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DJIBOUTI (AP) - Business executive Peter Thoren rode in the cockpit of the C-130 cargo plane as it raced over barren scrubland in the Horn of Africa, surveying a battlefield in the war on terror that most Americans know nothing about.
Thoren and seven other members of Business Executives for National Security could see the footpaths used by nomads to search out water and pasture. A few dirt roads connected small settlements, but from thousands of feet in the air, the region is intimidatingly vast.
On the ground, itinerant Islamic militants are teaching religious intolerance and hatred of the United States. Rebels and terrorist groups smuggle weapons and plot attacks. The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa's mission is to convince local people to reject extremism.
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