This video screengrab apparently shows the October 4, 2017 ambush of American and Nigerien soldiers in Tongo Tongo, Niger [Via AFP]
Bonnie Kristian, RCD: The Pentagon’s Secret, Permanent Wars
Two months after the lethal ambush in Niger that killed four American troops in October, U.S. forces were involved in another skirmish in the central African nation with militants linked to the Islamic State. If this story sounds unfamiliar, that’s because it was first reported last week, fully three months after the battle.
Pressed for an explanation of the delay at a Defense Department briefing Thursday, chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White offered a stunning justification: U.S. “troops are often in harm’s way, and there are tactical things that happen that we don’t put out a press release about,” she said. “We also don’t want to give a report card to our adversaries. They learn a great deal from information that we put out.”
In other words: The military will decide whether Americans find out what the military is doing in their name.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I am sure that the oversight committees are kept in the loop on what is happening in these overseas conflicts .... even though they feign ignorance when things go wrong. And as for the conflicts themselves and the right of the public to know what is happening .... this blog and other websites do cover all of them, and what happened in Niger was not a surprise to me. After-all .... there is an active insurgency in the region, U.S. forces are deployed there (including a drone base), and they are involved in training and assisting these governments. As for the missions themselves .... they are kept secret for a reason .... but it should surprise no one that they do go out with the forces that they are mentoring/training .... and sometimes they will encounter the enemy. The only surprise that I have is that it took a long time before U.S. casualties occurred in a place like Niger. As for the need to have a public debate on why is the U.S. involved in these conflicts .... this blog has long been an advocate of that. Unfortunately .... the Congress, the media, and the public have shown very little if any interest to have such a debate.
