Boots on the Ground? More Like a Slippery Slope
CASE A: 'Advisory' Roles and Stealth Expansion in Nigeria The Newsweek article, despite its interrogative headline, largely confirms the presence of US military personnel in Nigeria, describing their role as 'training and advising' local forces in counter-insurgency operations against groups like Boko Haram. This is framed as a benevolent partnership, a necessary measure to combat terrorism. We're
told these are not 'combat troops,' a distinction that has become increasingly elastic since the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) effectively granted perpetual war powers to the executive branch (ACLU, 2018). Curiously, no exact numbers on deployed personnel or a detailed budget breakdown for this 'partnership' accompany the soft-pedaled admissions of presence. CASE B: The
'Advisory' Gambit of Vietnam and its Echoes Compare this to the early stages of US involvement in Vietnam. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a similar narrative unfolded. US military advisors were deployed to support the South Vietnamese army. By 1961, President Kennedy had increased the number of 'advisors' from 900 to 3,200. These were not deemed 'combat troops,' but their presence and
activities steadily escalated. The framing then was that the US was merely assisting a sovereign nation in defending itself against communism, protecting them from 'external aggression' – a familiar refrain for 'internal threats' today. Eventually, these 'advisors' became the vanguard of a full-scale military conflict that cost millions of lives and billions of dollars (National Archives, 1971).