USAID

The U.S. government can't be sure taxpayer money isn't winding up in terrorists' pockets, it admitted recently. According to a recent government audit stamped "Sensitive but Unclassified" obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. Agency for International Development can't be sure that some of the billions in aid it distributes annually doesn't go to individuals or groups with terrorist ties, the paper reported. "Although it conducts programs in countries where terrorism is a major concern, USAID has not developed or instituted a worldwide anti-terrorism program," the Tribune quoted from the audit prepared by the USAID inspector general. "USAID risks providing funding or other material support and resources to terrorists or terrorist organizations."

When President George W. Bush announced plans for a US military command for Africa – AFRICOM – in February, there was an uproar on the continent, and the controversy has yet to die down. Critics say AFRICOM is a poorly disguised attempt by the United States to gain access to African resources, to fight its war on terror on the continent and to interfere politically in African affairs by propping up governments that support US interests instead of their peoples’. But US officials insist that AFRICOM’s primary mission will be the training of African peacekeepers and that it will also help reduce poverty and corruption. In the second of a series on the command, VOA’s Darren Taylor focuses on the African reaction to AFRICOM.

BERLIN (AP) -- The U.S military's contentious new command covering Africa began operating on Monday from a base in Germany, and will be gradually brought to full capacity over the next year, a military spokesman said. But several African leaders have expressed doubt about the command's necessity, saying they want to avoid foreign troops on their soil.

Federal law, Title 10 United States Code, Section 153 sets the functions of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces. "(6) Other Matters.— (A) Providing for representation of the United States on the Military Staff Committee of the United Nations in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations."