From high above, Agadez almost blends into the cocoa-colored wasteland that surrounds it. Only when you descend farther can you make out a city that curves around an airfield before fading into the desert. Once a nexus for camel caravans hauling tea and salt across the Sahara, Agadez is now a West African paradise for people smugglers and a way station for refugees and migrants intent on reaching Europe’s shores by any means necessary.
Document: U.S. Africa Command
The base is the latest sign, experts say, of an ever-increasing emphasis on counterterror operations in the north and west of the continent. As the only country in the region willing to allow a U.S. base for MQ-9 Reapers — a newer, larger, and potentially more lethal model than the venerable Predator drone — Niger has positioned itself to be the key regional hub for U.S. military operations, with Agadez serving as the premier outpost for launching intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions against a plethora of terror groups.
For years, the U.S. operated from an air base in Niamey, Niger’s capital, but in early 2014, Capt. Rick Cook, then chief of U.S. Africa Command’s Engineer Division, mentioned the potential for a new “semi-permanent … base-like facility” in Niger. That September, the Washington Post’s Craig Whitlock exposed plans to base drones at Agadez. Within days, the U.S. Embassy in Niamey announced that AFRICOM was, indeed, “assessing the possibility of establishing a temporary, expeditionary contingency support location” there. The outpost, according to the communiqué, “presents an attractive option from which to base ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) assets given its proximity to the threats in the region and the complexity of operating with the vast distance of African geography.”
Air Force documents submitted to Congress in 2015 note that the U.S. “negotiated an agreement with the government of Niger to allow for the construction of a new runway and all associated pavements, facilities, and infrastructure adjacent to the Niger Armed Force’s Base Aerienne 201 (Airbase 201) south of the city of Agadez.” When the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016 was introduced last April, embedded in it was a $50 million request for the construction of an “airfield and base camp at Agadez, Niger … to support operations in western Africa.” When President Obama signed the defense bill, that sum was authorized.
Reporting by The Intercept found the true cost to be double that sum. In addition to the $50 million to “construct Air Base 201,” another $38 million in operation and maintenance (O&M) funds was slated to be spent “to support troop labor and ancillary equipment,” according to a second set of undated, heavily redacted, formerly secret documents obtained from U.S. Africa Command by The Intercept. But the $38 million O&M price tag — for expenses like fuel and troops’ per diem — has already jumped to $50 million, according to new figures provided by the Pentagon, while sustainment costs are now projected at $12.8 million per year.
Photo: Jeffrey McGovern/U.S. Air Force
The files obtained by The Intercept attest to the importance of Agadez for future missions by drones, also known as remotely piloted aircraft or RPAs. “The top MILCON [military construction] project for USAFRICOM is located in Agadez, Niger to construct a C-17 and MQ-9 capable airfield,” reads a 2015 planning document. “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 Pentagon is tight-lipped about the outpost, however.
“Due to operational security considerations, we don’t release details on numbers of personnel or specific missions or locations, including information regarding the Nigerien military air base located in Agadez,” Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle L. Baldanza told The Intercept in an email, stressing that drones are not yet flying from the outpost. However, the declassified documents say construction will be completed next year.
The documents offer further details, including plans for a 1,830-meter paved asphalt runway capable of supporting C-17 cargo aircraft and “miscellaneous light and medium load aircraft”; a 17,458-square-meter parking apron and taxiway for “light load ISR aircraft”; and the installation of “three 140’ x 140’ relocatable fabric tension aircraft hangars”; as well as all the standard infrastructure for troops, including “force protection” measures like barriers, fences, and an “Entry Control Point.”
While AFRICOM failed to respond to requests for information about the projects, a May 2016 satellite photo of the site provides a status report. “The image shows that the main runway … has been repaved,” said Dan Gettinger, the co-founder and co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College and author of a guide to identifying drone bases from satellite imagery. “Near the runway there’s a structure that appears to be a future hangar, though it’s still under construction. There’s also a new dirt road that runs a fair distance from the runway to a U.S. base that’s enclosed with a perimeter wall and there are a number of shelters there for personnel as well as a command center. All the things that you’d expect on a base.”
Photo: Google Earth
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.
Niger and neighboring countries.
Image: The Intercept
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.
“In close coordination with partner militaries in West Africa, including Niger, USAFRICOM supports a range of security and capacity building efforts in the greater Sahelian region,” Baldanza told The Intercept. “These efforts support U.S. diplomatic and national security objectives and are designed to strengthen relationships with African partners, promote stability and security, and enable our African partners to address their security threats.”
A U.S. Army trainer coaches a Republic of Niger soldier on marksmanship techniques at an AK-47 qualification range near Agadez, Niger.
Photo: Spc. Craig Philbrick/U.S. Army Africa
Stability and security have, however, proved elusive. In 2010, for example, a military junta overthrew Niger’s president as he attempted to extend his rule. In fact, all the original members of the Pan-Sahel Initiative have fallen victim to military uprisings. Chad saw attempted coups in 2006 and 2013, members of Mauritania’s military overthrew the government in 2005 and again in 2008, and a U.S.-trained military officer toppled the democratically elected president of Mali in 2012.
The region, relatively free of transnational terror threats in 2001, is now beset by regular attacks from Boko Haram, a once-tiny, nonviolent, Islamist sect from Nigeria that has since pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and threatens the stability of not only its homeland but also Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. And Boko Haram is just one of 17 militant groups now menacing the region, according to the Defense Department’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Photo: Jeffrey McGovern/U.S. Air Force
Drones have long been integral to U.S. efforts in Niger. In 2012, according to the files obtained by The Intercept, Niger agreed to host U.S. drones in Niamey, the capital, on the condition that operations would eventually be shifted to a more remote military base in Agadez.
In February 2013, the U.S. began flying Predator drones out of the capital. Later in the spring, an AFRICOM spokesperson revealed that U.S. air operations there were providing “support for intelligence collection with French forces conducting operations in Mali and with other partners in the region.” The Air Force recently announced plans to upgrade shower and latrine facilities at Niamey “to serve a steady state of 200 to 250 personnel a day.”
“The U.S. shares that base with France,” said Gettinger. The base in Niamey, he explained, “is strategically important simply because to the north there’s Mali and the threat posed by al Qaeda-linked groups, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. … To the south you have Nigeria and Boko Haram, so there’s lots of demand for ISR capabilities.” At Agadez, he noted, the U.S. doesn’t need to share facilities with the French military or commercial aircraft. And it is, he said, “more strategically located than Niamey.”
As UCLA’s Moore puts it: “The recent trajectory of sites and money suggests that Niger is becoming, after Djibouti, the second most important country for U.S. military counterterrorism operations on the continent.”
There are only 17 different violent extremist groups moving into Western Africa. From Al-Qaeda to ISIS to Boco Harum to who knows.
What’s our interest? Some social, the 2 things all these groups bring are death and religion.
The other reasons are, OIL, most all of our COFFEE, just about ALL of our CHOCOLATE!
There has been an outbreak of fungi that are threatening to kill off coffee trees, Cocoa plants and banana plants worldwide. Can you just imagine the United States with NO COFFEE OR CHOCOLATE?!?
..and bananas, my goodness, who will work the banana plantation jobs in S. America and what to do w/ all those workers? Off to the cocaine fields.
Um, there is shale gas in S. Africa and Viceland recently reported vast amounts of untapped precious minerals. U.S. EIA says or estimates it has the 8th largest deposit of the stuff — shale gas that is.
Oh, and there’s weed. Like a bunch of it; apparently naive grandma’s grow this.
With Great Britain and the U.S. there training and setting things up, Rambo III movie experience tells us… there’s a war on the horizon. Yeeeehaw!
THIS EXPLAINS THE CHUMMY RELATIONSHIP THE US HAS ESTABLISHED WITH NIGERIA. Buhari was more likely to be used for US access into Nigeria than JEG and that’s why Obama election team went to Nigeria and put Buhari into Office. NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE US ALL OF A SUDDEN CARED FOR ANYTHING GOING ON IN NIGERIA, AND REFUSES TO CONDEMN BUHARI’S ATROCITIES. USA has come into Nigeria and it’s not for Nigeria’s gain but for American inroads into the Pet project called Nigeria. White Nations will always find Africa’s weakest links to puppeteer so they can use Africans to their own detriment . THE PRESENCE OF USA BASE IN ANY SOCIETY DOES HAVE IT’S CONSEQUENCES, AND AFRICA is the greatest loser in this game.
