The U.S. military presence in Niger made headlines again, only briefly, when more remains of U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson were found and shipped home last week.
Johnson and three other soldiers were killed in an ambush last month, yet it took some time before the Pentagon reported it, and when the President commented on it, a new appalling distraction filled the news cycle. Yet questions about why the US is there, the purpose and mission, etc. were left largely unaddressed.
If you do a little googling, you can find various think tanks and foreign policy journals explaining it has something to do with the fallout of the collapse of Libya after Khadafy was ousted and France and the US invaded the country. Plus ISIS, Boko Haram, etc. Yet nothing really coherent emerges.
It’s just another incident in the ever expanding frontier of the Global War On Terror™. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Art-wise, this page was a struggle. I was happy with the pencils, but as soon as I started inking, problems arose, requiring a lot of white out. Argh.
Kevin: Niger? How did we get here?
Fetch: That is precisely the question!
Fetch waves to a soldier standing by a jeep.
Fetch: Hey, soldier! What's the mission?
Soldier: We're here merely in an advisory capacity.
Kevin: Where have we heard that before?
Soldier: Sorry, I can't comment on awkward analogies to past foreign interventions.
Kevin: Of course. It's really an issue we should take up with the civilian command.
Fetch: Let's check in with the Tweeter-in-Chief!
Fetch checks his iPhone.
Fetch: Yep! Still picking fights with black people!
Kevin: Ugh.
Soldier: No comment. No comment. No comment.
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