Why is the United States interested in political events occurring in North Africa?
456079
Whether we are willing to admit or not, what happens half way around the world has direct implications on our economy, etc.  Since we are comprised of people from all nations, doesn't it make sense that what happens there concerns us?
280990
To us it's about US interests. (oil) To them it's a religous fight for freedom. Going by the last crusade, this might take a while.
1158607
"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." —Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001 \n\n"Do you have blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001\n\n "I'm the master of low expectations." —aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003 \n\n"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction." —Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003 \n\n"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." —Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001 \n\nFollowed by:\n\n"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002 \n\n"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." —Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000 \n\n"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 \n\n"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 \n\n"My answer is bring them on." —on Iraqi insurgents attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003
508960
The coordinated efforts of islamic forces is not new; just look at Kosovo and Chechnya.  We've read of converted muslims leaving the US to help these efforts abroad.  The main problem, and the thing the average american doesn't realize, is most of these forces have personnel trained by US special forces and/or CIA when we assisted Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war and in aid of Afghanistan during the Afghan-Soviet war, so it's going to become increasingly difficult to capture key persons when they have our playbook (for that terrain)\n\nIf anyone knows future al-Quida movements, they surely couldn't share them in this forum.  As an opinion, I feel a strong effort needs to be initiated to work with the ruling bodies in the region so that stronger governments arise, lessening the attraction of these off-shoot groups.  The only way this is feasible is if we start approaching the leaders from a position they are more comfortable with and that begins with sending envoys who understand and appreciate their culture.  Just as the FBI couldn't infiltrate the Black Panthers due to lack of black agents, we won't be able to gain full confidence until we can send some US representives over with whom the common man in the Mid East can relate.  The problem is, I'm not sure that is a priority and I worry that diplomacy is taking a back seat.  Egypt is increasingly turning anti-American on a grassroots level and you see more and more persons of higher stature (professors, physicians, lawyers) becoming involved in local politics in the region and they aren't preaching US policy.
362704
USA doesnt have The sphinx,Pyramids or the nile. Egypt doesnt have Georg Bush,Oprah Winfrey or WWF wrestling.
523232
As the most powerful nation on the planet, the USA is certainly going to protect it's interests.  If however you are implying that there is some western conspiracy, that is utter rubbish.  \n 1. Fact, the USA and it's western allies got involved in Somalia to provide humanitarian aid to a country that was literally starving to death in front of the world.  A bunch of greedy warlords did everthing they could to disrupt this process.\n\n2.The troubles between India and Pakistan go back hundreds of years and are mainly due to intolerance of religious factions mainly Muslim and Hindu.\n\n3. Saddam Hussien and the Baath party were and are responsible for the violance in Iraq.\n\n4. Israel and the Muslim countries have been fighting for 5,000 years, far longer than the USA or England have existed.
890527
The United States is trying so hard to appease Muslim nations... which is okay... and not Terrorists like the EU. Sudan is the first thing the AU, African Union, has to resolve. Plus the victims in Sudan are Christians... no one cares about Christians today. Sudan, like much of Africa is Poor and if the U.S.A doesn't do anything about this terrorist organizations will set up a stronghold in Africa.
25859
Because we are one week from free elections.  Because if we can have a democratic foothold there, it would go a long way to having democratic societies pop up throughout the Middle East.
976570
Last time we went into Africa they killed our soldiers and dragged their naked corpses through the street.Thats what happens when you try to feed them. Let Africa fix their own problem. The peole on here worrying about Darfur, are the same ones that said Iraq is none of our business!
320431
A simple yes/no answer should really suffice. The answer is no. There are a number of clearly identifiable factors which render this osrt of action unachievable (whether desirable or not, which is not the question posed) in the US or anywhere else for that matter.\n\nThe biggest single factor is public disinterest. Organisers of any event that they feel passionate abotu will find it hard to understand that people, being intrinsically selfish, don't want to participate for numerous reasons inlcuding inconvenience, laziness and apathy, belief that the action is flawed or doomed to failure anyway etc.\n\nOther factors contributing to the "no" answer include information distribution (how do you communicate effectively) and dealing with counter-information from those who would not want such an event to take place.\n\nOrganisers of demonstrations and protests know these things, and therefore they ensure that there is a groundswell of support long before the event is announced. In the case of the fight by Bob Geldof and others against the G8 and their stance on African poverty, mobilising the media and getting them onside is also critical.\n\nNeither of these would apply for the given scenario.\n\nThanks for exercising my brain for 5 minutes.
588150
Great question. another one I would ask is why genocide and terrorism is allowed in Africa but when it happens 15 years ago in Iraq we invade the country and overthrow THAT dictator... but we don't care about Ghana or Sudan where people are getting killed and kidnapped and raped everyday.\n\nI think the answer to the Iran question lies in the fact that they are currently talking trash to the world about how they are going to do it anyways and basically we can't let them have what they want or else other countries will do the same... also, realisitcally, we need to keep the Iranians down so that they have to sell their gas for cheaper because it would be their only export.\n\nAnd of course, all the people in the white house have little penises.