Niger. Not Nigeria. Here we have Pres. Obama’s “clean hands” war against “evil doers.” We Americans must be either amazingly stupid or don’t care if the people who get hell fire rained down on them get pissed off against us. Why do we even act surprised. Everyone knows its the Americans. People in tribal societies or even maybe in our own country, if someone kills our people, we retaliate with whatever we can. Why can’t we understand this basic human impulse?
What is the role of US marshals in Botswana?
Very interesting article, thanks Nick. The construction of this base has all the classic signs of mission creep. I served as a medical corpsman at the base hospital at Cam Ranh Base which grew from a relatively small base of Quonset huts into a massive one with at least 20,000 soldiers when I served there starting in June, 1967. And of course, there will be a significant increase in military personnel to protect the base, its personnel stationed there and its drone fleet just as at Cam Ranh Bay. which provided a very inviting target to VC guerrillas and NVA soldiers. So jihadist insurgents in the region are probably already plotting an attack on the base which will just escalate the U.S. military presence.
“…there are a number of shelters there for personnel as well as a command center. All the things that you’d expect on a base.”
Really? Where is the Officers’ Club?
A base for star chamber executions. If we are fighting a Global war on terrorism, Congress should declare it and explain it to all US citizens that still believe in the Constitution. I am dam tired of people killing in my name with my money and keeping me in ignorance about it.
This is way I will vote for Trump, not a supporter. However, Hillary is an elite and her and her minions get immunity to crime and sedition just like Bush and Obama. Trump is substantially dislike by enough in both parties to get impeached if he crosses the line too far. An added plus by action or mistake he will expose much wrong doing. Trump brings risk but also opportunity.
Well Fred, please proofread your blog before you “submit”.
While I agree with your opinion regarding the spending of millions (or billions) in the name of America to kill, I cannot stomach a vote for a rich white lying bigot for president that apparently has paid no taxes for the last 18 years.
One minute he hates Mexicans, the next minute he loves Mexicans. One minute he’s going to build a wall, the next minute he’s going to get Mexico to build a wall. One minute he’s in a soft core porn video, the next minute he’s angrily tweeting at 5:30 AM, telling the world how horrible Alicia Machado is for being in a sex tape.
Yes voting for that jerk is a huge risk but there’s no opportunity involved -unless you’re white.
If you can’t fathom the act of voting for Hillary, don’t join the bandwagon of voting for Don (just to go with a winner).
Vote for Gary Johnson for president.
He might not know what Aleppo is -and maybe that’s a good thing.
I’ve thought the same re: Gary. Prob is a good thing.
Love ya Tom, love the work ya did for the U.S. even tho it’s gone to hell. Prob. wish you and the others didn’t work and fight so hard now, don’t ya?
Um, Fred? You do realize that Trump is ALSO part of the elite and that he doesn’t even pay his taxes? Wake up and don’t let his rhetoric fool you.
EVERYTHING about this remote-control-murder base is wrong.
EVERYTHING.
WHAT it is.
WHERE it is.
What it’s FOR.
EVERYTHING is wrong with this.
I’ll bet you’re the first person to complain about how “somebody” has to do “something” about Boko Haram, though, right?
What kind of an imbecile imagines that he is familiar with the habits of a total stranger?
Grow a brain, fuckwit. OF COURSE YOU’RE WRONG; you don’t know anything about me.
Africa is being recolonized, the smart way this time. By using African proxies the ‘forces of light’ get what they want – without any responsibility. It’s like, all at once ‘ civilization’ realized that Leopold of Belgium had Africa right.
Now the US military can manufacture “terrorists” on another continent. No more playing outside for the kids. No more outdoor family get togethers or celebrations. No driving in convoys, in fact just don’t group up out of doors in any way.
And don’t gather in buildings in groups of four or more
Read the article, genius. The terrorists are already there. No need to manufacture them. Boko Haram and AQIM are very, very real.
“…against a plethora of terror groups…” How do you know they are “terror groups”? The Intercept should be the one news site that STOPS THIS SHIT as we now know the concept of “terror groups” is at best journalistically lazy. I might suggest these “terror groups” form a varied bunch, and include legitimate “terrorists” along with more “complicated” political adversaries and for disrupting the business interests of competing nations such as China and Russia in the wider African region. The reason they are “vague” about what they are doing is because they ARE NOT being “specific”. By calling their targets terror groups you are helping to legitimise and sanitise what is an ongoing and rather alarming practice in a part of the world that habitually struggles to progress along with the rest of the world. So – STOP IT!
As an Englishman I never understood the appeal of American football. I remember a Simpson episode mocking how dull real football is, its tedium causing a riot, but it has nothing on baseball and American football – whoosh! Dull dull dull! But I get it now that I am paying more attention to “American Imperialism”. It is the idea of achieving small in-game objectives to continually push for a victory. Real football – played well – is a flowing thing that moves from defense to attack in team-formed patterns that are live-action improvisations of practiced tactics and plays from the training ground. American football is the realisation or stifling of those rehearsed plays for real out on the field. The planning and preparation IS the game, the other way round to our wonderful sport. For me that carries no in-game moments of genius and inventiveness and has no ebb and flow created by player skill and changing motivation and as such it bores me to tears.
I dislike it even more now that I draw parallels with the American military, endlessly planning their plays and then going out onto the field to execute them. I understand why the endless military scheming and interfering gives some Americans a proper hard-on – those people that hi-5 and say Yoo-Ess-Ay and salute the flyover by the Air Force – but in the end they are not cheering on the Yoo-Ess-Ay, they are just cheering on some dull corporation that makes something just as dull that has probably relocated their factories to SE Asia or Africa to save on labour costs and avoid all manner of other regulations.
They are in fact spending a huge amount of taxpayers’ money to manipulate and murder overseas so that a few shareholders can profit and a bunch of army blokes can have jobs, most of them not even good ones, so you end up with a bunch of rag-tag veterans with a whole pile of gripes. They taint the reputation of America, cause misery and death, waste money, avoid entering the real-life competitive job market, then pat each other on the back and demand everyone gives them respect when they come home as veterans.
But what exactly have these people done that is so glorious – “defending all that you hold dear at home” as the Navy advert claims? Fuck no.
YOUR VETERANS ARE MERCENARY MURDERS, not heroes. All of them are part of this Killing Machine sent out to bully the world. There is no other way of looking at it without drinking the Kool Aid.
They volunteered their time to go overseas and cause misery and mayhem for a decent pay packet plus perks, free training, and a good chance of entering another heavy-handed, bullying type of career that has become de-humanised by its influx of veterans, like security and policing. Why are your police shooting too many innocent people dead? Because you have militarised your entire society, you shoot first and don’t even bother to ask questions later.
Your veterans aren’t having a rough deal, they chose that life and then they boo-hoo when someone shoots them back or they get home and realise there isn’t a pot of glory awaiting them. Tough shit. Living by the sword and all that. All these Veteran Societies do is legitimise and normalise the brutality the military inflicts on both its victims and its perpetrators and pass the responsibility onto a society that has already foolishly paid to make the mess.
It is us on the receiving end that have the hard deal, set up a foundation for us and stop drone murdering, poking your nose into everyone’s business and thinking you are exceptional. In most life situations where you have Quality verses Quantity, Quantity usually wins; do the math.
Well, that’s certainly more bang for the buck than a natural gas filling station in Afghanistan.
Sorry.
I think you know how I feel, Mr. Nick, thank you!
I can’t recall where I read it, but it went something like “WWIII will be fought in Africa.”
It may start in Africa, but it will end in the middle East.
comrades although on the surface the drone military bases appear to be good occurrences for West Africa but, its presence will result to a multitude of terrorist act which would not occur if the base was not there. Africans in the majority hold that the fact it is the last region to pursue widespread modern development plus is without the financial means of most other portions of the world it is targeted for takeover by foreigners. When you view those facts in light of the prevalence of corruption, incompetence plus cocaine addiction by African leaders it is reasonable to conclude African fears are rightly placed. The bases will not be beneficial to Africans.
Very sincere,
Henry Author Price Jr. aka
Obediah Buntu IL-Khan aka
Kankan.
So Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger are the countries chosen from which to conduct ISR activities. And they all (with the exception of Chad) have been overthrown by militaries associated with the U.S. military
What a coincidence!
