I was dismayed at your May 24 article “JP Marine helps train African militaries.” While on the surface a nice little human-interest story about a local guy in the Marines, the article spews Pentagon propaganda with no mention of an alternative view of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) or of U.S. military deployment worldwide. Did the Gazette miss the past 12 years, in which U.S. elites (in and out of government) abused the awesome responsibility of use of force and carried out two major invasions/occupations, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents, along with thousands of U.S. military personnel? Does this recent history (and the history of U.S. military/imperial adventures in general) not give you some pause before you describe the buildup of U.S. military presence in Africa like some kind of goodwill tour? The most likely “enemy” of the military forces around the world that the Pentagon “trains” and equips is their own domestic population. The people of Latin America have been suffering from U.S. collaboration (political and military) with corrupt, repressive, and brutal regimes for nearly 100 years, right up to the present (see Honduras and Paraguay). Say no to more of the same in Africa.
Matt Henzy
Jamaica Plain