Over 1,000 US Soldiers “Being Held HOSTAGE” in Niger – Matt Gaetz Releases Shocking Report

This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Jim Hoft

Joe Biden already turned over the Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan to Taliban terrorists in September 2021.

Biden abandoned Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years in July 2021 by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ secret departure more than two hours after they left.

The Taliban quickly took control of Bagram Air Base, which is only 30 miles north of Kabul, on August 15th and released thousands of terrorists held at its prison. The Americans and Afghans left the Taliban military equipment, uniforms, rations and even sports drinks.

The ISIS suicide bomber who murdered 13 US servicemen and women and 169 Afghans was released by the Taliban from the Bagram Base prison. Biden abandoned the country to the Taliban.

In  April we learned about Joe Biden’s latest foreign policy disaster.  The situation in Niger could top the Afghanistan withdrawal – if that is possible.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) totally embarrassed the US Army Secretary and exposed Joe Biden’s latest foreign policy catastrophe during questioning this week in the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee hearing.

Gaetz exposed the latest Biden foreign policy failure – this time in Niger, Africa.

US troops are trapped in the country allegedly without water and medicine. The Army was likely hiding this to protect itself from embarrassment. Deployed Americans are in limbo and unable to do their jobs and the Biden State Department is completely outmaneuvered once again.

Secretary Wormuth and General Randy George testified before the House Armed Services Committee on April 16th.

Matt Gaetz posted the report on his congressional webpage.

US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, a potential DEI hire, was stunned and speechless when Matt Gaetz confronted her about the trapped US soldiers in Niger a country in tremendous turmoil.

In late April it appeared the US had a trade offer from the military junta in Niger.  The Russian-backed military junta in Niger will release the 1,000 US soldiers trapped at the base in exchange for the keys to the $100 million  American airbase in the country.

WAR: Niger’s Russian-backed military junta has agreed to release 1,000 US troops it was effectively holding hostage in exchange for Biden’s agreement to turn over our $100M airbase to Niger and Russian forces. The US media will barely mention this humiliation today. pic.twitter.com/UpmnsMMI2g

— @amuse (@amuse) April 21, 2024

The US military will reportedly leave a $100 million airbase to the military junta.

The USA confirms it will pull out of Niger.

1000 soldiers will leave after having been told to get out by the new Russian-friendly military junta

They will leave the $110 mln airbase built a few years ago from which the US has been running its drone operations against AQ & ISIS pic.twitter.com/UwCLn79acW

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 20, 2024

Now this…
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) earlier today took to the House floor to discuss the latest developments from Niger.

This was an incredible testimony. We have posted the transcript and video along with the Congressman’s full report below.

Rep. Matt Gaetz: Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to enter into the Congressional record Part 2 of the interim report that I have prepared for the House of Representatives entitled “Unwelcome in Niger.” Without objection. Mr. Speaker, I rise to warn this body of the deteriorating conditions in the African country of Niger and to give rise to the concern of service members and contractors. More than a thousand of them right now are functionally being held hostage in Niger. They are being used as pawns during a negotiation that has left America at the bended knee of third-world criminals and thugs as our troops seek medicine and fresh water and troop rotations. How did we get here with more than 1,100 Americans endangered right now in Niger?

Well, it started back in March of 2023. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, went to Niger and claimed that it was a model of resilience, a platform for great democracy. It would be where America would execute its Africa strategy. One year later, almost to the day, there was a coup in Niger. And guess who overthrew the government that we said was the great model of resilience? People we trained. We trained the coup leaders to go throw out the democratically elected government of Niger.

And I know this will surprise you, but after that occurs, they say they They want our bases that US taxpayers have poured more than a billion dollars into, gone. They want our service members, gone. I came to this floor after hearing from some of my constituents who were stationed in Niger. After the overthrow of the government, there weren’t resupply flights. They said, congressman, we are going to be out of medicine in May if we don’t get this sorted out. Three days after I filed Part One of the report that I am supplementing today, the Biden administration announced that we will be leaving in Niger. A welcome sign, I’m sure, but the leaving didn’t actually happen. We have people who are now more than 200 days into a 180-day rotation. And while the negotiation regarding retrograde and withdrawal are ongoing, The government in Niger is using the well-being and health of our service members as leverage to get what they want out of our government. Our troops aren’t getting medicine for malaria, for cholesterol, for their blood pressure, chronic conditions. I have received the letters from the wives, from the fathers of the people who are in Niger now, and they say, We know that our family members are being extorted by the local governments when they try to leave hundreds of dollars to even bring a bag through the airport.

We know that Russians are behind the wire. You know what a real US President would do? Say that C-130s are on their way to Niger today with the water and the medicine and the food our troops need, that they will have a full fighter pilot escort there. If the Nigeri government or any other third world thug tries to even turn on their air defense systems, we should show those leaders and those thugs what the target package looks like on their houses and their family members, because it should not be Americans that are suffering because President Biden and Blinken are so embarrassed that their strategy in Africa failed that they’re willing to let Americans’ conditions deteriorate. They’re willing to let our military spouses and family members wonder what’s going to happen to their loved ones with their blood pressure rising and no blood pressure medication or concerned what will happen now that we’re in May and there’s not sufficient malaria medication. We should always keep our people’s well-being at the forefront of our minds. And today, we should be resupplying our troops in Niger, Africa, and we should dare these thugs and criminals to mess with us while we’re doing that.

This is a total embarrassment. But saving politicians and people like Biden and Blinken from embarrassment is not worth putting US troops at risk.

I will stay on this. I will stay on our government and the Nigerian government to ensure that our military members and their families are appropriately treated and their concerns are elevated to the highest levels of this house. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield back.

We have over 1,000 American service members in Niger who are functionally stuck and have not been resupplied with critical medicines since MARCH!

My appeal to @JoeBiden – either RESUPPLY our troops or GET THEM OUT OF THERE! We cannot be held hostage by some third-world group of… pic.twitter.com/PpIIqijhuI

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) May 6, 2024

Here is Part2 of Congressman Gaetz’s Interim report – “Unwelcome in Niger.”

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