[Peace-discuss] Fwd: NYTimes.com: 3 Special Forces Troops Killed and 2 Are Wounded in an Ambush in Niger

[Karen Aram]

Yes, as we move away from the Middle East, according to Trita Parsi and others, we have become more entrenched in West Africa. It has gone mostly unnoticed but by a few. Those who read Nick Turse, and the World Socialist Website, etc are aware. And its all about ……….

According to the President of Namibia, in his interview with Chris Hedges, “there is little US presence now in Africa, its all Chinese.” He was referring to business and development projects, not US military troops and bases, which flourished under the Obama Administration, and now continues almost on “autopilot” under the Trump Administration, according to Vukoni Lupa Lasaga, at our recent Anti-War Teach In. 

> On Oct 5, 2017, at 04:19, Carl G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> Why is our government killing people from a base in Niger?
> 
> https://theintercept.com/2016/09/29/u-s-military-is-building-a-100-million-drone-base-in-africa/
> 
> ‘...The U.S. military activity in Niger is not isolated. “There’s a trend toward greater engagement and a more permanent presence in West Africa — the Maghreb and the Sahel,” noted Adam Moore of the department of geography at the University of California in Los Angeles and the co-author of an academic study of the U.S. military’s presence in Africa.
> 
> 'Since 9/11, in fact, the United States has poured vast amounts of military aid into the region. In 2002, for example, the State Department launched a counterterrorism program — known as the Pan-Sahel Initiative, which later became the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) — to assist the militaries of Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Between 2009 and 2013 alone, the U.S. allocated $288 million in TSCTP funding, according to a 2014 report by the Government Accountability Office. Niger was one of the top three recipients, netting more than $30 million.
> 
> 'U.S. special operations forces regularly train with Niger’s army and the U.S. has transferred millions of dollars’ worth of planes, trucks, and other gear to that impoverished nation. In a 2015 report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Lauren Ploch Blanchard of the Congressional Research Service noted that since 2006 Niger had received more than $82 million in assistance through the Department of Defense’s Global Train and Equip program…'
> 
> 
>> On Oct 4, 2017, at 11:29 PM, Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>> 
>> From: r-szoke <emailthis at ms3.lga2.nytimes.com>
>> Subject: NYTimes.com: 3 Special Forces Troops Killed and 2 Are Wounded in an Ambush in Niger
>> Date: October 4, 2017 
>> Reply-To: <r-szoke at illinois.edu>
>> 
>> Sent by r-szoke at illinois.edu:	
>> 	
>> 3 Special Forces Troops Killed and 2 Are Wounded in an Ambush in Niger
>> BY ERIC SCHMITT
>> 
>> Army Green Berets were on a routine patrol as part of a training exercise with troops from Niger, American military officials said.
>> Or, copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://nyti.ms/2xVaVS0
>> 
>> 
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