Humanitarian Aid: Winning the Terror War

[LawVol]

This is the kind of stuff I was talking about in another post of mine (U.S. Air Force Loses Out in Iraq War). The AF already conducts MEDFLAG ( a medical response exercise in Africa) each year. We could expand this to a more permanent thing to use as a preventive measure. The AF has the capability to enter a foreign country, set up a useable base from scratch and conduct medical and construction missions from almost day one of entering. Thsi would be an invaluable tool in swaying opinion to our side.

Africa right now is a complete mess. AIDS, poverty, weak central governments, and a growing disgruntled Muslim population are just a few of the things that make this area ripe for use as a terrorist haven. Increasing our use of the Air Force as a provider of humanitarian aid would allow us to preempt a terrorist foothold and create a positive view of the US (similar to our use of positive propaganda in the Cold War). This, in turn, better prepares the AF for assisting with stability operations. Imagine what Iraq would look like now if we had an AF that was trained, ready, able, and willing to enter Iraq to reestablish electrical power, water, medical facilities, and the like. We had a small window to meet the needs of the population post-OIF I, for a variety of reasons we failed. One of those could have been filled by the AF.

With Africa, we could prevent the next Operation Africa Freedom by laying the groundwork for positive change. Think of it as prepping the battlefield, only this time we're trying to avoid the battle a la Sun Tzu.

Let me know if this is completely out in left field or does this make sense?