Turns out that for five years Niger has been a toe in the expanding American footprint in Africa, and has become a hub of U.S. military activity (about 800 soldiers are serving as advisors and training local forces there now) and, according to Nick Turse, the location of a brand new $100 million drone base. Meanwhile, the region has become a crossroads of Islamist activity, from Boko Haram in Nigeria to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb across the Sahel. And now, apparently, ISIS.
While some reporters have sought to find scandal in President Trump’s reaction to the troop deaths, there’s been little to no concern about the U.S. putting troops in combat situations in Niger in the first place, ostensibly to “train and advise,” and then keeping it largely out of the press.
Niger is far from the exception. In March 2012, the Pentagon confirmed that U.S. troops were attacked in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, and that a CIA officer was killed. This was the first time officials confirmed that the U.S. had ground troops operating inside Yemen at all. The revelation is even more stunning when one recalls that the White House publicly ruled out sending ground troops to Yemen several times in the years leading up to this admission.
During his August 21 speech on Afghanistan, President Trump cautioned that “America’s enemies must never know our plans.” This was presented at the time as a reason for not giving any specifics about how the Afghan war’s escalation was to proceed, but also appears to be a driving policy goal for the administration, likely at the behest of the Pentagon—secrecy at all cost.
Given the Pentagon’s long history of being less than candid with the American public, making secrecy a government-wide goal suggests what happened in Niger was not an oversight, nor likely to be a unique situation for the world’s largest military, which has troops in myriad countries—at last count 138—often doing God knows what.
more
What Are U.S. Forces Doing in Niger Anyway? | The American Conservative
While some reporters have sought to find scandal in President Trump’s reaction to the troop deaths, there’s been little to no concern about the U.S. putting troops in combat situations in Niger in the first place, ostensibly to “train and advise,” and then keeping it largely out of the press.
Niger is far from the exception. In March 2012, the Pentagon confirmed that U.S. troops were attacked in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, and that a CIA officer was killed. This was the first time officials confirmed that the U.S. had ground troops operating inside Yemen at all. The revelation is even more stunning when one recalls that the White House publicly ruled out sending ground troops to Yemen several times in the years leading up to this admission.
During his August 21 speech on Afghanistan, President Trump cautioned that “America’s enemies must never know our plans.” This was presented at the time as a reason for not giving any specifics about how the Afghan war’s escalation was to proceed, but also appears to be a driving policy goal for the administration, likely at the behest of the Pentagon—secrecy at all cost.
Given the Pentagon’s long history of being less than candid with the American public, making secrecy a government-wide goal suggests what happened in Niger was not an oversight, nor likely to be a unique situation for the world’s largest military, which has troops in myriad countries—at last count 138—often doing God knows what.
more
What Are U.S. Forces Doing in Niger Anyway? | The American Conservative
