Congress AWOL in the War on Terror

Why were U.S. troops in Niger on Oct. 4, the day four Green Berets were killed in an ambush by a much larger enemy force?

Don't ask Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Bob Casey, D-Pa. They admitted, or claimed, in interviews over the weekend that they had no idea our forces were even operating in Niger.

Don't ask Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., either. "I didn't know there was a thousand troops in Niger," said Graham, who sits on the Armed Services Committee and has attempted for years to cultivate his image as a knowledgeable foreign policy hawk. Graham then tried to change the subject by echoing other senators' complaints that Congress is too often kept in the dark about such operations.

But the thing is, Congress wasn't kept in the dark about the operation in Niger, either by the Obama or by the Trump administrations. Far from being a state secret, the information was known not only to several members of Congress who labor in obscurity on Capitol Hill, but also to anyone who has bothered to watch the relevant hearings on C-Span.

"It's not new," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., told CNN's Chris Cuomo this week. Dent may not get as many appearances on "Meet the Press" as Graham, but the retiring House member from Allentown was well aware of America's presence in Niger when asked. He chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that set aside money to improve runways at U.S. airbases to support the operation in Niger. That appropriation, like all others, had to pass the Senate as well.