President Obama’s decision to send up to 300 troops to Cameroon while at the same time rebuffing calls for more military engagement in the Middle East is indicative of his view on U.S. intervention abroad, experts say.
“This administration likes to deploy troops to places where there are very few costs,” said the Cato Institute’s Benjamin Friedman, referring to both expenses and potential causalities. Obama is a “limited-liability interventionist,” he said.
In more than six years as commander in chief, Obama has not practiced restraint in accepting missions for the United States military, but he has proven very “dovish” in terms of treasury and lives expended, Friedman said.
On no continent has that been more evident than Africa. Obama has deployed personnel to at least 14 African nations. Their missions have ranged from tracking down Ugandan war lord and war criminal Joseph Kony (still at large) to finding Nigeria schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram (most still missing) to fighting Ebola (a mission widely seen as a success).
The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Anthony Cordesman said that is because most African nations are not capable of dealing with the threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations. The U.S. can offer critical help with training, logistics and coordination, usually via multi-national efforts, without committing actual ground troops.
The Cameroon mission is part of a “key pattern of subtly expanding U.S. Africa Command, largely because we are seeing far more coherent terrorist groups emerging that these countries are not equipped to deal with.”
In a recent mandatory update to Congress about military engagement abroad, Obama wrote that AFRICOM, as the command unit there is known, is central to counterterrorism efforts.
“In furtherance of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, the United States continues to work with partners around the globe, with a particular focus on the U.S. Central Command’s and U.S. Africa Command’s areas of responsibility,” Obama stated. “In this context, the United States has deployed U.S. combat-equipped forces to enhance the counterterrorism capabilities and support the counterterrorism operations of our friends and allies.