What Are U.S. Forces Doing in Niger Anyway?
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Senators ‘Stunned’ to Learn US Has 1,000 Troops in Niger – News From Antiwar.com
With Pentagon officials offering the first details on the Niger ambush incident, they also revealed details about the ongoing US war in Niger, including the revelation that there is an ongoing US war in Niger. Nobody seems to have known about it.
Especially not those whose job it is to know. Senate Armed Services Committee members confirmed they were “stunned” by the revelation, and had no idea that the US had upwards of 1,000 ground troops operating inside Niger. Gen. Joe Dunford presented this military operation as being targeted at an ISIS affiliate inside Niger, and the suggestion is that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Afghanistan is serving as the legal justification.
Perennial hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed comfort with this, saying it is the military’s job to decide who the enemy is, and Congress could defund the war if they objected. This is both not the way US wars are supposed to be launched, and obviously a problem since Congress didn’t even know the war was going on.
This is adding to the push to repeal the AUMF as well, or to replace it with something more specific that at the very least wouldn’t be used 16 years after the fact to start a war without telling anyone about it.
Officially, where US troops are deployed is supposed to be a matter of public record, though the Trump Administration has been increasingly averse to doing so with any precision, and the most recent figures show over 27,000 US troops deployed overseas to unspecified locations.
With Pentagon officials offering the first details on the Niger ambush incident, they also revealed details about the ongoing US war in Niger, including the revelation that there is an ongoing US war in Niger. Nobody seems to have known about it.
Especially not those whose job it is to know. Senate Armed Services Committee members confirmed they were “stunned” by the revelation, and had no idea that the US had upwards of 1,000 ground troops operating inside Niger. Gen. Joe Dunford presented this military operation as being targeted at an ISIS affiliate inside Niger, and the suggestion is that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Afghanistan is serving as the legal justification.
Perennial hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) expressed comfort with this, saying it is the military’s job to decide who the enemy is, and Congress could defund the war if they objected. This is both not the way US wars are supposed to be launched, and obviously a problem since Congress didn’t even know the war was going on.
This is adding to the push to repeal the AUMF as well, or to replace it with something more specific that at the very least wouldn’t be used 16 years after the fact to start a war without telling anyone about it.
Officially, where US troops are deployed is supposed to be a matter of public record, though the Trump Administration has been increasingly averse to doing so with any precision, and the most recent figures show over 27,000 US troops deployed overseas to unspecified locations.
It comes from Facebook......Don't you know Cliffy yet???...He has a reputation to uphold......
https://www.globalresearch.ca/whats...spoken-war-against-sub-saharan-africa/5614837
Few Americans know anything about the country. They’re minimally knowledgeable geographically about nations only when Washington goes to war – testimony to public ignorance, a national disgrace in a nation where it’s simple to stay informed by following reliable independent online sources.
Niger is landlocked in central northwest Africa, nearly twice the size of France territorially. It’s the world’s fifth largest source of uranium, its fourth largest producer, reason enough for America’s presence.
Its other valued resources include coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt and oil – with at least 40 billion barrels of proved reserves, perhaps multiples this amount, it’s believed, along with plentiful natural gas.
Niger became newsworthy with reports of militants killing four US special forces, the Pentagon saying little about what happened.
It failed to explain why around 800 US troops are based in the country, congressional members not told earlier. Trump likely didn’t know.
What are they doing there? Valued Niger resources alone explain. In October 2015, America and Niger agreed to cooperate in combating terrorism the US supports. Green Berets were deployed to the nation.
On February 5, Washington sought permission to build a drone base in the country. Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou approved a status of forces agreement (SOFA), legitimizing America’s presence – a deplorable arrangement, denying host countries jurisdiction over US military and civilian personnel.
They prevent them from enforcing their laws against crimes committed by US personnel, unacceptable noise, pollution, environmental contamination, and use of valued public land.
