The deaths of four US special forces in Niger earlier this month was the result of a “routine” patrol, Pentagon officials say, one which troops had carried out at least 30 times in the last six months.
Though the US was known to have “trainers” in Niger, the casualties were the first public admission that the patrols were even ongoing. But Niger is far from unique, and indeed, there are growing numbers of special forces deployments across Africa.
With only 450 special forces in Africa in 2012, the US now has over 1,300 deployed, tripling in the course of five years. Where all those troops are is not well known, but officials say that the locations include Chad, Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, and Kenya.
Since the establishment of AFRICOM, the number of US deployments around Africa have soared, and while officially there is only one military base, in Djibouti, AFRICOM has been clear that their ambition is to have a continent-spanning structure just like other regional commands, and the special forces appear to be the key to making that happen.
It seems likely that Washington has outposts in every country on earth plus Antarctica. This is national defense? This is more than mission creep. This is empire run amok, insanity, wasteful, stupid, and environmentally degrading.
The empire has run to far and diluted any capabilities it should have.
Pay back time is coming quicker and quicker.
Check out Halford Mackinder and the Eurasian century and you will understand the why and wherefore of Empire today.
A journalist named F. William Engdahl has written extensively on Mackinderan geopolitics as have others.
Mackinder has never been conclusively rebutted and the formula of endless war he describes has been reiterated time and time again.
interference in the internal affairs of other (usually much weaker) nations is as american as apple pie……
and as hard to resist once a fact on the ground