Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 69 Nations Have More US Troops Than Olympic Athletes

Osagyefo Edward Mensah, it is quite obvious that you have not quite kept up with your Malian history, early and contemporary. When last did you visit Mali and talk to the folks on the ground? If you think US troops are in Mali because of tombs and libraries, then you need to keep your bridges, as in Afrikan American English or Ebonics. And if you think the Tuareg have no legitimate claims in Mali and are driven by Islam, as if the overwhelming majority of the other Malians are not Muslims, then you have been imbibing too much western manure. As I tell folks in Mali and my Malian friends in the Diaspora, if they think the Tuareg are a problem now, let them keep dragging their feet until Malians in the west decide to fight against their very long-term marginalization.

Edward Mensah

6:09 PM (54 minutes ago)

Prof Bangura, are you saying it is wrong for US troops to hunt down a bunch of Islamic nuts who are destroying ancient tombs and libraries in Timbuctu? What could be your rationale for such a belief? Another question to you is how many US troops were stationed in Africa under the Bush administration compared to the total now? And do you believe that Romney will reduce the number of troops around the world and in Africa? If you believe these then you must also in the bridge buying business? 1000 dollars per bridge. Any takers?


Kwaku

-----Original Message-----
From: Toyin Falola
Sent: Jul 29, 2012 4:39 PM
To: dialogue
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 69 Nations Have More US Troops Than Olympic Athletes

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69 Nations Have More US Troops Than Olympic Athletes

Sunday, 29 July 2012 10:25 Written by  yana By David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org | Report

Here is a link to a list of U.S. troops deployed to various nations around the world: PDF. These are permanent deployments openly admitted to by the U.S. military. When U.S. Special Forces drive off a bridge in Mali, as recently happened, we discover that U.S. troops are in Mali in greater numbers than we knew, but those troops aren't listed here or considered in the calculation below. No secret forces are considered here, no allied forces funded or trained or armed by the United States, and of course no drones.

Here is a link to the number of athletes participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics from countries around the world: Link.

Many nations have sent very small delegations. Many nations have a very small U.S. troop presence. In many nations the U.S. troop presence falls just short of or exactly equals the size of the Olympic team.

In 69 nations, there is a larger U.S. military presence than the nation's Olympic team. This count excludes the oceans of the world, in which over 100,000 U.S. troops are stationed, but which of course don't have Olympic teams. The count includes, however, Diego Garcia, which could have an Olympic team if we hadn't removed all the people to make room for the military base. And it includes other nations that have been demoted to U.S. territories. It also includes South Korea, despite the U.S. military not releasing the numbers, because the U.S. military has many times the number of troops (and growing) there than South Korea has athletes on its Olympic team.

The question arises, of course, why a nation that is trailing many poorer nations in education, health, security, sustainability, and infrastructure is paying to create such a global presence of representatives with guns rather than athletes with Chinese-made sports uniforms.

Here are the 69 nations:

• Afghanistan
• Bahamas
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Barbados
• Belgium
• Bolivia
• Bosnia Herzegovina
• Botswana
• Burma
• Cambodia
• Chad
• Congo
• Cuba
• Cyprus
• Diego Garcia
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• El Salvador
• Germany
• Ghana
• Greece
• Greenland
• Guam
• Guinea
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Indonesia
• Iraq
• Italy
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Laos
• Liberia
• Macedonia
• Malta
• Marshall Islands
• Mauritania
• Nepal
• Netherlands
• Nicaragua
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Norway
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Philippines
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• Somalia
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sri Lanka
• St. Helena
• Tanzania
• Thailand
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Wake Island
• Yemen
• Zimbabwe

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