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Article: Horn of Africa to serve as base of operations: small but strategically located Djibouti on the Red Sea is hosting more than 3,000 U.S. troops. They are prepared to strike al Qaeda targets in Yemen or aid a possible war in Iraq. (War On Terrorism).
- Article from:
- VFW Magazine
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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U.S. Marines and special ops troops are in Djibouti, a country of some 600,000 population at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Strategically located, it provides an ideal base to launch attacks on al Qaeda targets in Yemen, less than 50 miles away, or join other U.S. forces who may fight in Baghdad, about 1,500 miles to the northeast.
Some 1,200 U.S. special ops troops--many of whom arrived in April--and Marines have established a command center at Camp Lemonier, a former French army barracks near the Djibouti airport.
In August, about 1,500 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) from Camp LeJeune, N.C., and 1,500 sailors and ...