S&S - Murtha: Fund diplomacy, not AFRICOM

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Murtha: Fund diplomacy, not AFRICOM

By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes

Mideast edition, Saturday, November 29, 2008

Steve Mraz / S&S Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., left, talks with U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander Gen. Roger Brady at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center on Thursday.

Steve Mraz / S&S Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., center, enjoys Thanksgiving dinner at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center with Navy Cmdr. Fred Lindsay, on Murtha's left, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Margaret Hill, on Murtha's right. Near the far end of the table is Landstuhl commander Army Col. Brian Lein. Also at the table were U.S. Army Europe commander Gen. Carter Ham and Europe Regional Medical Command commander Brig. Gen. Keith Gallagher.

LANDSTUHL, Germany — More money should go to the U.S. State Department for U.S. efforts in Africa rather than to the military’s U.S. Africa Command, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. The chairman of the House of Representatives’ defense appropriations subcommittee made his comments Thursday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center after visiting wounded troops and having Thanksgiving dinner with top U.S. military leaders in Europe.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"President Bush requested $389 million for AFRICOM for fiscal 2009. Earlier this year during the budgetary process, the subcommittee Murtha chairs recommended providing AFRICOM only $80.6 million in funding for fiscal 2009.

In the end, AFRICOM’s budget was approved at $266 million.

Vince Crawley, a spokesman for AFRICOM, noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already spoken about the need for the State Department to get a bigger share of the funding."

&

"AFRICOM, which stood up Oct. 1 in Stuttgart, as a unified combatant command, brings all Defense Department programs on the continent under one umbrella.

Missions range from anti-terrorism programs in the Horn of Africa to maritime security initiatives and military-to-military training exercises in numerous countries."