For the love of:
????
and
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the U.S. will end up w/ another
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and all the readers here will be like
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and we told ya so…
Fuck.
ASCII art does not play well w/ TI
Another corrupt African leader have sold their country for a few millions in bribe.
Which country in their right mind allows the US to build a drone base on their land?
It’s not coincidence that Boko Haram started arming themselves with American weapons just after American bases became active across the border in Niger.
Now the US will start killing innocent civilians with their drones across West Africa.
I think USMC General Smedley Butler schooled us last century about this strategy. Just greasing the skids for the corporations…
Which corporations?
The corporations pointed out by Old Hell’s Devil Butler? or the ones re. this article?
• Read “War is a Racket”;
• Viceland reported recently that the Congo contains untapped precious minerals worth 24 trillion dollars, which is greater than U.S. GDP
I’m guessing this kind of thing would be “mission creep” based on the Constitutional statement re “..shall define and punish piracy on the high seas..” or something or other..
If the U.S. Navy was est. to, in part, protect U.S. commerce… then it would follow that you’d end up with this kind of world domination of markets if your military is the ‘greatest military on the planet’ [did DJT say that?]
Obama says No to 100 million dollar base in Niger. “We are deeply in debt this money could be put to better use. I want to leave this country in better shape than when I took office and as your president I am aware of the hardships many of you face. As of tomorrow, I am reducing military spending by 200 billion dollars. This will be put into education and helping reduce poverty.”
…It was a dream I had.
Great idea or he could just give the money back to U.S. tax payers.
Sorry it was a dream. Obama is “pretty good at killing people,” I mean good at getting others to do the killing.
“venerable Predator drone” is a strange phrase to use in this article. I think the Intercept’s Nick Turse lost sight of what the word “venerable” literally means.
It kind of hangs together though, doesn’t it? In substitution for previous gods, the NSA sees all, and surely those drones are Its holy angels.
This thread appears to be leading to a mixing of technology and religion and I’m now thinking Ancient Aliens.
Tell me again why affordable college and Health care is a pipe dream for socialist welfare babies? The military… the most spoiled welfare babies in the world. The IRS is the Infantry Replenishing Supply store.
bingo
What he said ^
while the criminals running the country steal our money for their foreign policy nightmare, we get this!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3813781/As-30-people-injured-New-Jersey-commuter-train-crashes-station.html
3rd world usa
it also appears that the colonists of 1775 have mutated into the british fantasy of ruling the planet. Insanity has no boundaries. In the 50’s and 60’s people envied the US. Since vietnam, the objections to US domination in the lands of others hasnt gone well. Now we also kill friends and family as does israel slaughter palestinians. This is not “goodness”. It certainly is not Christian.
The world is our oyster. Our troops are merely defending the homeland.
Until the American people wake up and start educating themselves about history related to the past 200 years or so and begin to realize that it has been our own government’s meddling in foreign countries against the will of the citizens who live there that has brought us to our current predicament as citizens, we will continue to feel and see the repercussions of our “leaders” actions in our names and with our tax dollars.
From the “creation” of the Jewish state in the middle of Muslim Arab territories to the CIA’s illegal overthrow of Mossedegh in Iran to our arrogant illegal war in Iraq where no one has been punished or even demoted, to the CIA backed “Arab Springs” especially in Syria where U. S. backed rebels armed with weapons from the U.S. military are committing atrocities and in Libya where the U.S and NATO committed more war crimes. All of these actions in our stupid and dangerous foreign policy have caused terrorist blowback to Americans, caused the unnecessary deaths of millions of innocent human beings, caused billions of dollars of infrastructure destruction and have helped build our national debt to almost $20 TRILLION!
The American people and the rest of the world need a “sea change” especially related to our illegal wars of aggression and regime change that will never serve the best interests of the American people nor “keep us safe”.
Counter-terrorism my ass, this is all about protecting the Africa natural resource extraction program spearheaded by the likes of ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and friends. Without those assets, XOM and
CVX share prices would start collapsing and Wall Street investor dividends would plummet, much to the dismay of the country club / wealthy baby boomer set.
Get in their and get that oil, who gives a fuck who many innocent bystanders get killed, this is about preserving the lifestyle of the 1% who get fat off Wall Street investments – oh wait, I forgot, Ashton Carter of the Pentagon and John Kerry of the US State Department say its about “humanitarian values” and “democratic regime change.” That’s their PR monkey script, at least, but only zombie consumers of corporate media drivel (aka, Hillary Clinton supporters) believe that.
Remember, tinpot dictators, a $10 million donation to the Clinton Foundation might buy your way out of a Libya or South Sudan outcome, (perhaps wait till November, though), but also be sure to give priority to Chevron and Exxon over the Chinese, or this will happen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtH7iv4ip1U
P.S. in the case of this particular base, see the map – notice Arlit? That’s one of the world’s biggest uranium mines, controlled by France, which China has been trying to horn in on via, gosh, a better economic deal than the French are offering. So, let’s waste hundreds of millions to protect the French nuclear industry’s uranium source from “the terrorists.” Why can’t they pay for their own fucking military base?
http://venturesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/natural-resources-locator1.jpg
Here is what it’s really all about: uranium mines right north of this military base:
http://cdn4.spiegel.de/images/image-74477-thumbflex-gxkx-74477.jpg
It’s kind of mind-boggling to me how anyone can write about the U.S. installing a military base just south of Arlit and not even mention the uranium angle. Par for the course in American media; people write about Ukraine without mentioning the gas pipelines to Europe, they write about Syria with out mentioning the Iran-vs-Qatar pipeline aspect, and here we have a story on Niger with zero mention of the internal Nigerian conflict over uranium.
What gives? Does the Intercept have some rule about not mentioning resource warfare? Is that why they have a blackout on stories about the Dakota Access pipeline across the Midwest, too? Somebody got some juicy investments to protect, don’t wanna talk about it?
Niger signed a contract with China for the oil .. and china in exchanged payed a bridge called “Niger-China friendship bridge”
As for the Uranium, Niger has contracted with Areva, a french company. Do you think the US would pay 100M to protect a french mine, which is already well defended?
In this case, the natural resources exploitation theory doesn’t hold well. On the other side, General Khadafi’s massive weapon stock fled Libya a few years ago, and much of it is still hidden in the moutains of the sahara.
The smuggling is organised by terrorist group.. human traffic, but it is also the path of cocaine to Europe, just like mexico is for the US. So with a security angle, it really makes sense to get a base there.
But that strategy is flawed anyway. Strategic negotiation and information gathering with tribal chiefs would be far more effective. No one goes incognito in this harsh environment with low population density. They need to outby the smugglers and al quaeda.. and 100M would really make a difference.
Once Niger is carpeted with US military bases, I think you will find that the contracts with France and China can easily be nullified. Possession is nine-tenths of the law.
That said, it is true that photosymbiosis is a conspiracy theorist. Wars are fought for noble ideals, not resources.
Inquiring minds need to know about the drone pilot’s, uh, er UAV TECH’s, new digs..I bet they’re plush and cozy
The US is the cancer of this planet.
The rest of the world is starting to figure that out
I just happened to have finished reading John Updike’s surprising 1978 novel “The Coup”. For him an unusual detour into politics, though his style remains. And, provocatively, way ahead of the game.
The government displays its rich sense of humor when it describes any of its pet projects as “temporary”.
Apologies for the inane comment on such a serious topic, but the names they give this drones or all weapons, furthers my impression that to much of the military is run by dangerous prepubescent teenage boys with very dangerous toys.
“…supports French regionalization”…
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Gee, I wonder how that could possibly have happened. The US MIC is undoubtedly thrilled with this outcome.
No need to “wonder” — it’ all very well documented. Saudi Salafist money and ideology + Qadaffi’s liberated arsenal + lucrative trans-Saharan drug and human smuggling routes = a very dangerous part of the planet. Pay more attention. The world has changed quite a bit since 2001… kind of a misleading metric, if you ask me.
Why on earth would the USA need to have any bases or personnel in Africa? There are ZERO national interests there. Spend the 100 million on American infrastructure where citizens actually get something for their money.
0Bama, Hellary, the Democratic Borg et al, are war mongers worse than the neocons. Why does 0Bama keep prodding Russia trying to start WW3?
