(Drones) Out of Africa

The Washington Post has a story this afternoon in which the Air Force confirms that it is operating armed Reaper drones out of a particular location in Ethiopia.  It is an interesting contribution to the larger, ongoing story of America's increasing focus on the Yem-Som theater (I admit that is not as catchy as Af-Pak; perhaps the Horn of Africa theater or Gulf of Aden theater would be more useful) and the reliance there on a hybrid military/CIA approach.  The story is also interesting, of course, in that it involves explicit Air Force confirmation of the use of drones out of this base, while also noting that the Ethiopian government only recently denied any such activity is occurring on its territory and that when the U.S. military's operational presence in Ethiopia became public in 2006 (it apparently involved AC-130 gunships staging out of Ethopia in support of Ethiopia's incursion into Somalia against the Islamic Courts Union), Ethiopia shut that program down.  Yet another example, in short, of the recurring fact pattern in which a government agrees behind closed doors to cooperate with U.S. forces in this manner but for various reasons (domestic politics, diplomatic concerns, fear of retaliation, etc.) will not concede that cooperation publicly and might end it if it becomes public. Which raises the question why an Air Force spokesperson was talking about it in this public manner.