Just when you thought you'd forgotten all about that recently revealed "secret" US drone base in Saudi Arabia, there's this: President Obama just revealed yet another far-flung desert drone base, this one in Niger.
Well, it wasn't that straightforward. Obama did not "explicitly reveal
the drone base" in a letter to Congress, the Washington Post reports.
Instead he said that some 100 military personnel are now posted up in
Niger to "provide support for intelligence collection" for a France
military operation in neighboring Mali. That that's apparently all code
for "our boys will be flying spy planes" comes from a--wait for
it--unnamed administration official who tells the Post that nearly all
the personnel are with the Air Force.
The drone ops, the official added, are "imminent," and will initially
be based in the capital city of Niamey. Eventually the plan is to move
everything north to the town of Agadez, closer to the action in
Mali. For all the detached, out-of-harm's way characteristics
of America's shadow wars abroad, sniffing out suspected bad dudes if
still very much about proximity.
For the rest of the story: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-us-just-opened-a-drone-base-in-niger
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