Business as Usual: U.S. Arms Sales and Civilian Casualties in Nigeria

A. Trevor Thrall andJordan CohenThe Reuters news service reported Wednesday that the Nigerian Air Forcebombed a fish market, murdering more than fifty civilians. At best, this incident was the latest example of the Nigerian military ’s lethal disregard for civilians as it pursues its campaignagainst the terrorist group, Boko Haram. At worst, this might have been another case of the government targeting supporters of its political opposition. Last month, Nigerian security forces killed115 people in a fight against separatist agitators who were peacefully protesting the government ’s lack of progress against SARS.Either way, the United States helped make it happen. Nigeria recently took delivery of sixA-29 Super Tuscano light attack aircrafts from the United States. Even if those specific aircraft were not the ones that dropped the bombs yesterday, there is no question that American weapons sales have only made episodes like this more likely.Thanks to the continuing American obsession with terrorism, the United States has provided Nigeria with significant amounts of security assistance to counter the rise of Boko Haram. Since 2009, the United States has sold Nigeria $130 million in weapons, provided another$155 million in security assistance (including aircraft, fire control, lasers, imaging and guidance equipment, military electronics, and naval ships), and has trainedover 31,000 members of the Nigerian military.Nothing about this incident should have been a ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs