Ever since the U.S. launched military action against Libya, those on Capitol Hill have been paying close attention. “I didn’t even know there was a U.S. Africa Command,” some are now saying of the outfit that ran the initial phase of the no-fly zone over that North African nation. “How come they’re headquartered in Germany instead of my district?”
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-You Lie!, says the headquarters would be ideal for Charleston, S.C. “I had the privilege of visiting Monrovia, Liberia and the great cultural association of West Africa to Charleston is very clear,” Wilson told the Voice of America. “It is a shared culture. In fact, we have the same accents and I felt right at home.”
The VOA piece also notes:
Other representatives who bid for AFRICOM’s future location included one from Minnesota, which is also a transportation hub, and a congresswoman from the island of Guam, which already is the home of an air force and a naval base. But both of these choices would seem to fall short of the criteria for quick accessibility to the area of responsibility, namely the African continent.
Sounds like a good title for a book: Why Johnny Can’t Read Maps.
