few democratically elected presidents so this whole thing bears the imprint of u.s. africa africa command and an attempt to militarize the entire region and its resources really is a strategic lynchpin in that it borders our journey which is one of the top goals of these various. interventions from french from from the u.s. and other sides. mauritanian of the ivory coast in the book you know fossil and all of this area is just swimming in untapped resources whether people old man going to use copper what what will you so now you say that you are you smell or so per say the pentagon behind laos but why was france the first western country to get. of them such a conflict why are they out front well i think that's the obama administration's strategy let's let france take the hit on this as they did in libya and other places in the past year and a half two years and the u.s. will try to play a less discreet or more discreet role in the background rather than being up front as they were in iraq about it gonna stand which cost us huge amounts of credibility around the world so th

u.s. in africa -- we also see the new york times -- and the washington post says the u.s. seeking a new drone bass to bolster spine in africa. what is the significance? guest: the dedication of resources. we recognize the threat. the defense department and agencies, i give them credit for recognizing the threat and now moving to secure the intelligence. we cannot operate in a blind or operator flexibly. we need intelligence that can be supplied in real time and ultimately perhaps other options are on the table. it is a good of. niger has been one of the few countries in the region that have taken this threat seriously from the beginning and have been forceful advocate for containment and pushing back against the extremists. they know what it means to be on the frontlines firsthand. so they have been very committed to it. it is one of the few african countries than has honored its commitment to supply troops to the operation in mali. the details of the agreements that have been reported have not been released regarding niger, but once they are, i think it's a good step to b

africa? where the priority regions of the world for the u.s. defense establishment are the pacific and the mideast? in fact, if you read the document -- which i would encourage you to do -- you'll find that the word "africa" appears precisely one time. and so -- [inaudible] and our african partners read that, and they say does that mean you don't care about us? so i, my response to them is don't focus so much on the word, don't focus so much on the geography. um, i think for understandable reasons that the pacific is vitally important to the united states; economically, politically. i mean, there is a focus there. but when you look at the articulation of the priorities that the nationing establishes for the -- that the nation establishes for the armed forces, we find that the activities that the united states military engages in in africa come through loud and clear. at the top of that list, unsurprisingly, is countering violent extremist organizations. sadly, that's a necessary function for us in africa today. but it's not the only thing that w

they're protecting them and this is a direct reflection of stated foreign policy directives in u.s. africa documents that's african central command directive and their purpose of african was to evict china's influence from the current event and if the british and the french are only offering in a twenty eight split to mali for their goal business i'm sure china would probably offer a better deal and give them infrastructure so this is about keeping china out of africa in the larger scope of what the people there in itself the people now they've been seeking self-determination for decades what role are they playing here because obviously there are lots of islamist extremists coming in from mali and not all of this is necessarily homegrown or is it all the two arcs now in some ways joining up with these extremists. well you know you only have to look at the last the late the late days of the overthrow of the cook off the regime in libya and the tourists were were effectively allied with moammar gadhafi regime there was a recognized gadhafi and perhaps gave safe haven to his son saif for a br

and the commander of u.s. africaas been to algeria about a half dozen times to work with the algerian forces there. so there is that relationship between the u.s. military and the algerians that they could draw on, you know, as we get more information about what is going on there on the ground. >> one more question for you. let me just talk, michael, will you put the map back up with the northern part of africa so we can talk geography. you can see mali and algeria and it is significant because, chris, we talked about this yesterday, this might be an attack of retribution by islamists. here you have mali just south of algeria. we talked about the french armed intervention in mali and the u.s. to a degree as well. might that be part of a motive here? what are you hearing? >> reporter: it is possible. there are some websites that are reporting from a terrorist group that they are claiming responsibility for taking these hostages in response to the algerians allowing french jets to use their air space to fly over and co

we have a relatively new u.s. africa command.hat's the over riding story of the past couple of months. the nexus of the islamists insurgency in many ways was central asia in the last decade. this deck krad it is lo-- decad is looking like north africa and western africa. it is not terribly far from north america. we can do things. in syria we don't need a no-fly zone or putting u.s. boots on the ground. we should put secular forces in the war. we should do that politically saying enemies are our friends. we need to support people who aren't boy scouts. it isn't a nice thing to do it is essential for our interests and for the safety and security of americans abroad but also american citizens right ear in north america. >> i don't want a post-it note what you are saying tonight but to bring it one thing i got out of what you said is we haven't done enough at this point and we have to. christian whiten joining us tonight. thank you very much. >> rescuers now going into a mine looking for workers trapped after an accident on the job.

