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The Dying Sahara: US Imperialism and Terror in Africa
In The Dark Sahara ( Pluto Press, 2009), Jeremy Keenan exposed the collusion between the U.S. and Algeria in fabricating false flag terrorism to justify the launch of a new Saharan front in Washington's War on Terror. In this new book, he reveals how the Pentagon's designation of the region as a Terror Zone has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of thousands of innocent people. Beginning in 2004, with what local people called the U.S. invasion of the Sahel, The Dying Sahara shows how repressive, authoritarian regimes, cashing in on US terrorism rents, provoked Tuareg rebellions in both Niger and Mali. Multinationals expropriated Tuareg lands for uranium and puppeteers in Washington and Algiers pulled the strings of a new, narco-trafficking Al Qaeda. Keenan's chillingly detailed research shows that the U.S. and its new combatant African command (AFRICOM), far from bringing security, peace, and development, have created a self-fulfilling prophecy of terror and instability in a region the size of western Europe.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 4, 2013
Among my `this is a depressing-must reads' I put Jeremy Keenan's The Dying Sahara at the top of the list. The book is a sequel to Keenan's first important work on that region of growing global scramble for oil, uranium, gold - The Dark Sahara.
Together the two books give an in depth analysis of all of the machinations taking place in what is for American readers, an obscure region of the world. The fundamental thesis in The Dying Sahara - that the United States - AFRICOM and other lowlife counter-intelligence, dirty tricks organizations - has essentially provoked a series of `false flag' operations to use as a pretext for an increased U.S. military intervention throughout Africa as Africa's role as an increasing source of energy, minerals, etc, becomes more central.
On a more human level (remember that - the fate of peoples is involved - Keenan's life long connection to the peoples of the Sahara give the book a richness and a human dimension that is rare in political studies of this nature.He is a rare humanistic bird in a field of vultures (anthropologists)I should not be surprised by the savvy, the political sophistication, the ability of the Tuareg to understand the complex political world they find themselves in...these folks are not lightweights as they try to avoid the kind of policies that in the Americas nearly led to the extinction of Native peoples here.
Most of what the United States does in Africa on this score is the stuff of `secret operations, hard to verify - indeed this will be the major criticism of the book - that Keenan has not presented enough documentary evidence to make his case. Using what might be called the anthropological tradition of `participant observation' and relying on local informants, Keenan goes far in deconstructing what the U.S. is up to. And the denials which he has received to his allegations from the U.S. Defense Department appear more and more flimsy as one proceed through this book
I believe to the contrary that he has and that the book will be very difficult for the Obama Administration to refute. Keenan has a life long connection with the peoples of the Sahara, most especially the Tuaregs, caught in a cross fire between corrupt regimes (Algeria, Libyia, Niger, Mali, Mauretania) and U.S. global machinations.For the past decade since the Cheney energy report the United States has been looking for a pretext - sometimes almost comical in its clumsiness - to justify a regional military build up.
Keenan's connections with the Tuareg, his life long connection to their fate, survival, and his unwillingness to use his knowledge as an anthropologist in the service of empire, make Keenan a rare bird.
You'll not only read about how the United States has manipulated and destabilized the situation in the Sahara to justify opening up a second front of the war on terrorism, but also about the politics of Mail, Niger, Chad, Mauretania, countries that have become pawns in the big power game.
This book is as good as it gets and in writing it, as far as I am concerned, Keenan has done a service to humanity... I'll be writing alot more about Keenan and his works...At least from what I am aware, his writings on the Sahara are unique to date.
Together the two books give an in depth analysis of all of the machinations taking place in what is for American readers, an obscure region of the world. The fundamental thesis in The Dying Sahara - that the United States - AFRICOM and other lowlife counter-intelligence, dirty tricks organizations - has essentially provoked a series of `false flag' operations to use as a pretext for an increased U.S. military intervention throughout Africa as Africa's role as an increasing source of energy, minerals, etc, becomes more central.
On a more human level (remember that - the fate of peoples is involved - Keenan's life long connection to the peoples of the Sahara give the book a richness and a human dimension that is rare in political studies of this nature.He is a rare humanistic bird in a field of vultures (anthropologists)I should not be surprised by the savvy, the political sophistication, the ability of the Tuareg to understand the complex political world they find themselves in...these folks are not lightweights as they try to avoid the kind of policies that in the Americas nearly led to the extinction of Native peoples here.
Most of what the United States does in Africa on this score is the stuff of `secret operations, hard to verify - indeed this will be the major criticism of the book - that Keenan has not presented enough documentary evidence to make his case. Using what might be called the anthropological tradition of `participant observation' and relying on local informants, Keenan goes far in deconstructing what the U.S. is up to. And the denials which he has received to his allegations from the U.S. Defense Department appear more and more flimsy as one proceed through this book
I believe to the contrary that he has and that the book will be very difficult for the Obama Administration to refute. Keenan has a life long connection with the peoples of the Sahara, most especially the Tuaregs, caught in a cross fire between corrupt regimes (Algeria, Libyia, Niger, Mali, Mauretania) and U.S. global machinations.For the past decade since the Cheney energy report the United States has been looking for a pretext - sometimes almost comical in its clumsiness - to justify a regional military build up.
Keenan's connections with the Tuareg, his life long connection to their fate, survival, and his unwillingness to use his knowledge as an anthropologist in the service of empire, make Keenan a rare bird.
You'll not only read about how the United States has manipulated and destabilized the situation in the Sahara to justify opening up a second front of the war on terrorism, but also about the politics of Mail, Niger, Chad, Mauretania, countries that have become pawns in the big power game.
This book is as good as it gets and in writing it, as far as I am concerned, Keenan has done a service to humanity... I'll be writing alot more about Keenan and his works...At least from what I am aware, his writings on the Sahara are unique to date.
August 8, 2023
Useful insights into the geopolitics of the Sahara region. However, the content predominantly focusses on Algeria with limited information on other countries.
October 2, 2015
This is a book well worth reading. It presents a convincing narrative of the "global war on terror" in and around the Sahel. Jeremy Keenan does a great job in presenting the facts and making the reader understand the situation that is and has been in that region of Africa. But before you read this book you should read The Dark Sahara by Keenan, it helps you to understand The Dying Sahara to a broader extent.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews