NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams
"Our military empire is bankrupting us and turning the rest of the world against us."
Ron Paul
Ron Paul | Infowars.com
The July military coup in the west African country of Niger has once again brought attention to the fact that the US government runs a global military empire that serves Washington’s special interests, and not the national interest.
Before the coup made news headlines, most Americans – including many serving in Congress – had no idea the US government maintains more than 1,000 troops stationed on several US bases in Niger. But it’s even worse than that. A recent report in The Intercept suggests the Pentagon repeatedly misled Congress about the extent and the cost of the US presence in Niger.
According to The Intercept, “in testimony before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in March, the chief of US Africa Command described Air Base 201 (in Niger) as ‘minimal’ and ‘low cost.’” In fact the US government has spent a quarter of a billion dollars on the base since construction began in 2016.
So when did Congress declare war so as to legalize US military operations in Niger? They didn’t. But as Kelley Vlahos writes in Responsible Statecraft, US troops have been “training” the military in Niger since 2013 and the US government has constructed a number of military bases to “fight terrorism” in the country and region.
Does that mean that the Pentagon is operating in Niger under the 2001 authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) meant to track down those who attacked the US on 9/11? It’s a good question and thankfully one being asked by Sen. Rand Paul in a recent letter sent to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Senator Paul first pointed out in the letter, “the Administration’s limitless interpretation of the 9/11 AUMF and frequent use of Title 10 authorities results in military operations abroad conducted with little Congressional oversight and even less public scrutiny.” Such actions “undermine our Constitution,” he writes as he asks, “in how many countries are US forces conducting operations authorized by the 2001 AUMF.”
An honor guard carries the coffin of U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson, who was among four Special Forces soldiers killed in Niger, at a graveside service in Hollywood, Florida, on Oct. 21, 2017.
"We Americans have no commission from
God to police the world."
President Benjamin Harrison
Senator Rand Paul tweets out about America troops in Niger.
The general reaction in Washington falls into two categories: Don't know and don't care.
The U.S. deployed troops to Niger in the early 2000s as part of an initiative to train and equip African militaries. This was done to prevent terrorism, based on the idea that weak or failing states could become hotspots for recruiting terrorists.
Former President Barack Obama ramped up the U.S. presence when, in 2013, he ordered 100 troops to the area to conduct unmanned reconnaissance missions over Mali. By December 2016, there were 575 troops in the country and 645 troops by June 2017.
Karem explained that only a “small fraction” of the 800 troops there today are special ops forces engaged in training and assisting Nigerien forces and that none are intended for direct combat.
“The majority of DOD personnel in Niger are supporting air operations at the airfield in Niamey, or construction of an airfield in Agadez,” Karem said. Paul tweeted about Niger in response to an article by The Intercept that criticized the $280 million price tag of the Agadez air base.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who generally supports U.S. intervention abroad, said after the 2017 ambush that he “didn’t know” there were so many American troops in Niger, but defended the military’s presence in the region. “They were there to defend America. They were there to help allies. They were there to prevent another platform to attack America and our allies,” he said.
"The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure."
Once again we see the spineless turds of the bipartisan Republicrat Party in Congress openly piss on the Constitution and hand over their authority to declare war to the executive.
(CNSNews.com) – Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pushed backed gently on Monday against members of Congress who have voiced surprise at the size of the U.S. troop presence in Niger, calling the 800 military personnel there “a relatively small footprint.”
“If you look at the numbers, we have 800 Americans, we have 4,000 French and there’s over 35,000 local partners that are operating there,” Dunford told reporters at the Pentagon.
He contrasted that to the situation in Afghanistan, where approximately 11,000 Americans are stationed.
“So, what the American people need to know is, with a relatively small footprint, we are enabling local forces [in Niger] to deal with these [terrorist] challenges before they become a threat to the American people, and to help them to deal with the challenges so they don’t further destabilize their local area or region,” he said.
Diogenes had trouble finding an honest man. Nothing has changed. Now our Political Liar Class claims they know nothing about the growing American war in Niger. . . . . just like they knew nothing about unconstitutional NSA spying or mountains of weapons finding its way to ISIS and Islamists.