a spokesman for the u.s. africaommand tells us the air lifts began monday are going to go on for several more days. our country's -- and whether we should have a role is becoming more of a concern. i couldn't help but notice this on yahoo! today, asking you, should the united states intervene in mali? a majority of people say no. >>> the faa still hasn't determined what's causing electrical problems on boeing 787 dreamliner, telling reporters they're still evaluating the idea. the ntsb says the battery pulled from a dreamliner showed signs of thermal damage. michael boyd tells us he's never seen an investigation like this. he says the faa has egg all over its face. >>> it's been 538 days since the country lost its top credit r e rating. what are we going to get back? the imf says the economy will grow by 2% and the u.s. needs to work on entitlement reform. >>> our fourth story, women on the front line. a ground breaking decision from the pentagon. cnn has learned that defense secretary leon panetta will announce a l

this is the small, lethal counter terrorism force that u.s. africa command did not have when the consulal ate was attacked. it allows command to be ready to go and have a team dedicated to hostage rescue and counter terrorism. this team we are told was already on its way to be in place for any potential missions that might come up. they have been diverted. they are in an undisclosed location. the defense official says with the number of potential hostage takers it would be an extremely dangerous assault mission. they are hoping there is some sort of diplomatic solution to the crisis. >> certainly a shock to many how quickly it happened. we have been trying to understand what happened and when these workers were seized on their way to work or what was happening. what can you tell us about the moment they were taken? and given the u.s. government was very quick to say in this case they believed this was an organized and preplanned attack. >> you're exactly right. here is what we know from the minister who says an oil field in southern algeria was attac

when i bring africa to the u.s. ? i know a lot of africans are anxious about this. >> the question about mali is a fair question. the kernel probably has some more insight on this. we have had a u.s. training effort with the mali forces for some number of years. some of that has occurred in mali and some of it was mali officers coming to that u.s. for training. there were some who led the military coup, which overthrew the elected government. that is worrisome for us. we asked ourselves questions. did we miss the signs that this was happening? was there anything that we did in our training that was -- that could have been done differently and caused a different outcome? i think that the answer is a little bit of both. as we look at this from a purely military standpoint, we were focusing our training almost exclusively on tactical or technical matters. how to operate various pieces of equipment and how to improve effectiveness or tactical operations and the like. i see that there kernel is a paratrooper. -- colonel is

u.s./africa command tells us the airlifts began monday, are going to go on for several more days.lp but notice this on the front page of yahoo! earlier today, the poll today asking you, should the united states intervene in mali. the latest results. so a majority of people say no. >>> the faa still hasn't determined what's causing electrical problems on boeing 787 dreamliner, telling reporters they're still evaluating the idea. the national transportation safety board, meanwhile, says the battery pulled from a dream liner showed signs of thermal damage. ntsb's michael boyd tells us he's never seen an investigation like this. where the faa says a plane is safe and then grounds it. he says the faa has egg all over its face. >>> it's been 538 days since the country lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? the imf says the economy will grow by 2% this year but, you know what, that's not really very good, and the u.s. needs to work on entitlement reform. >>> our next story "outfront. "women on the front line. a ground-breaking decision from the pentagon. cnn has le

u.s. military plans for another you a base in africa its mission is to keep tabs on extremist groups what does this say about a shifting u.s. military strategy. and the u.s. isn't the only country eyeing the region french in mali and troops are locked in a bitter battle with islamic extremists while u.s. officials say this conflict could take years to resolve a report from mali coming up. in the black mark on u.s. credibility abroad but it looks like the guantanamo bay detention facility isn't going to shut its doors anytime soon in fact the obama administration is actually reassigning the special envoy tasked with closing the facility i had a look at the change of heart. it's tuesday january twenty ninth four pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our t.v. we begin today taking a look at plans the u.s. has for establishing a spy drone base in north west africa the goal is to keep a close eye on al qaeda affiliates and other islamic extremists in the region this as french forces continue to invade northeastern mali and an effort to fight islamist extremists that were g

africa? the priority regions of the world, for the u.s. defense establishment or the pacific and the mideast. in fact, if you read the document, which would encourage you to do, you'll find that the word africa appears precisely one time. you read that and you say, oh my goodness. our african partners read that and say, does that mean you don't care about us? my response to that is, don't focus so much on the word, don't focus so much on the geography. i think for understandable reasons, the pacific is vitally important to the united states, economically, politically -- there is a focus there. when you look at the articulation of the priorities that the nation establishes for the armed forces, we find that the activities that the u.s. military engages in in africa come through loud and clear. at the top of that list, not surprisingly, is countering violent extremist organizations. sadly, that is a necessary function for us in africa today, but it is not the only thing we do. we do a lot more. another priority is maintaining global access to

