Why should we care about starving kids in Africa?

Note: The following is a short excerpt from an essay I wrote for Joint Forces Staff College, and covers some of the selfish reasons we should care about what happens in Africa and elsewhere.

Whereas the critical center of gravity for many state-based systems is leadership, modern globally networked terrorist organizations depend on active and passive support from the general population of one or more countries or regions. This support itself hinges on the impression that terrorism is a legitimate avenue to address these underlying conditions. This idea is the true “critical” center of gravity – the only COG that, if eliminated or significantly diminished, will cause the organizations to crumble.

Using Al Quaeda as an example, traditional strategic thought would have us centralize our focus upon its leadership. Surely, eliminating Osama Bin Laden would have a significant impact on Al Quaeda; however, a new leader likely would rise in his place. We have captured or killed a noteworthy number of operatives, disrupted their lines of communication, frozen their assets and supplies, and destroyed many of their bases of operation; yet, despite considerable effect on Al Quaeda’s effectiveness, it continues to operate. Even if we are able to destroy the organization completely, we can expect that as long as these underlying conditions and the idea that terrorism can address them exist, new terrorist organizations will appear as surely as weeds sprout in fresh soil.

The worldwide scope and implications of these underlying conditions cannot be ignored. In our country, we debate the increased risk of gang activity and violence in a society endangered by a lack of effective parental role models, poverty, homelessness, and sexual predation. These are significant concerns, but they pale in comparison to other parts of the world. On the continent of Africa, for instance, up to 20 million children will be orphaned by the AIDS pandemic by 2010, more than 90% of people in five nations live on less than the equivalent of $2 per day, over 4.5 million refugees are not only without homes, but without countries, and tens of thousands of children are trapped in prostitution (28,000 to 30,000 in South Africa alone). This is the fertile ground in which terrorist ideology takes root.

Coming soon: So, what can we do?