This article, on the Pentagon’s fight against AIDS in Africa, appeared in the December issue of the Atlantic Monthly and is also archived below.
December, 2006
Containment Strategy
Iran. North Korea. Uganda? Why the Pentagon ranks Africa’s AIDS crisis as a leading security threat.By Stephan Faris
In a dark-green shipping container outside a Ugandan military hospital, a visiting Tanzanian general and four of his colonels encircle a desk. On the desk sits a green plastic paper tray. And from the tray rises a polished wooden dildo. “This weapon,” a Ugandan warrant officer tells them, “I’m sorry for exposing it to you. This is one of the weapons we have used in fighting HIV and AIDS.”