(Reuters) - U.S. senators said on Sunday the White House has not been forthcoming with details about the military's presence in Niger after the deaths of four soldiers there earlier this month and they want more answers on U.S. operations in the west African country.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said in separate interviews that they support Republican Senator John McCain's effort to get answers from the Pentagon on the ambush and more broadly on the U.S. fight against ISIS in Niger.
Graham and Schumer said they had been unaware of the large U.S. presence in the country and said Congress needs more information on what could become a long and open-ended involvement.
"I didn't know there was 1,000 troops in Niger," Graham said on NBC's Meet the Press. "This is an endless war without boundaries and no limitation on time and geography," he added. "You've got to tell us more and he [McCain] is right to say that."
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Graham and McCain, who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Friday that the military is shifting its counter-terrorism strategy to focus more on Africa and expanding the ability to use force against suspected terrorists.
The attack earlier this month, which U.S. officials suspect was carried out by a local Islamic State affiliate, has thrown a spotlight on the U.S. counter-terrorism mission in Niger, which has about 800 U.S. troops.
Democrat Schumer said on the same program on Sunday that he, like Graham, had also been unaware of the large presence of U.S. troops in Niger and is also awaiting more answers from the military this week.
He said Congress may need to re-examine the current authorization for what he said could be a long, open-ended involvement in the country and region.
"We need to look at this carefully. This is a brave new world. There are no set battle plans," he said, adding that Congress currently authorizes action as part of the authorization of military use that has been in place for 16 years since the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.
"The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure."
EDITOR - Pardon me, but why the Hell are we on "routine patrol" in Central Africa?
(The Guardian) - Five soldiers from Niger and three US Army special forces troops were killed and two wounded in an ambush on a joint patrol in southwest Niger on Wednesday, according to Nigerien and US officials.
The five Green Berets were attacked while on a routine patrol in an area known to have a presence of insurgents, including from al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Islamic State, a US official told Reuters.
It was unclear who fired on the US and US-backed forces, the official said. Those forces were not patrolling the area with any specific objective, such as a high-value target or rescuing a hostage, the official added.
A spokesman for US Africa Command confirmed the attack after Radio France International (RFI) reported a lethal ambush near the Niger/Mali border.
“We can confirm reports that a joint US and Nigerien patrol came under hostile fire in southwest Niger,” said the spokesman.
Namatta Abubacar, an official for the region of Tillaberi in Niger, said five Nigerien soldiers were among the dead.
A Niger diplomatic source said the attackers had come from Mali and had killed several soldiers, without saying whether any of the US troops stationed in the West African country were among the victims.
Democrats and Republicans again secretly join together to expand our ability to turn nations to rubble. This time in central Africa.
Call me a crazy Blogger, which I am, but central Africa has managed on its own without our "help" for the last 10,000 years. The TRILLIONS we have been pissing away on useless wars and arming Islamists could have funded Social Security for the next 200 years and rebuilt our crumbling infrastructure.
Niger, Africa (The Daily Sheeple) — DARPA, or the secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which works under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Defense, has created some spooky technology in its time — from tiny drones called ‘Gremlins,’ to ‘implantable, wireless neuroprosthetics’ that are lodged in a soldier’s brain to offer a reprieve from PTSD and other brain injuries resultant of the DoD’s war path. DARPA’s latest investment stands to take advantage of ample real estate in one of the world’s most impoverished nations.
DARPA has a publicly disclosed budget of at least $3 billion spent across 250 programs, as well as black budget programs with unknown financial figures. Now the government plans to spend $100 million building “one of the most important U.S. military construction efforts in Africa,” according to once-secret files obtained by the Interceptthrough the Freedom of Information Act.
The base will be constructed in the center of Niger, one of the only countries that is allowing MQ-9 Reapers — the newer, larger, and potentially more lethal model of drone than its Predator predecessor.
Welcome to Niger Protecting goats, grass huts and dirt streets since 2016.
DARPA’s drone technologies have been expediently advancing, with some that can speed around a warehouse at 45 miles per hour, and others that have nanotechnology implanted within them to create weapons that target everything from submarines, to underground bases, and airborne missiles. Long-distance, and high-altitude drones have also been developed, including some that can stay in the air for weeks at a time.
The original request to build a base in Agadez, Niger, was green-lighted by President Obama for $38 million, under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015; but that has already jumped to $50 million, with operating expenses projected to cost American taxpayers $12.8 million per year once the base is built.
The emphasis on the Niger base is to run drone missions, though the Pentagon is hush-hush about its full intentions for the project. A 2015 planning document attests,
“The top MILCON [military construction] project for USAFRICOM is located in Agadez, Niger to construct a C-17 and MQ-9 capable airfield. RPA presence in NW Africa supports operations against seven [Department of State]-designated foreign terrorist organizations. Moving operations to Agadez aligns persistent ISR to current and emerging threats over Niger and Chad, supports French regionalization and extends range to cover Libya and Nigeria.”
The Agadez base would contribute to the U.S.’s presence the world over, with more than 662 overseas bases in 38 foreign countries, and military personnel in roughly 148 countries.
The U.S. established diplomatic relations with Niger in 1960, following its independence from the United Kingdom. It has since become a hub of U.S. military projects; however, Germany now plans to build their own base in Niger, in order to “fight Islamic militants” in neighboring Mali.
Noun Hy-dra - 1) a many-headed serpent or monster in Greek mythology that was slain by Hercules and each head of which when cut off was replaced by two others. 2) a multifarious evil not to be overcome by a single effort.
(Reuters) - Niger's army is fighting to recapture an island in Lake Chad after it was seized by hundreds of Boko Haram militants aboard motorised canoes, army sources said on Sunday.
Boko Haram, hardline Islamists who want to establish a caliphate in the region, attacked the island of Karamga at dawn on Saturday, their second attempt to capture it since February, army and government sources said.
Lake Chad's islands, which lie in dense swampland, are an ideal base for mounting surprise attacks on the countries bordering the lake: Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.Boko Haram, hardline Islamists who want to establish a caliphate in the region, attacked the island of Karamga at dawn on Saturday, their second attempt to capture it since February, army and government sources said.
"There were many (Niger soldiers) dead on Saturday, considerably more than in the first attack," said one of the army sources, referring to a battle in February in which seven Niger soldiers died.
A second army source said a counter-attack to clear the island of militants was ongoing.
Since February, Nigerian forces backed by neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon have won back vast swathes of territory from Boko Haram, which previously controlled an area the size of Belgium.
On Friday suspected Boko Haram militants crossed over from Cameroon and forced Nigerian troops out of the border town of Marte, one soldier told Reuters, indicating the group still has a reach beyond Sambisa.
The island of Karamga is hundreds of kilometres away, suggesting that there is at least one Boko Haram cell further north.
Niger suffered a wave of attacks and suicide bombs in its southern border region of Diffa in February and March, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency there.
You can't pick up extra rocket launchers, machine guns and ammo re-supplies at your local K-Mart. Boko Haram is armed and funded by either "pro-American" Saudi Arabia, the UAE or even the CIA. Pick one.
Boko Haram staged an overnight assault on a border town in Niger and a suicide bomber detonated explosives near a market in the same town a few hours later, witnesses said Sunday, in a sign the extremists' offensive against the West African nation was intensifying.
The attack on the town of Diffa Boko Haram and Niger's began Saturday night, and fighting between Boko Haram and Niger's army lasted until 5 a.m. toward the town's southern entrance before the extremists were forced to flee and calm was restored, Diffa resident Adam Boukar said.
A few hours after the attack was repulsed, a suicide bomber who witnesses said they believed was female blew herself up in Diffa's pepper market, which attracts traders and customers from Nigeria and other countries in the region.
"This young girl who was wearing the bomb made it explode right in the middle of the market. At the moment the market is surrounded by soldiers, and the rest of the town also," said resident Kader Lawan.
Officials could not immediately be reached to confirm residents' accounts or give casualty figures.