accumulated by selling americans hundreds of trillions of dollars with a wal-mart so the team sent to africa our u.s. brigade that has the capable. to use drones for military operations in africa if granted permission not from the nations about to be droned but from their commander at centcom or africa or whatever i want to cause a report. from the show it only was like seventy five bucks to get one seventy five parts we can get a drone we can fly it around the city of london see what they're happening at h.s.b.c. now you know one final thing i want to know here is that you know empires come and go and it looks like the us empire is going away but you know the empires at the edge they often reflect the actual mores and values of the capitol itself so rome laid perfect roads all across europe and we still have them don't wait. britain they put railroads across africa india australia new zealand canada their whole empire standard across twenty five percent of the world but if you look at the u.s. we have mogadishu haiti mexico you know what's common among those decapitations bombed out sites dilapidat

africa needs. what we've seen from the initiative and the u.s. ng of these militarists are the very same people who are creating the problems in north africa. >> i think people may not know this. up until 2007 there was no distinct central africa command in terms of the way the pentagon cleaved the world. in 2007 there was africa command and it currently is stationed in europe, not actually in africa. there have been a variety of initiatives to train the soldiers of different african regimes, counterterrorism training, other kinds of training and in fact the soldiers of mali. mali was one of the star pupils in the -- >> and they're the same people now we're fighting. >> right. so i want to turn to mali in a second but first i want to push back -- not push back but to play devil's advocate about this intervention question on libya. when you look at all the negative consequences of libya, what do you say to the point about syria? everything that you could say about libya, weapons, destabilization, refugees, everything that's terrible about what has

u.s. has agreed to airlift a battalion of french troops and tanks into mali, part of a military intervention which has stirred up a hornet's nest of al qaeda-linked groups in north africa. according to u.s. intelligence these groups are likely to strike western targets again. rudolph attallah is the pentagon's former head of counter-terrorism for africa. do you expect more terrorist attacks? >> yes. these guys are savvy. they are... they've been prepared for a fight, like i said, for a long time, and they're not going to take it lying down. they are going to... they are going to show that they are capable of... of putting some pain against the west. >> reporter: the attack on the gas complex in algeria was carried out by a group whose leader had warned france against intervening in mali. other leaders operating under the umbrella of a grouped call al qaeda in the magreb have dared the u.s. to intervene. >> one of the islamists was taunting the united states essentially saying, "we want the united states to be involved in this fight, like the french." it's like, more like, "bring it. we're ready for you. we're prepared to go after you." >> reporter: with u.s. backing, t

u.s. military plans for another you a base in africa its mission is to keep tabs on extremist groups what this says about a shifting u.s. military strategy ahead. well congress thinks of ways to tighten its fiscal bell apparently the u.s. treasury missed the memo in fact it's signed off on bloated salaries for executives of firms that already received wads of cash from the taxpayer funded bailouts will follow the money in just a moment. and no flash please it's no secret that americans love food almost as much as they like taking pictures of their food and posting them on social media but some restaurants in new york are banning the hungry masses from photographing their food we'll tell you why ahead. it's tuesday january twenty ninth pm here in washington d.c. i'm liz wall and you're watching our. we begin today taking a look at plans the u.s. has for a stablish ing a spider on base in north west africa the goal is to keep a close eye on al qaeda affiliates and other islamic extremists in the region this as french forces continue to invade northeastern mali and the effort to fight islam i

still to come on the "newshour": the emergence of africa for u.s. policy-makers; combat roles for women in the military; the robotic planes known as drones and the way forward for the g.o.p. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: an arctic storm system kept its grip on the midwest and northeast today. sub-zero temperatures spanned a large swath of the nation, from the upper midwest into new england, and 15 states were under wind chill warnings. fierce winds have blown across the great lakes for days, dumping more than a foot of snow on ohio, pennsylvania and new york. the deep freeze is forecast to stick around through the weekend. marine general john allen is back on track to become supreme commander of nato forces in europe. white house officials said today his nomination is no longer on hold. that's after the pentagon inspector general cleared allen of any wrongdoing in e-mail exchanges with a tampa, florida woman. allen steps down as overall coalition commander in afghanistan next month. the air force's to

