Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been publicizing his intention to cut troops from Africa and send them to the areas around Russia and China for great power competition for some time. He is facing some pushback from Congress.
Efforts in recent years to brand the substantial US military position in Africa as being core to the global war on terrorism apparently stuck in the minds of a lot of lawmakers of both parties, who now say that the US can’t afford to withdraw those troops.
This increases the likelihood that Esper’s Pacific pivot will never happen. Already, his plans to cut troops from Iraq and send them seems dead, with President Trump bound and determined not to cut Iraq troop levels because Iraq wants them to.
The arguments on both sides are paper thin, either that the US needs to keep troops in Africa to be in Africa, or that they need to move them to China to do more to China. As Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) warned, if the US pulls troops out of Africa “then they will not be there.”
OF COURSE THEY DO! They have nothing better to do — run foreign policy with zero knowledge, but eagerness to spend our money.
Brilliant. If we pull them out, they DEFINITELY will not be there — fill in the blanks. Africa, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan. Still in Kosovo. Over 900 places. Now we know WHY they cannot be withdrawn.
Autistic Austin Scott is a “top lawmaker”? Who knew?
Now that David Wurmser is a top aide to POTUSTRUMP, anything can happen.
Well, he was there!
His 534 fellow autistics.
We’re here because we’re here, because we’re here…….
You don’t sound convinced.
That or resigned.
Are you by any chance familiar with the British Royal ballet performance of modern dance called “We are here”? The piece is. a nightmare! Two contorted creatures in nightmarish light move to the tune of Should all Acquaintance be Forgot — but the words are — we’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here, we’re here because we’re here, because we’re here because …. and on and on. Until you hate the tune.
Aahh…”then they will not be there”. Of course!
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.” Gadzooks!
What brilliance. The USA’s actions in Africa do not remind us of great achievements in recent (or more distant) years, and to send these troops to Russia or China is just to increase unneeded tensions with these powers.
There not actually in Russia or China yet.
I think.
Where did Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga, say U.S. troops were not again?
I like how Ditz found the perfect quote.
Thank you, Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga, for the clarity.
If we left we wouldn’t be there. Gosh. Profound.
Such insight like a stupid stick between the eyes…
Pull them all out – redeploy them to Ft. Benning where Rep. Scott can keep better track of them.
Well, his district doesn’t include the School of the Americas, but it does include 3-4 other military bases including Warner Robbins. Likely he is on the take from the usual MIC suspects and blood merchants.
“As Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) warned, if the US pulls troops out of Africa “then they will not be there.” ”
Make sense to me. I’m not a neocon and can’t understand why our troops should be everywhere–or anywhere but our southern border.
They are everywhere in order to keep those them in line should they decide to walk away from the petrodollar food stamp.
That’s why we have the CIA for.
They can only do so much. When REAL killing is needed, that’s what the military is for.
The (CIA) does whatever it wants, with whatever arms they can acquire– including arming their proxies.
The CIA is a mechanism. The bases are the enforcers.
If you need anything on the Southern border, it’s law enforcement, not the military. The Army can’t be deployed and operational inside the USA, but I’m sure that’s another antiquated notion that the so-called ‘invasion’ of ‘illegals’ necessitates the removal of.
Semantics. National security.