Let's talk about US boots in Nigeria.... - Belle of the Ranch

[TexasTowelie]

Well, howdy there Internet people. It's Belle again. So, today we're going to talk about US boots in Nigeria. Okay.

In a recent video when I was running down a list of recent events, I mentioned that US forces are now present in Nigeria. That led to some surprise and messages like this. Um, Belle, you can't just drop, hey, we're boots on the ground in Nigeria, in a list of other Trump failures. Can we get some more information on that? That seems important.

Fair enough. The day after Christmas, I released a video going over what we knew about Trump's Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria. That was when Trump launched a number of strikes of questionable effectiveness. In fact, given the activity in the area since the strikes, they seem to have been a complete failure if the goal was deterring attacks. In that video, I said, "Air strikes alone do not work in these campaigns. Neither does measuring the land occupied by non-state opposition forces. If Trump continues to push the US towards war, he will either have to coordinate closely with host nations or put troops on the ground and commit the US to what would likely be a years-long campaign the American public is unlikely to support.”

So what's happening? That--he's doing both. Putting boots on the ground to coordinate closely with the host nation. General Anderson described it as “that has led to increased collaboration between our nations to include a small US team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years.”

I'd like a little side note here that points out that when Trump undertook this campaign, he was so ill-informed about the situation that he was blaming the government that has been countering the force for several years.

So, what do we know about the team? Not a whole lot yet. There's some unique phrasing in the public statements, mainly that they are being described as officers rather than just soldiers. That's weird. There's a couple of possible explanations for that, but it suggests this is high-level strategic advisers or very, very special guys. Maybe a combination of both.

Other statements suggest they're also helping with training. That sounds like a job for third group, but there is no confirmation that it's the Bushmen yet and they wouldn't only send officers.

It's also possible that the spokespeople don't actually know what's going on. So, they're saying things that don't actually reflect what's happening on the ground. Both US and Nigerian officials have indicated the US forces are non-combat troops. I sure hope they told the opposition that because in this kind of fighting, they're kind of the ones who actually determine whether or not they end up in combat.

So, right now, the troops are just there as advisers for the host nation's operations. But there is significant risk of mission creep. It's important to remember that the US has a long history of moving from inserting advisors to those advisers calling in air support directly to then full troop commitments. This is high risk here because the US is engaging the same opposition group in other countries.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.

[usonian]

1. SEND ICE TO IRAN, EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM.

The military is too valuable to send, thank you.

Alternatively, send ICE to Hell.
They really need ICE there,
and we don't.