823274
Segolene Royal is possibly one of the best things recently to happen in European politics. She will shake up a corrupt and self serving political elite within France and make a real impact on the wider European scene. The French will have a better experience with their first woman leader than we did here in Britain with Thatcher.\nWhy were the papers full of American election politics and almost no reference was made to this event in our neighbour?
20820
There are some publications that can help you with this - one that comes to mind is "Osama's Revenge" by Paul Williams. It touches somewhat on the recent history of terrorist groups including Al Qaeda and actually has the full text of the declarations of war against the US  and the Israelis made by Bin Laden. The US military presence in the Middle East is cited as a reason particularly in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon and Palestine. There is strong disagreement with some of the Saudi regime's anti-Islamic policies and deep resentment of US support of Israel. There also was resentment on the lowest levels over the US pullout under George Bush senior (in Iraq).  Bin Laden fostered the growth of the terrorist units by being a major player in the drug trade and threw millions or billions into a cohesive coalition of groups such as al-Hiahd, al-Islamiyya, ul-Ulema, etc. It is claimed that the US has been enmeshed in political battles there for not only economic but for religious reasons as well. I think reading books suchg as these would be more helpful than asking a question like this on Yahoo.
1099887
The US had a presence there since 1950's, even before that if you count the OSS operatives during WWII. Our involvement was to stem the tide of Communism, and also to step in to fill the gap after the French were leaving to comply with the Geneva Accord of 1954. \n     In the context of the times, fighting Communism was a more important and justifiable pretext than oil. \n    It seems apparent that actual motives changed and got muddied as the scope of involvement became lengthy. \n    In the end, US objectives are actually beginning to be realized, and that area of the world moves to more of a self determined free-market based economy. It is a shame that there had to be so much suffering of the general population AFTER US withdrawal to see this come about. \n     I have read memoirs and interviews from former Viet Cong of how they were immediately disenfranchised when the South was overrun, (and they were on the same side as the North, and did much of the dying at the hands of the US!), so one can imagine how bad it must have been for the remainder of the population.
961201
Well, the true reason is kind of multi-pronged.\n\nFirstly, it was for oil. However, not in the way that the "those evil war mongering republicans are all poopy heads" crowd seem to believe. Like it or not the US economy is highly dependant on foreign oil. The previous regime in Iraq first tried to take over Kuwait, a major producer that sits directly on the gulf. Additionally, that regime made it quite clear that they intended to use their influence on global oil markets in any way they could to harm western economies. Can you imagine a world where a single very anti-American dictator controls 70% of the worlds oil supply and chooses not to sell to us at any price but rather give China, a major rival, access to virtually unlimited supplies at cut rate prices?\n\nSecondly, it was about breaking up the web of state funded terrorism. Like it or not there are a large number of middle eastern fundamentalists who are actively working to wipe America off of the map. This is not some new phenomena that has taken place since we took action in Iraq. This has been brewing for decades. I know that it is an unpleasant realization to some, but America is at war and we did not start it nor did it begin with the invasion of Iraq nor with 9/11. Middle eastern fundamentalists declared war on the US more than a decade ago. Unfortunately, most Americans are too busy carrying on with their normal lives to realize this as a clear and present danger. One of the insidious attributes about international terrorism is that there is no single nation-state that the US can point to as the "enemy". This gives state sponsors of terrorism the luxury of calling the US an aggressive bully when we take action against them. Iraq was one of many enablers in the international terrorism network. There are others. It is my hope that America will not have to learn the hard way that it is better to deal with such threats early even though such actions may not appear politically correct rather than wait until a mushroom cloud erupts over Israel, the UK, or the Eastern coast of the US.
508820
To make America happy to see their ally so rewarded for helping them in the Cold War against Russia and the hot war against North Korea.   Some Americans would even be happy to see Europe weakened and morally corrupted by it.  All the other muslims east and south of Turkey would also be delighted to have the door thus opened into Europe for them via Turkey.  Much the same thing happened in South Africa when the blacks wee allowed to take over : the door to Africa's most prosperous country was opened to hordes of other blacks, especially Nigerians, who now constitute 500,000 of Johannesburg's population : and they are NOT working in the mines!
241206
WOW! Now that's a loaded question. It all depends on who you ask.\n\nThe Extremely short, short answer: Money, Power and Politics.\n\nSlightly more elaborated answers:\n\n* Because we are trying to put an end to terrorism?\n* Because we are trying to bring freedom and democracy to the masses?\n* Because war is good for the pockets of American Businessmen?\n* Because the U.S. Governments wants to strip away American rights and freedoms giving themselves more power and to do this they needed to fabricate a war on terror?\n\nBut the most compelling:\n*Because many Middle eastern nations, including Iraq, have plans to switch their currency base from the U.S. Dollar to the Euro and this would slowly erode the worth of American currency essentially knocking us out of our vaunted place of power in the World Economy.  \n\nI hope this helps.