Today I have a quiz for you. On October 4, 2017, four U. S. soldiers were killed in the nation of Niger. Before this incident, could you answer these basic questions about American involvement in the world?
- Where is Niger? Could you find this nation on a map of Asia?
- Is this the first time you realized we had troops in this nation?
- Which President deployed most of the troops to Niger?
- How many nations have U. S. troops stationed in them?
Question number one is a trick question. Niger is a nation in West Africa, separated from Nigeria by the (drum roll) Niger River. Question two could be answered in the affirmative by only about one in fifty Americans. News like this, sending American soldiers to little known countries almost never makes the evening news. Question three, for all those of you who believe that President Trump is the source of all that is evil affecting America, the answer is President Obama. Although a small number of military had been in the country previously, in 2013, he authorized enlarging the contingent of American soldiers to conduct training for the native soldiers in Niger. About 800 are stationed there now.
The answer to the last question should be an eye-opener for many American citizens. According to the U. S. Department of Defense statistics, as of June 30, 2017, over 150 nations have some American troops on their soil. Of course, some of these are Marine personnel that guard U. S. embassies and consulates. The latter is well-known to me, for several years ago when, on one of our student tours to Europe, one boy managed to lose his passport, he and I had to find the U. S. Consulate in Munich, Germany. Because I carried a U. S. passport, the armed Marines graciously allowed me in to get the passport reissued. But that, of course, does not account for the large amount of military personnel deployed overseas.
Some numbers are mind-boggling. Afghanistan, still a war zone, has an official total of 10,107 Americans “aiding” their own forces against the Taliban and ISIS. But that number is dwarfed by those in Japan, 39,623. And 64 years after the Korean War (Conflict) ended, 23,297 U. S. Servicemen and women are still patrolling there and manning our bases in that nation.
On the other side of the world, 34,399 are deployed to Germany. In fact, in all of Europe, from Germany to Italy to Kosovo to Poland and in between, we have 97,364 of our finest serving there. Included in the DOD’s stats is a category called “Armed Forces Europe”, which has 35,134 listed.
In the Middle East, including North Africa, there are 26, 461 stationed, in places like Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Jordan and even 128 deployed to Libya. In what is called Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean areas, almost 3,000 Americans are deployed, with two-thirds of those in Djibouti. At one time, one of my former students was sent there as part of his service time. Good exercise — how quickly can you find Djibouti?
Remember Blackhawk Down? We still have 109 military personnel in Somalia. What should be somewhat frightening is that almost 40,000 American troops are assigned to “classified” missions that DOD will not discuss — what they are doing and where they are stationed.
In total, almost 300,000 Americans are deployed in more than 150 nations abroad. It seems many of their missions are shrouded in secrecy; two high-ranking U. S. Senators, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) did not seem to know the extent of our operations in Niger. Many of those in that nation worked on the military drone system there, while others trained Niger’s forces in fighting the radical Islamic State and the terror group, Boko Haram. The Americans killed were participating in a joint patrol with the Nigerian army when attacked.
Why should we, the “ordinary” people of America, be interested in any of these statistics? Taxes taken from each of us goes to fund the operations of our military, including those who serve in far away places. When the budget is passed by Congress, there are precious few details about where the dollars go, and that is just the way the military wants it to be. There have been some questionable military operations in the past, and the best way to make sure that our national interests are protected is to reign in such missions by defunding them, unless they can be shown to serve our national defense.
But also, most families in the country have been affected by the military life. It used to be said, “Join the Navy and see the world”, but anymore you can join any of the branches of the armed services and be sent to places you never heard of. This happened to members of our family. Two of our nephews decided to enter the military. For each, this continued a family tradition, and it also would enable them to get a good college education after their service was over. Oops! Both ended up having a guided tour of Kuwait during the first Iraq War, after one of them resided in Germany before heading to the Middle East. Another nephew was also gung-ho about serving in the military. He graduated from high school early, just to get into basic training as quickly as he could. Bosnia, during that conflict, was his unintended destination. His sister, our niece, opted for the air force and spent some time in South Korea.
But who causes our young men and women to be deployed around the world? And in many cases, they serve in places where danger lurks, literally, around every corner. Our Constitution dictates that only the Congress can declare war and send our military into action. Only five times has that happened. War was declared by Congress for the War of 1812 in 1812, the Mexican War in 1846, the Spanish-American War in 1898, World War 1 in 1917 and World War 2 in 1941. However, in the past 125 years, there have been American soldiers in war zones the world over.
Presidents have been constitutionally designated the Commander-in-Chief of the armed services. Many Presidents have used the military as if they were their personal warriors, sending our servicemen into many conflicts, some of which did not seem to warrant our presence or deserve our sacrifice in treasure and blood. Significant “wars” not declared by Congress include the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the first and second Iraq Wars and the War in Afghanistan. Presidents have sent troops into Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Bosnia and Kosovo have seen American troops engaged in hostile action. Many other places have “hosted” our military, some without inviting us to their shores. There seems to be no end to the involvement of our military around the world.
What do we ordinary citizens do about this? First, we need to realize that some of these incursions are needed to keep our own citizens safe. In the world of terrorism run rampant, sometimes it is better to engage the enemy “over there” than over here. Some of those places we have military stationed have been hotbeds of terrorist breeding grounds. Afghanistan comes to mind, for one. Or Pakistan. Truck terror in New York City was committed by a person from Uzbekistan, a place where militant Islamic ideas are paramount.
What we need to do is to demand from our Congress the implementation of the War Powers Act, passed over Richard Nixon’s veto on November 7, 1973, which requires the agreement of Congress to any overseas deployment of troops in a war zone. It seems that Presidents since that was passed have regularly ignored that law, or given just lip service to it. Voting into the Presidency a person who will be very reluctant to send our military into action in other places in our world would be a good check on the unlimited use of our forces in the internal affair of other nations.
In the Bible, we are told that in the end times there will be “wars and rumors of war”. When looking at the history of this nation since its beginnings, I feel that the United States participates in that prophecy. If we must put up with the proliferation of conflict the world over that involves us, we need to demand that our leaders have a rationale that would justify the use of our treasure and blood. If such leaders cannot contain their enthusiasm for war, replace them.