My two favorite lines from former four-star Marine Gen. Jim Mattis come from the same 2017 impromptu speech he gave to military personnel in Afghanistan. Those lines being: “Listen to your NCOs” and “Hold the line.”
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Another great Mattis line came in 2018 after a Russian Wagner Group element attempted to kill American soldiers stationed in northeastern Syria. Then-Secretary of Defense Mattis explained to senators how the Wagner element was then “annihilated.”
That same principle of “annihilation” should apply to future attacks or attack-anticipatory movements by the Wagner Group around the world.
Gen. Stephen Townsend of the U.S. military’s Africa Command told Russia’s TASS state media outlet on Thursday why he was so concerned over Russian and Chinese activities in Africa. Singling out Wagner, Townsend observed, “They are not beholden to any rules of armed conflict and they attacked my forces on a number of occasions.”
That Wagner has attacked U.S. forces in Africa is not surprising, but this appears to be the first confirmation of it. Still, wherever U.S. forces come under attack from Wagner or comparable Russian forces, those forces should be annihilated.
It’s unclear whether Townsend was authorized to respond as Mattis had directed in 2018. While U.S. forces in Africa have a standing right to self-defense, proactive air strikes or strikes against Wagner command elements would very likely have to be authorized by the control freaks of the Biden administration’s National Security Council. Considering the administration’s risk aversion toward Vladimir Putin, it seems unlikely that Townsend would have the defensive authority he needs. His replacement should be afforded those authorities without delay.
Wagner is not just some random mercenary group. It is a cutout, or deniable intermediary, for Russia’s GRU military intelligence service. The most culturally aggressive of the big three Russian intelligence services (the SVR and FSB being the other two), the GRU uses Wagner to conduct sustained operations that might otherwise lead to more direct foreign retaliation against Russia. Wagner’s forces, despite their nominal anti-terrorism mission, are military agents of injustice and corruption. The group has been credibly linked to numerous human rights abuses across Africa and in Ukraine, where it also operates.
Wagner even appears to be assassinating African journalists who criticize its operations. New reporting from the Daily Beast strongly indicates that a prominent reporter investigating Wagner was poisoned. Standing Russian lines of authority for the most politically sensitive covert operations means that the orders for this assassination very likely originated in the Kremlin.
The United States has an interest in responding with nuance to incidents that do not directly affect U.S. interests. However, wherever, and whenever Wagner directly threatens U.S. personnel, its forces ought to face immediate and decisive annihilation.
