery

strong rationale for doing it(ultimately that is the o"erarching goal of these

acti"ities.

Africa 4ommand doesn't, in fact, shy a#ay from touting the bene?ts to

foreign troops.J41-s impro"e the capabilities of African forces to protectci"ilians from current and emerging threats. -he ultimate goal is to enable

African states to address security issues #ithout the need for foreign

inter"ention and empo#er regional solutions to transnational threats,

according to A+784)M's 4huck $richard. 1%perts, ho#e"er, >uestion the

eBcacy of such training missions.

-here's an une%amined assumption in policy circles that because #e ha"e,

by our o#n estimation, the best soldiers in the #orld(indeed the best

soldiers in all of recorded history(therefore it must follo# that our soldiers

ha"e the ability to con"ey ?ghting capacity to anybody else that they deal

#ith, says Andre#


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information that such unit has committed a gross "iolation of human rights.


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5uring /! and /!, J41-s #ere also conducted in Algeria, #here,

according to the State 5epartment, 8mpunity remained a problem, and

Lenya, #here there #ere abuses by the security forces, including unla#ful

killings, forced disappearances, torture, rape, and use of e%cessi"e force.

8n addition, the &nited States carried out such missions in Mauritania*abusi"e treatment, arbitrary arrests, Morocco *e%cessi"e force to >uell

peaceful protests, resulting in hundreds of inDuries torture and other abuses

by the security forces, =iger *reports that security forces beat and abused

ci"ilians, Senegal *some reports that the go"ernment or its agents

committed arbitrary or unla#ful killings, -unisia *security forces

committed human rights abuses, and &ganda *unla#ful killings, torture,

and other abuse of suspects and detainees. Mean#hile, +lintlock e%ercises

#ere held in Senegal in /!! *reports of physical abuse and torture,

Mauritania in /! *authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained protesters,

presidential opponents, and Dournalists, =iger in /!C *some reports thego"ernment or its agents committed arbitrary or unla#ful killings, and this

year in 4had.

DIS#I%)I AD %UISH

2hile A+784)M refused to name these foreign forces in"ol"ed in J41-

training, the command nonetheless touts the program as a success. S)+

ha"e conducted a series of J41-s #ith military forces in 2est Africa in

addition to multi3national training e"ents such as the +lintlock series of

e%ercises. -hese same military units ha"e since formed a regional task force

to combat and contain


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At the closing ceremony for +lintlock /!0, A+784)M commander ;eneral

5a"id 7odrigueF praised 4had and its African partners for conducting a

military training e%ercise #hile also battling


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reads. Al3Naida in the @ands of the 8slamic Maghreb, Ansar al3Sharia, al3

Murabitun, and the @e"ant, and other

"iolent e%tremist organiFations are e%ploiting #eak go"ernance, corrupt

leadership, and porous borders across the Sahel and Maghreb to train and

mo"e ?ghters and distribute resources.

+or years, A+784)M's ans#er to this increasing instability has been more

more money, more troops, more engagement.

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The United States is Training Militaries With Dubious Human Rights Records-Again (by Nick Turse)