Stardate 20021104.1918

(On Screen): Iraq notwithstanding, it appears that we're going to war in Africa. In fact, we may have effectively been doing so for months. But they're moving a command unit from the Second Marine Division (almost certainly a battalion, regimental or brigade command, not the divisional command) to Djibouti which will coordinate operation by Marines and Army Special Forces already operating in that area, including Yemen and Somalia.

But it's going to be "unconventional war", and yet again it's going to surprise and scare people around the world. It will show, yet again, that the US is more powerful and far more versatile than anyone had expected and highly capable of adapting to local circumstances. And it will show that the military gulf between us and everyone else is even greater than they had thought.

We're not going to put an armored division into Yemen and an armored division into Somalia and drive around in tanks looking for guerillas. We're going to be using squads of light infantry in low level assassination operations. (Backed by the ability to call on much heavier forces when needed. Expect a lot of use of Spookies and Spectres, among other things.)

And we're going to be doing it simultaneously with the operation in Iraq, without either affecting the other's ability to succeed.