and the rest of africa that could leave the united states has been so simple so according to him the u.s. is fearful of china's increasing economic presence in africa in the figures seem to back up that argument china has increased its investment in africa exponentially over the last decade and they are catching america up fast despite the u.s. investing over one hundred billion dollars over the last two years mali it can't be denied does have significant geo political importance. we have more updates an expert analysis of the crisis in north africa on our web site for you r t v dot com hugh. prime minister david cameron is using the developing hostage crisis in algeria to delay his announcement on britain's future role within the e.u. that's according to the leader of the u.k. independence party nigel farrar well this after the pm was forced to cancel friday's speech on the issue or to sarah firth caught up with the u.k.i.p. leader to discuss the released extracts from the would be address. key to the ongoing hostage crisis in algeria involving a number of british nationals amongst othe

the move is in response to the fight against terror in africa. the u.s. has a limited presence in africa right now with only one permanent base. if approved, the new base could host as many as 300 american soldiers and private contractors. >>> time right now is 6:54. we're going to have one final check on weather and traffic when we eat good fats. avoid bad. don't go over 2000... 1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i see it: great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. for multi grain flakes that are an excellent source of fiber try great grains banana nut crunch and cranberry almond crunch. >>> welcome back. 6:58. a mix of sunshine and clouds. 60s in a few spots. tomorrow warmer but a threat of afternoon and evening showers and storms. thin winter comes b

also, that small, lethal counterterrorism force, under u.s. africat on an alert, less than four hours. in other words, their readiness time has been upgraded to under four hours. this was the counterterrorism unit for africa command that didn't exist when the u.s. ambassador was killed in benghazi. it was stood up after that attack, specifically to respond very quickly to situations, just like this one. but another defense official says, look, any sort of assault-type mission is not something you would plan overnight. this would take days. he says, you know, when you're talking about limited information, dozens of potential hostage takers and even more hostages, he says that is an extremely high-risk operation, it would only be undertaken as a last resort, kate. >> so what do they need to sort out? what kind of information do they need to get? what kind of details do they need to sort out before they decide how and whether to take action. and how does the location of where they were taken hostage play into this? >> yeah, first of all, you want to kno

from russia or china to iran to northern africa and the rest of africa that could leave the united states. are just. so according to him the u.s. is fearful of china's increasing economic presence in africa in the figures do seem to back that argument up china has increased its investment in africa by over sixty percent over the last decade and they are catching america fast despite the u.s. investing over one hundred billion dollars over the last two years and there is potentially a lot up for grabs in mali as far as oil is concerned there are zero proven reserves however it is believed major oil fields have been discovered in the north the country that is still to be mapped but even if its potential is not fulfilled mali does have a wealth of other minerals to exploit it is the third largest exporter of gold in africa only beaten by south africa and garner there are also uranium deposits the french have two major mines in the country already a mali is also a major exporter of cotton now whether it was intended or not recent western led intervention in libya and ivory coast did open up new opportunities for western firms and

africa. today, u.s. military planes landed in mali to assist french forces in a battle against islamic fundamentalists. in just the last few months, four americans, including the u.s. ambassador, were killed by terrorists in libya. then, last week, three american oil workers were killed by terrorists in algeria. now, those french troops are engaged with fighters linked to al qaeda in mali. elizabeth palmer linked up with the americans there. >> reporter: when we arrived at the main military air field in bamako, we found u.s. transport planes had already started to land, five in all, bringing in more than 100 tons of gear, and soldiers from a military base in france. the fighter planes, the armored vehicles, the helicopters, they are all french. and so are the soldiers-- 2,800 french boots on the ground here in mali. but behind the scenes, this is an international effort. and the war very few saw coming. the u.s. air force role is critical. colonel kevin oliver is one of the operations commanders. >> it's

u.s. reportedly ready to sign a deal with niger to open a new drone base in west africa. it brings u.s. mali where french troops have been helping battle islamist militants. al-qaeda-linked groups are making northern mali a base for terror operations, so let's look at what this might mean. we're bringing in general jack keane, former vice chief of staff for the army and a fox military analyst. thanks for joining us. >> glad to be here, patti ann. patti ann: this u.s. and niger signed a status of forces agreement, and that is considered the first step, but it is so far not approved by the pentagon, the white house or knewier, but -- niger. what would this mean? >> well, this is pretty senate. they've actually been working on this for some time, almost a year. but i think it's put on fast forward as a result of the mali operation that the french have been involved in. right now the french have no intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance capability. in other words, they have helicopters, and they have some fighters, but they have no way to be able to see what the enemy's doing and to

u.s. in secret prisons of course in afghanistan and iraq but country so out the middle east countries throughout europe in africa. more than seventeen u.s. ships were secret prisons so. this is really part of a vast scale of thousands of people being held without salut lee no rights whatsoever and being subject to horrendous torture originally the us claimed they could hold prisoners outside the us because then they wouldn't be subject to the geneva conventions and to international law and humanitarian law which in their twisted thinking they said existed only within the us so the idea of holding prisoners around the world in secret detention was they were there for again according to this twisted logic and new to any international law human rights law or conventions that the u.s. had signed. look at some other stories from around the world the u.k. sam troops are in force as part of a joint u. mission that's despite previous statements by prime minister david cameron the british troops would not go onto the ground in mali offering only logistical support meanwhile french led troops have entered timbuktu retakin

u.s. military operations stepping up in the fight against a new war against al qaeda in africa. there's word this morning that the u.s. is laying the groundwork to build its first permanent base in northwest africa, to launch spy drones and potential missile attacks against militants in mali. the nearest american base is 3,000 miles away in djibouti. in what is called a significant escalation, britain has agreed to send troops to mali, as well as spy planes. >>> and egypt. the u.s. embassy has been forced to close because of violence street protests there. the situation so bad, that one military official says egypt's fragile government could now collapse. abc's lama hasan is in cairo with the latest. good morning, lama. >> reporter: good morning, josh. egypt is on-edge this morning. here in tahrir square, the birthplace of the egyptian revolution two years ago, has seen five-straight days of bloodshed and violence. overnight, protesters stormed a five-star luxury hotel. they broke down the security barriers before storming the lobby. and special forces swooped in to stop them. >>

and the rest of africa that could leave the united states. are just. so according to him the u.s. is fearful of china's increasing economic presence in africa in the figures seem to back up that argument china has increased its investment in africa exponentially over the last decade and they are catching america up fast despite the u.s. investing over one hundred billion dollars over the last two years mali it can't be denied does have significant geopolitical importance. human trafficking is on the rise and the u.k. once smuggled into britain many become victims of sexual and domestic slavery we report on that later in the program. braving the winter water is russians take a dip to celebrate it have any and wash away sins while many do it just for the bus . they ok could leave the the e.u. . this is the prediction of prime minister david cameron revealed in a preview of his delayed speech on britain's status within the block meanwhile he's been wavering about the idea of a referendum saying it could be held after the next general election in two thousand and fifteen nigel farrar

and the rest of africa that could leave the united states has been just. so according to him the u.s. is fearful of china's increasing economic presence in africa in the figures seem to back up that argument china has increased its investment in africa exponentially over the last decade and they are catching america fast despite the u.s. investing over one hundred billion dollars over the last two years mali it can't be denied does have significant geo political importance now the u.k. could leave the e.u. this is the prediction of prime minister david cameron revealed in a preview of his delayed speech on britain's status within the block meanwhile he has been wavering about the idea of an in out referendum saying it could be howard after the next general election and twenty fifteen now jill farrar the leader of the u.k. panel's party told r.t. sarah further that the vote should be held right now. key to the ongoing hostage crisis in algeria involving a number of british nationals amongst others the prime minister had to postpone that long awaited for speech on europe but nonetheles

u.s. in secret prisons of course in afghanistan and iraq but country so out the middle east countries throughout europe and africa. on more than seventeen u.s. ships were secret prisons so this is really part of the. yes gale of thousands of people being held without salute lee no rights whatsoever and being subject to horrendous torture originally the us claimed they could hold prisoners outside the us because then they wouldn't be subject to the geneva conventions and to international law and humanitarian law which in their twisted thinking they said existed only within the us so the idea of holding prisoners around the world in secret detention was they were there for again according to this twisted logic and new to any international law human rights law or conventions that the u.s. had signed. twenty people have been reportedly killed in a plane crash in castle stan the plane carrying five crew and fifteen passengers went down near the city of el martine this country south after one pm local time reports say there are no survivors the challenger two hundred operated by a cause a company. was performing an int

and the rest of africa that could leave the united states has been so simple. so according to him the u.s. is fearful of china's increasing economic presence in africa in the figures seem to back up that argument china has increased its investment in africa exponentially over the last decade and they are catching america up fast despite the u.s. investing over one hundred billion dollars over the last two years mali it can't be denied does have significant geo political importance kevin and a former thanks for much. british prime minister of the u.k. to prepare for bad news around ten british citizens ring minutes of captivity deal during the crisis for david cameron long way to address some british status within the e.u. which he was due to deliver on friday. the center of. a long going hostage situation in algeria of course that was the reason for the postponement but of course he's seen some of the extracts coming out of that speech that he was key to give in the netherlands today and certainly there was some strong words in it he said that there was a gap between the e. and the citize