Sometime Soldiers Are Better Than A Bushel Of Wheat

President Bush was recently in Africa. He received a rousing welcome everywhere he went. To his credit, the amount of money this administration has committed to fighting diseases in Africa has been the highest. To many of us who feel strongly against a lot of policies of this administration, Bush does deserve credit for the amount of aid America has committed to Africa in last one year. My point builds on this engagement from America in the African continent.

Africa in recent years has seen genocides, civil wars besides the perennial problem of Malaria, Aids and other diseases. My contention is that American engagement needs to be much more pervasive. Clinton tried it in his years in office but lost support within US after the Black hawk incident in Somalia. Rwanda followed and America was woefully missing....one country that could have clearly made the difference. Something similar is happening in Sudan right now and Kenya is on the brink of descending into the familiar anarchy that is so prevalent in Africa. Interestingly, the bar is so low with respect to judging how a country is doing, we don't even talk about countries like Zimbabwe, Nigeria where corrupt governments have run amok. Some recent examples exist where America committed soldiers and had the desired effect--Kosovo, first Gulf war and Afghanistan being good examples.

American army's current engagements across the world has meant that even if the will of the American people is there to commit troops to troubled regions in Africa, there is hardly any soldier available to do so. Now here is a clear opportunity to develop goodwill for America where a lot of it already exists as the current trip from Bush has shown. How much better it would be if American could suffice its capital commitment with soldiers on the ground. The killing that is happening around the African continent would definitely decrease if militants there know that America is serious about bringing peace. Now I would contend that feeding a child in some refugee camp in Darfur is great but wouldn't it be greater to make sure that the kid never lands up in that refugee camp?