Jallow, you have not refuted my assertions that there exist a strict mode of
hierarchial relationship in the arm forces. By using Colin powell you are
completely missing the point, I am not saying that members of the armed
forces as individuals  do not develpe a sense of critical awareness, far
from it, what am trying to say is that, in the army  in Arica
particularly,deliberately exist a methodology of education designed to turn
soldiers into subservient tools, whose allegiance is not to our
constitutions  and the rule of law, but essentially to defend the
neo-colonial exploitative  class whose intrest and that of the people quite
regularly conflicts.

This is  as oppose to the USA where military take overs are inconceivable,
hence a different focus an emphasis on their roles and  content  of
teaching, the emphasis are quite different, in the structure of our armed
forces loyalty comes first above all else, in fact any soldier foud
suspicious and waverinng would normally be decommssioned. Because his
primary function which is to defend the ruling class would no longer be
there, hence his raison d 'etre. This the type of military machinery the
exist in Africa except perhaps for a few exceptions.

Of course soldiers can  political clarity as well as criticality but only by
virtue of their own investigation. A good case in hand would be Sankara,
Sankara undoubtedly had political education, he was just not a soldier whose
sole purpose was to defend a leech class that was bent upon sucking the
blood of the people. Through his personal quest in search of knowledge he
came to the conclusion that there exist class intrests in society,hence he
made the choice to be on the side of the people. His mission became that of
a liberator instead of a dominator. He never went for personal glory and
self aggrandisement unlike your creed  of soldiers whose first jump was to
seize the nations coffers and start enjoying the trappings of power at the
expense of the ordinary masses. Sankara never paid himself exorbitant sums
of money fo overthrowing an exploitative regime, no instead he worked
tirelessly sacrificing the opportunity to enrich himself.

If you had cited such an exemplary soldier who died leaving nothing to his
family, then I would have conceded that you understand the premise of my
analysis, but the very fact that you went to talk about Powell conviced me
that you still lack the clarity of the issues. What we want are soldiers
with political awareness and not just those that are eloquent and deceptive,
  whose ambitions are to hang on to privileges at the expense of national
developement as well as human rights.

What we are witnessing in the Gambia is a regime that does not want to know
about human rights a regime whose leadership is on record as saying that
human rights is secondary in their agenda. And with a mandate to rule,
people still do not understand why they adopt such an untenable such a
posture. The only explanation would have to be the concept of commandism,
which is inculcated in all the neo-colonial armed forces whose existence in
the first place is for  the protection of the ruling elites intrests and not
the people wqith their rights and resources.  With such a vocation ,in time,
they would become alienated as  is the case with the hitherto ruling
classes. They can continue to use unwarranted methods to ensure compliance
by any means necessary but they can never subjugate all the people. The only
way they can enjoy a guaranteed peace and tranquility is for the to learn to
dispense democaray and its values, this is the only way forward and if
people are happy with them under a judicious and an equitable climate, well
they can be there for eternity, after all people get the government they
disserve.


>From: Ebou Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Malik>>Re: call for restraint on abusive adjectives
>Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 17:22:18 -0800
>
>Mr. Kah,
>
>I read your analysis of Jammeh's decision-making / leadership
>paradigm with some reservation.  I would admit that your conclusions
>are alsolutely wrong.  Your description of the military command
>structure is correct, and there is a contingent and absolutely
>necessary reason for the vertical structure.  And I believe you are
>ignorant of how the military institution works.  Your claim that
>"developing a sense of rationality is unknown in the armed forces"-
>is totally absurd.  If this was the case, the number one diplomat of
>the Free World, General Colin Powell who served his entire life in
>the military could not have the respect of the entire world, and not
>even mentioning the public eagerness for him to run for the
>presidency.  I hope this one illustrious example will suffice.
>Imagine for a second what it takes to fight a battle against an enemy
>determined to end your way of life- it is the most physically and
>intellectually demanding than any other life experience, and yes it
>takes a special kind of a human being to accomplish that mission- a
>person disciplined mentally, emotionally and physically- a kind of
>psychological conditioning that only the military can provide in
>society.
>
>President Jammeh has his own unique style of leadership/decision-
>making( and all of us do have our own idiosyncracies), yet I will
>state that your assertions on Jammeh's "commandism" is an
>overstretch.  I have worked with him, and I can testify to that.
>
>=====
>Ebou Jallow
>Georgetown University
>Washington, DC
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals
>http://personals.yahoo.com
>
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