Dakar sounds like a nightmare, but you might want to revisit Miami, which you mentioned as another hell hole.
I have been in and out of Miami about 30 times over the last three years and have always found it OK. They have been making constant renovations in all this time, both in the roads approaching the airport and in the terminal.
Check-ins are speedy, immigration and customs are nearly always a five minute walk through--even if you do have to walk about half a mile from the gates to get there (with some people mover belts en route).
Salsafied it may be, but at least there are a couple of Cuban restaurants where you can get something palatable, even if a lot of space is given over to dreadful fast food franchises. You can get a decent cup of coffee (where else in the US?) and the bean soups at the cafeteria are not bad. Not cheap, of course, but then what is?
Staff are generally helpful in either language--English or Spanish--and I can't say I have ever had a bad trip through there.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox