All I Want for Christmas …Is Information about U.S. Military Deployments

2017 has been a year of massive expansion for the Global War on Terror, but you could be forgiven for not noticing. In addition to the media focus on the ongoing chaos in the Trump White House, the Pentagon has consistently avoided disclosing where and who America ’s armed forces are engaged in fighting until forced to do so.Take Syria, where the Pentagon long claimed that there wereonly 500 boots on the ground, even though anecdotal accounts suggested a much higher total. When Maj. General James Jarrardaccidentally admitted to reporters at a press conference in October that the number was closer to 4000, his statement was quickly walked back. Finally, last week, the Pentagon officially acknowledged that there are in fact 2000 troops on the ground in Syria, andpledged that they will stay there ‘indefinitely.’ Even when we do know how many troops are stationed abroad, we often don ’t know what they’re doing. Look at Niger, where a firefight in October left four soldiers dead. Prior to this news—and to the President’s disturbing decision to publicly feud with the widow of one of the soldiers—most Americans had no idea thattroops deployed to Africa on so-called ‘train-and equip’ missions were engaged in active combat.Yet U.S. troops arecurrently engaged in counterterrorism and support missions in Somalia, Chad, Nigeria, and elsewhere, deployments which have never been debated by Congress and are authorized only under a patchwork of shaky, existing authoritie...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 11, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Emma Ashford Source Type: blogs