AFRICAN STORIES: US MISSILES STRIKE IN NIGERIA
So, the Orange Strongman sent out a long-winded message on social media, beating his chest, and portraying the US missile attack on a terrorist hideout in Sokoto State (one of the 36 states of the Nigerian Federation) as some unilateral action he undertook to protect "Christians in Nigeria". He deliberately pretended to his MAGA followers that there was no coordination with Nigerian military authorities. He claimed that he just told Hegseth to randomly fire a missile into some area and somehow terrorists were obliterated.
In reality, ever since Trump began to beat his chest about caring about non-existent "Christian genocide", the Nigerian Federal Government has sought to take advantage of the situation by making the same requests for help that had been denied by previous US Administrations.
For instance, the Obama Administration refused to help with specialized weaponry unless Nigeria granted military bases and allowed deployment of US troops to fight on its soil. Nigeria refused military bases. US soldiers would continue to be welcomed in tiny numbers as military trainers and instructors. However, there would be no large-scale deployment of US troops to fight on Nigerian soil. Nigeria was not going down the route followed by Niger Republic, which then hosted over 1000 US troops supposedly "fighting terrorists". Obama Administration rejected Nigeria's request for weapon sales, claiming "human right abuses" of suspected terrorists or something.
This time around, everybody seems to be getting what they want. Trump gets to tell his MAGA followers that he is fighting non-existent "Christian genocide" while the Nigerian government gain access to cutting edge surveillance technology (and occasionally US firepower to obliterate the terrorists).
Throughout November, the Americans have been flying drones from the Republic of Ghana into Nigerian air space. The surveillance data gathered from American drones have been transmitted to Nigerian Air Force to perform bombing runs on terrorist hideouts.
Yesterday, Trump wanted a big spectacle, some fireworks, he could present to his MAGA supporters disappointed with his performance on the Epstein Scandal among other things, and the Nigerian government agreed. The Nigerian military identified a terrorist hideout in the northwestern state of Sokoto, which has a population that is nearly 100% Muslim, and American cruise missiles struck the place.
The beneficiaries of last night's strike are ordinary Muslims who have been terrorized by local bandits, who specialise in blowing up mosques and killing Muslims (see image below).
There are barely any Christians in Sokoto State for Trump to protect. If he wanted to "protect Christians", then the place to strike is Borno State in Northeast Nigeria and not Sokoto State in Northwest Nigeria.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about the whole exercise. On one hand, I am glad the US military coordinated with Nigeria to strike terror bandits terrorizing the Muslim populace of Sokoto. On the other hand, I am worried by the lies and misrepresentation of Trump and his officials. Trump did not conduct this strike to help Nigeria with its terrorism problem. He did it to appeal to his MAGA followers, who accept the bullshit narrative about Christian genocide in a country where Christians occupy the following key government positions--- Defence Minister, Overall Head of the Armed Forces, Head of the Air Force, Head of the Army, Director of Intelligence and Head of the National Police. Even the First Lady of Nigeria is an Evangelical Christian Pastor.
I am afraid that as some point in the future, the Orange Narcissist may decide to actually conduct a unilateral strike without any coordination or input from the Nigerian government and then end up killing innocent people as happened when Trump dropped aerial bombs on a gathering of Yemeni civilians and then claimed he had targeted "a gathering of Yemeni Houthis". Of course, I still remember the earlier incident in which Biden regime's Pentagon officials fired missiles at innocent Afghans, and then lied that the dead civilians were "ISIS-Khorasan terrorists".
Image below is BBC headline of an attack on a mosque, a few days ago