Boko Haram has used suicide bombers driving explosive-laden cars and wearing explosive vests in dozens of deadly attacks on crowded markets and bustling bus stations that have killed hundreds of people. This would be the first such attack outside of Nigeria.
The fight against Boko Haram has taken on an increasingly regional dimension in recent months, with the extremists staging attacks in both Cameroon and Niger last week alone. Foreign fighters from neighboring countries are said to be part of the terror group, which recruits with payments and by force as well as on an ideological basis.
On Saturday, regional and African Union officials meeting in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, unveiled a proposal for a force of as many as 8,750 members to combat Boko Haram, with manpower coming from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
Officials said they envisioned deploying the force as early as next month, though funding issues could delay that timeline.
As the meeting was held, thousands of young people marched through the streets of Yaounde as part of a demonstration organized by Cameroon's National Youth Council to discourage collaboration with Boko Haram and to voice support for the military.
Iran offers to fight Boko Haram Stop and think. If Iran is opposed to Boko Haram then where do they get their funding and weapons? Answer: from the U.S. "ally" Saudi Arabia. .
The Premium Times of Nigeriareports that Iran is stepping forward to offer assistance to the African Union against the savage caliphate spilling out of northern Nigeria into Cameroon and menacing the entire region:
Iran on Saturday announced plans to assist in the fight against the Islamist group, Boko Haram, as part of its contribution for global peace.
The country’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Amir Hossein Abdollohian, made the announcement while addressing the press on Saturday on the sideline of the ongoing 24th Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa.
Mr. Abdollohian said the activities of the Boko Haram militants and that of Al-Shabaab in the Somalia were similar to that of Al-Qaeda and the ISIS and other terrorist groups in the Middle East.
“Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa are similar with Al-Qaeda and ISIS in parts of the Middle East using similar methods of operations to cause havoc to the people of the two regions. Iran is therefore willing to use its experience in dealing with terror groups to assist in combatting these groups in Africa.“
A Niger church burned by the Religion of Peace. (BBC)
Muslims Burn Churches
This headline is 1,400 years old.
The Religion of Peace has never changed.
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Stone-throwing demonstrators set fire to two churches in Niger's capital Niamey on Saturday, in the latest protest in France's former African colonies at French newspaper Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. A day after five people were killed in Niger in protests over the cartoons, protesters in Niamey attacked a police station and burned at least two police cars near the main mosque after authorities banned a meeting called by local Muslim leaders. Police responded with teargas.
"They offended our Prophet Mohammed. That's what we didn't like," said Amadou Abdoul Ouahab, who took part in the demonstration. "This is the reason why we have asked Muslims to come, so that we can explain this to them, but the state refused. That's why we're angry today."
Demonstrations were also reported in regional towns, including Maradi, 600 km (375 miles) east of Niamey, where two churches were burned. Another church and a residence of the foreign minister were burned in the eastern town of Goure.
Four Muslim preachers who had convened the meeting in Niamey were arrested, police sources said. Protesters burned the French flag and set up roadblocks on streets in the town centre but no casualties were reported on Saturday.
The death toll from Friday's clashes in Niger's second largest city of Zinder, rose to five after emergency services discovered a burned body inside a Catholic Church.
On Friday, churches were burned, Christian homes looted and the French cultural centre attacked during the violence in Zinder, residents said.
A police officer and three civilians had already been confirmed killed in the demonstrations against the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, police sources said.
Charlie Hebdo: Niger protesters burn churches
The French embassy has called on its nationals living in Niamey to remain at home.
A man holds a copy of the Koran during a protest against Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou's attendance last week at a Paris rally in support of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. (Reuters)
A man (2nd L) holds a sign reading "Charlie and his allies are damned".
A man burns a tire during a protest against Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou's attendance last week at a Paris rally.
A police van set on fire by protesters during a demonstration against French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
A burned out church in Zinder.
Muhammad, piss be upon his beard, is shown bathing in blood. Show me the part of this cartoon that is not historically correct.
Obama sets up secret drone bases in Niger and Ethiopia
American troops are now on the ground in Niger.
US troops and drones are on the move all over Africa and in Yemen.
