During a 100-day killing spree the Hutu majority government sanctioned the slaughter of 70 percent of Rwanda’s Tutsi population. U.S. intelligence reports revealed the Clinton Administration was aware of “the final solution to eliminate the Tutsis” but they didn’t intervene because the Clinton Administration feared a repeat of the “Battle of Mogadishu.”
This American apprehension led Islamic extremists, who wanted to expel U.S. military presence from Muslim lands, to believe if they tortured and killed American troops the United States would withdraw its forces.
In 1998 Osama bin Laden discussed defeating the Russians in Afghanistan with a reporter and Bin Laden explained, “After leaving Afghanistan [fighters] headed for Somalia and prepared for a long battle thinking the Americans were like the Russians … The [Islamic extremists] were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldiers were paper tigers. After a few blows, the Americans ran away in defeat.”
Now, over the past few years the U.S. quietly established a military presence in Niger.
In 2015 the Obama administration deployed 350 troops to Niger to help combat al-Qaida-related groups and Boko Haram. The U.S. troops were sent to provide training and security assistance to Nigerian forces, as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, to target extremist in the region.
But the U.S. presence isn’t limited to training in counterterrorism.
The Air Force operates a drone base out of Niamey, Niger’s capital, and the Pentagon is building another $100 million drone base in Agadez, the largest city in Central Niger.
Recently, a joint U.S. and Nigerian patrol was ambushed by about 50 enemy fighters. One report stated the recent deaths of U.S. servicemen in Niger were the first indication many Americans had that the U.S. had boots on the ground in the West African nation. Once again four American soldiers were killed, and once again the date was October 4, the anniversary of the “Battle of Mogadishu.”
(J. Pharoah Doss is a contributor to the New Pittsburgh Courier. He blogs at jpharoahdoss@blogspot.com)
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