This is probably more about the Chinese, this article managed to leave out the fact that the military base is just south of one of the world’s largest uranium deposits, largely controlled by France’s AREVA, but where China has taken an increasing interest by financing a uranium mine, too:
http://www.businessinsider.com/niger-uranium-mine-and-nuclear-china-2015-10
Recall France going into Mali with its military a few years back? That was mostly about making sure their mines weren’t overrun. It’s about as old European colonial a project as exists, Niger is about the poorest country in the world and its people get nothing but pollution and cancer from those mines, (some hefty bribes for the Nigerian military dictator, is all), the French still hanging on – with some American support.
So why are we helping the French out this way? Because Obama and Ashton Carter want to “pivot to China” and a military presence in Niger will help keep the Chinese out, so they’re blowing U.S. taxpayer money as part of their ongoing superpower wet dream.
Has jack to do with terrorism, in any case.
I don’t think you know what you are talking about. The most resourced continent in the world and you think the US has no national interest there? You realise the only reason America still stands is because the dollar is the reserve currency, so the US can print more money to pay off its debt?
Once that’s gone, then we will know the true wealth of the United States of America.
And FYI this has nothing to do with Obama or Hillary, they are both pawns to the real controllers of the world. The New World Order.
No! It ain’t ours. Are you proposing a Viking mind set of the strong take from the weak?
Future historians and political philosophers will have their work cut out for them, in trying to unravel the US-al Qaeda (et. al.) connection. Is it a chicken and egg problem? Or, rather, an odd symbiosis by which each side profits from the presence of the other?
One way of resolving this dilemma would be for the US to simply stop building foreign bases, and urging our formerly-imperial-allies (AKA UK and France) to do likewise. But given the postures of the poll-leading presidential candidates, that is unlikely to occur any time soon.
Has nobody in Congress the cojones to question whether Niger is really of strategic importance to the US?
More to the point, does anyone in Congress have the cojones to question whether military control of the world’s fourth largest uranium mine is really of strategic importance to the U.S.?
Gosh, just a minor detail in a story about a massive new UAV base on the southern edge of this zone, why bother including this factor? Almost as if some news outlet was trying to cover up the true agenda for this project by promoting the ‘fighting terrorism’ angle. Or perhaps the reporter and editor on this story are just grossly ignorant of basic issues in Niger? I find that hard to believe. Un-fucking believable, in fact.
The Uranium mine is a factor in Africa’s mineral wealth, no doubt, but don’t blow up the story on its account. The US and Russia both have as much Uranium as we can use for the foreseeable future. As we scale back our weapons arsenals, highly enriched U35 can be blended with U238 to produce low enriched Uranium for power plants, etc. Not only that, but in case you haven’t noticed the nuclear power plant design favored by the US has lost its economic advantage over renewables such as wind and solar.
Behind my argument was the proposition that the US does not have to own Africa to gain access to its resources. I am quite sure we can purchase whatever we need from whatever indigenous companies are set up in Africa. That is, if we are truly interested in promoting their development, and not simply exercising our own unique form of colonialism.
I don’t doubt your sincerity, but your source of information is an organization dedicated to the preservation of the status quo. Coal and petroleum are subsidized in numerous ways that are off the books, so to speak; for instance the health care costs that are directly related to pollution caused by these products are not included; those alone amount to tens of billions of dollars per year. Taxpayers subsidize government programs for the production of nuclear materials and for the disposal of nuclear waste to the tune of billions of dollars annually. But you will never find a line item in the EIA material for Oak Ridge National Laboratory or Hanford, for that matter.
In addition, many states provide tax incentives for oil and coal producers. Louisiana, for instance has what they euphemistically call the “Oil Depletion Allowance”. I’d bet you won’t find that in the EIA material either.
Gents and/or Gents and Laidies:
Supposing DJT becomes prez there is a sliver of hope (prob less than that) he would pull back. His talk, if sincere, of making America Great Again could only happen by reducing these costs; so, it makes sense he comes of as a bit of an isolationist … at times.
oooof, I think I just threw up a bit on my keyboard.
Ok, well if HRC is prez; well fuck, I mean fuck it. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Clinton, it’s all the same. And Cap. Scott Ritter was right when talking to Sy Hersh: Gore would have attacked Iraq, the policy would have been the same. There is continuity in that line of leadership.