Construction of a second drone base is underway in Agadez, construction completion expected next year. Niger is key for America’s planned expanded presence on the continent, a northwest African regional hub.
The Pentagon operates an airbase near Niamey, Niger’s capital and largest city, its population about 1.3 million.
US military operations in the country are kept under wraps. Four US special forces killed in Niger is a convenient pretext for expanding America’s military presence in the nation and on continent – claiming it’s to combat terrorism Washington supports.
US forces in Africa are all about controlling and carving up the continent for profit – preventing China and Russia from gaining a greater foothold than already – a modern-day great game.
America’s military operates in nearly all African countries, some more important than others, most troops at Camp Lemonnier at AFRICOM’s Djibouti headquarters in the continent’s northeast horn.
According to TomDispatch (TD), “(h)ighly classified AFRICOM files…obtained…via the Freedom of Information Act offer clear evidence” of the Pentagon’s continental reach – US military facilities in at least 46 of Africa’s 54 countries, perhaps more not yet disclosed.
They’re “integral to expanding US military operations on the African continent and in the Middle East,” said TD – waging phony war on terror the pretext used to justify their presence, “expanding at a rapid pace.”
Wherever US troops show up, violence and destabilization follow.
Entire countries and regions are harmed, some devastated like the Middle East, central Asia and north Africa – part of Washington’s aim for unchallenged global dominance, no matter the human cost.
Few Americans know anything about the country. They’re minimally knowledgeable geographically about nations only when Washington goes to war – testimony to public ignorance, a national disgrace in a nation where it’s simple to stay informed by following reliable independent online sources.
Niger is landlocked in central northwest Africa, nearly twice the size of France territorially. It’s the world’s fifth largest source of uranium, its fourth largest producer, reason enough for America’s presence.
Its other valued resources include coal, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt and oil – with at least 40 billion barrels of proved reserves, perhaps multiples this amount, it’s believed, along with plentiful natural gas.
Niger became newsworthy with reports of militants killing four US special forces, the Pentagon saying little about what happened.
It failed to explain why around 800 US troops are based in the country, congressional members not told earlier. Trump likely didn’t know.
What are they doing there? Valued Niger resources alone explain. In October 2015, America and Niger agreed to cooperate in combating terrorism the US supports. Green Berets were deployed to the nation.
On February 5, Washington sought permission to build a drone base in the country. Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou approved a status of forces agreement (SOFA), legitimizing America’s presence – a deplorable arrangement, denying host countries jurisdiction over US military and civilian personnel.
They prevent them from enforcing their laws against crimes committed by US personnel, unacceptable noise, pollution, environmental contamination, and use of valued public land.
Construction of a second drone base is underway in Agadez, construction completion expected next year. Niger is key for America’s planned expanded presence on the continent, a northwest African regional hub.
The Pentagon operates an airbase near Niamey, Niger’s capital and largest city, its population about 1.3 million.
US military operations in the country are kept under wraps. Four US special forces killed in Niger is a convenient pretext for expanding America’s military presence in the nation and on continent – claiming it’s to combat terrorism Washington supports.
US forces in Africa are all about controlling and carving up the continent for profit – preventing China and Russia from gaining a greater foothold than already – a modern-day great game.
America’s military operates in nearly all African countries, some more important than others, most troops at Camp Lemonnier at AFRICOM’s Djibouti headquarters in the continent’s northeast horn.
According to TomDispatch (TD), “(h)ighly classified AFRICOM files…obtained…via the Freedom of Information Act offer clear evidence” of the Pentagon’s continental reach – US military facilities in at least 46 of Africa’s 54 countries, perhaps more not yet disclosed.
They’re “integral to expanding US military operations on the African continent and in the Middle East,” said TD – waging phony war on terror the pretext used to justify their presence, “expanding at a rapid pace.”
Wherever US troops show up, violence and destabilization follow.
Entire countries and regions are harmed, some devastated like the Middle East, central Asia and north Africa – part of Washington’s aim for unchallenged global dominance, no matter the human cost.