This reminds me of how we have articles and handwringing about “our soldiers were attacked” in a country they had no authorization to even be. It is never discu

This reminds me of how we have articles and handwringing about “our soldiers were attacked” in a country they had no authorization to even be. It is never discussed what they were actually doing there, but this is usually framed as in “we need more money to defend our men and women overseas”. Example: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/10/23/politics/niger-troops-lawmakers https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/10/23/politics/niger-troops-law... Several other leading senators also said they were in the dark about the operation in the western Africa nation. “I didn’t know there was 1,000 troops in Niger,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” Sunday. “They are going to brief us next week as to why they were there and what they were doing.” He continued: “I got a little insight on why they were there and what they were doing. I can say this to the families: They were there to defend America. They were there to help allies. They were there to prevent another platform to attack America and our allies.” https://www.npr.org/2020/01/06/793895401/iraqi-parliament-votes-to-expel-u-s-troops-trump-threatens-sanctions https://www.npr.org/2020/01/06/793895401/iraqi-parliament-vo... Even when a country’s leaders unanimously tell us to withdraw our troops, we say nah: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-withdrawing-iraq-agreement-lead-troop-reductions/story?id=114296946 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-withdrawing-iraq-agreemen...