Source: New York Times

By RACHEL NOLAN JUNE 16

Eliza Griswold wrote the June 15 cover story about U.S. Special Operations forces in Africa. She is the author of “The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam” and a book of poetry.

How did you first hear about Brig. Gen. James B. Linder and become interested in doing a story about the United States Africa Command?

I first met General Linder eight years ago when he was a colonel in command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force — Philippines. At that time, I was traveling along the geographic fault line where Christianity and Islam meet in Africa and Asia for “The Tenth Parallel.” Along that line, I was watching the rise of violent extremism among both Muslims and Christians. Nigeria is one of the countries in which I’ve reported extensively. Nearly a decade ago, Boko Haram already existed. Over the years, I’ve watched its rise, along with the rise of different dangerous militant groups — Al Shabab in Somalia and Kenya, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have bled into a whole new generation of decentralized jihadis, who take advantage of the vast expanse of the Sahel, as well as local grievances in Nigeria and Somalia, to recruit followers to their cause. There’s little evidence to suggest that poverty breeds extremism, but plenty to suggest that injustice does. As a legacy of colonial history, many of the governments in Africa are weak at best, rapacious at worst.

Was there anything about seeing U.S. Special Operations forces on the ground that surprised you?

Well, their degree of ingenuity was fun to watch. They built picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, and magazine racks in latrines, in order to enhance their forward positions. What did impress me deeply, though, was the level of expertise that some have on local subgroups of subgroups, commands of history, language capabilities.

 Boko Haram’s kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls grabbed headlines recently. Did that happen after your reporting trip?

It did, and it is a horrific example of what Boko Haram is capable of. I’ve reported on Boko Haram since before Boko Haram was Boko Haram. If you have been following this group, the kidnapping of schoolgirls was not shocking. It was horrible, but it was not surprising. This time, it just happened to get the world’s attention. It’s excellent to see people caring about Africa. I hope they continue to engage in the underlying issues that made it possible for Boko Haram to take nearly 300 girls from their school.

Did you and Linder share notes on how to engage the American public’s attention on African issues?

No, and this is really important to understand. The United States Special Operation forces are not interested in mobilizing public opinion. They carry out policy that is made in Washington. They are not making policy; they are simply carrying it out. They are not focused on public opinion in the United States at all. In fact, many think public opinion would prefer that they not be on the ground. One of the legacies of 14 years of war is that the U.S. military, especially Special Operations, is not sure that it has the support of the American public. They sense that America is tired of boots on the ground. And our Hollywood image of them is of door-kickers. These are the guys who do the Bin Laden raid, knock down doors, come in the night and unilaterally do what they are doing to seize people. That’s how Hollywood has sold them to us. That is a major distortion. What’s going on in Africa has been going on since World War II. It’s really what the Green Berets, in particular, were built for, and that is training indigenous militaries — either helping “freedom fighters” rise up against undemocratic governments or training the indigenous forces of what the U.S. deems “legitimate governments.” I had one operator say to me, “We are teachers before we are door-kickers.”