The U.S. can only hope that there remains a dark horse.
Last time we elected a president based on hope was in 2008. How did that work out for us?
Perhaps you are right about DJT – you are certainly correct about HRC – but hope is not a substitute for concrete policy proposals. And this campaign has been sorely lacking in those, as usual.
Me, I’m voting for Jill.
The hope in 08 was probably more wishful thinking and “I have a dreaming” on the part of old white hippies to see a ‘black’ president and less hope.
It’s not often that I wish to consult rap stars or mediums and spirits for advice, I’m just not that kind of bloke.. but I’d really like to have a seance to ask Tupac if BHO meets his def of “black president” — The Tupac Test (copyright 2016)
Jill Stein is impressive, indeed.
Africa must unite now and work hard towards political and military integration.For the defense of African interests we need to build a strong army. Equipped with nuclear weapons and local weapons manufacturing plants. Then cast out all these foreign invaders. When i saw France, i knew this is trouble. France is nothing but a blood sucking vampire, sucking the life out of west African nations. The U.S is in Africa doing what it does best, being a bully and an aggressor.
To start with, you need to buy some better cocoa!
Now as for the nonviolent origin of Boko Haram… this is something of a tautology, isn’t it? When a group is founded, it is nonviolent, because it hasn’t done anything yet. But if you look up Mohammad Yusuf on Wikipedia, it says that as a young man he was a Salafist and strongly influenced by Ibn Taymiyyah, and if you look that up, that is somebody who “… is renowned for his fatwa issued against the Mongol rulers declaring jihad by Muslims against them compulsory, on the grounds that they did not follow Sharia and as such were not Muslim, their claims to have converted to Islam notwithstanding. His teachings had a profound influence on Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab…”
So I mean, we’re not talking about some well-meaning religious guy like we saw in Young Osama bin Laden (marketed in the US as “Rambo III”), who reluctantly turns to violence in order to beat back the imperial aggressor. We’re talking about someone who hitched his wagon to some of the worst of Islam from the very beginning, who perhaps needed to run a religious center in a nonviolent way for a little while so that the Nigerians didn’t just kill him right off the bat.
Should read:
Otoh, U.S. General Boykin: “I Knew That My God Was Bigger Than His”
*p.s. it don’t matter if you don’t believe it, Wnt … They Do!
I’m so glad you brought up Rambo III; I wish folks would refer to that often. Recently though I saw a video montage of HRC where she points out that we actually trained and funded the jihadists in Afghanistan during the 80s… It was nice, I wish she made the point often, I wish all the media and politicians would every time they talk about funding “rebels” in this or that place.
Fine journalistic work [unlike many left-leaning articles which have dominated American political reporting as of late].
The real report and surprise would be to find out where the U.S. military is NOT. I’ll start:
• Aruba
• [fill in the blank]
• etc..
mmm my mistake; SouthCOM has Aruba. I’ll have to think…
Mars…at least, not yet.
No fair sir! Interplanetary domination excepted.
Excellent reporting, thanks.
This – as is so often the case – hardly surprising. The US in its stated quest of “Global full spectrum domination.” has created a “spiderweb” of installations, forward placement of arms and supplies logistics bases and plans, everything required to jump in to any conflict which might arise anywhere on the
African continent or to start one. The US has effectively colonized the entire African continent.
The US is THE global hegemon it owns and operates the global financial system, has colonized and controls the internet, has the global reserve currency and its debt is considered as good as or perhaps better than cash. In addition the US has moved right up to the Russian border with nuclear weapons and every sort of war making arms and personnel an estimated trillion dollars worth. Further, it has 60% of its navy including the nuclear submarines and two aircraft carrier fleets, and hundreds if not thousands of nuclear weapons in the waters and in “allied” countries surrounding China.
There should be no question of the intent of the US and it has so stated “Global full spectrum domination.”
But the US is not the empire it is just the operating system the “Windows” of the empire. The actual power is held in the deep state, the “military industrial complex” and the network of transnational corporations especially the tech transnationals. The empire itself is ugly and unfriendly like dos so no one pays attention as they move inexorably forward relentless in their demands for ever more power.
.. and this ugly empire takes no holidays, doesn’t sleep at night and doesn’t need to unwind in the evening.
The oppressor never sleeps.