Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates a foreign policy of restraint, was even stronger in her opposition to the operation.
She called it “unnecessary and unjustified” and said it violates Trump’s promises to supporters to put American interests first and avoid risky, wasteful military campaigns abroad.
“Airstrikes in Nigeria will not make Americans safer, no matter the target,” she said. “There are no real U.S. interests at stake in Nigeria, a country that is an ocean and over 5,000 miles away.”
Noting that the U.S. has conducted strikes on ISIS and other terrorist group targets in Africa for over two decades with little effect, Kavanagh said the “whack-a-mole strategy” is ineffective at controlling insurgencies or eliminating terrorist groups.
“Chasing terrorist groups around the globe is the opposite of the ‘America First’ foreign policy voters expected,” she said, urging Trump to make the attack in Nigeria a “one-off.”
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