Our Dear Leader Comrade Obama has announced that the US has deployed 100 troops to
Niger to assist French forces in neighbouring Mali.
The armed troops will provide intelligence support, Obama
informed Congress on Friday. France deployed troops to Mali in January to counter al-Qaeda-linked Islamist
militants.
The US and Niger signed a status of forces agreement last month, and the US
is weighing a base for surveillance drones there, says BBC News.
A senior Niger official said in January that US Ambassador Bisa Williams
requested permission to establish a drone base in a meeting with Niger President
Mahamadou Issoufou, the Reuters news agency reported.
Last month, the US and Niger struck an agreement on the status of US forces
as the two nations "define precisely what kind of military presence we may have
in Niger in the future", a spokeswoman for the US state department said.
The new deployment of US forces are stationed in Niger with the government's
consent, Obama said in his letter to Congress.
Their mission will focus on "intelligence sharing", the president said. They
will be armed for their own protection, he said.
Niger approves construction of US spy drone base
U.S. Army Soldiers are training members of the Ghanaian Defense Forces.
Americans embed themselves with the Ghanaian Defense Force platoons and advised them on problem solving techniques and tactics.
The drone base in Niger marks the opening of another far-flung U.S. military operation against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, in addition to ongoing combat missions in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. The CIA is also conducting airstrikes against al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan and Yemen.
Senior U.S. officials have said for months that they would not put U.S. military “boots on the ground” in Mali, an impoverished nation that has been mired in chaos since March when a U.S.-trained Malian army captain took power in a coup. But U.S. troops are becoming increasingly involved in the conflict from the skies and the rear echelons, where they are supporting the French and African militaries seeking to stabilize the region.
Obama did not explicitly reveal the drone base in his letter to Congress, but he said the U.S. troops in Niger would “provide support for intelligence collection” and share intelligence with French forces in Mali.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide further details about military operations, said the 40 troops who arrived in Niger on Wednesday were almost all Air Force personnel and that their mission is to support drone flights says the Washington Post.
North Africa terror battle - Islamists attack church
The official said drone operations were “imminent,” but declined to say whether unmanned Predator aircraft had already arrived in Niger or how many would be deployed there. The drones will be based initially in the capital, Niamey, but military officials would like to move them eventually to the northern city of Agadez, which is closer to parts of northern Mali where al-Qaeda cells have taken root.
“That’s a better location for the mission, but it’s not feasible at this point,” the official said, adding that Agadez is a more remote city “with logistical challenges.”
Secret Drone Base
A new secret drone base at Arba Minch is located
about 300 miles south of Addis Ababa and about
600 miles west of the Somali border. Standard
models of the Reaper have a range of about
1,150 miles, according to the Air Force. (Washington Post)
The introduction of Predators to Niger fills a gap in the Pentagon’s military capabilities over the Sahara, which remains beyond the reach of its drone bases in East Africa and southern Europe.
The U.S. military has been flying a handful of small turboprop surveillance planes over northern Mali and West Africa for years, but the PC-12 aircraft are limited in range and lack the sophisticated sensors that Predators carry.
U.S. military contractors have been flying PC-12 surveillance aircraft from Agadez for several months. But those planes do not carry military markings and only require a handful of people to operate.
In contrast, Predators need ground crews to launch and recover the drones as well as to repair and maintain them. Those crews, in turn, require armed personnel for protection.
The U.S. defense official said it is likely that more U.S. troops will deploy to Niger, but declined to be specific. "I think it’s safe to say the number will probably grow.”
The Predators in Niger will only conduct surveillance, not airstrikes, the official said. “This is purely an intelligence gathering mission,” he said. Other officials said the Obama administration had not ruled out arming the Predators with missiles in the future.
Information collected from reconnaissance missions will be shared with the French and other African militaries so they can attack al-Qaeda targets, officials said.
Obama noted that the government of Niger had given its consent for U.S. troops to operate on its territory.
Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, signed an agreement with the United States last month that provides legal safeguards for U.S. forces stationed there. Nigerien officials are concerned about the spillover of violence and refugees from Mali, which have threatened to destabilize the entire region.
