Nigeria needs an ‘air cavalry’ command to crush Boko Haram, says ex-US Navy SEAL

Nigeria’s hopes of inflicting a crushing blow on Boko Haram lie in an air cavalry, a former member of the US Navy SEALs has told TheCable.

The US Navy’s Sea, Air and Land Teams, known as the Navy SEALs, are reputed for launching successful  counter-terrorism missions in extremely difficult terrains, the most celebrated being the Abbottabad operation of 2011 that killed Osama bin Laden, former leader of Al Qaeda.

The retired officer, who does not want to be named, is conversant with Nigeria’s counter-terrorism operations.

He advised the federal government against plans to buy US Apache helicopters as being reported in the media.

He said: “Recently I have seen articles suggesting the government will buy $500 million worth of US Apache helicopters — about eight of them.

“More recently it has been suggested that the military buy South African AH-2 type helicopters.  Both are two-seater aircraft designed for close air support of troops on the ground and to be tank and LAV killers.

“It would appear to me that money would be better spent on high-performance long range attack/transport helicopters, such as the US Black Hawk (pictured) or the Ukrainian Mi-8 MSB, which is one-third the cost of the Black Hawk, and on developing an air cavalry command capable of deploying troops rapidly on short notice to any hot spot.

“Such helicopters do the triple duty of troop lift, logistical supply/support and close-air support of troops in the fight. If the situation worsens to be more like Iraq and Afghanistan, where IEDs are a daily occurrence,  long range attack/transport helicopters will be in great demand for logistical support of remote bases.”

Air cavalry

He also proffers the air cavalry approach because of its ability to target the key areas as well as the key actors.

“It seems to me that Nigeria needs a nimble military capable of rapidly vertically enveloping insurgents, an air cavalry. It can destroy the Boko Haram by identifying the leaders, mapping out the leadership/command structure and targeting leaders for capture and interrogation,” he said.

“Counter terrorist operations are more like spearfishing then regular army maneuver operations which could be likened to net fishing. ‘Net fishing’ in counter insurgencies runs the risk of alienating the population, thereby creating more terrorists.  Commando operations target the ‘big fish’ to extract information from them in surgical capture-or-kill operations.

“Sorties of helicopters can maneuver to vertically envelop insurgents.  An air cavalry battalion could target key leaders to capture or kill them.  Intelligence personnel could interrogate insurgents, conduct forensics on their cellphones and monitor all connections to construct a map of Boko Haram structure/leadership.”

He says follow-on strike operations could target key leaders “to capture or kill them”.

Multifaceted Approach

Since the current insurgency began, Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.3 million from their homes.

According to the World Terrorism Index 2015, fifty-one per cent of terrorist deaths that are attributed to terrorist groups were by the hands of Boko Haram and ISIL.

Nigeria experienced the largest increase in deaths from terrorism in 2014 – 7,512 fatalities, an increase of over 300 per cent.

Nigerian military chiefs have been announcing victory over Boko Haram in recent times.

President Muhammadu Buhari said last year that the insurgents had been “technically defeated”, although they have successfully launched many suicide attacks since then.

The ex-SEAL member said it is a “multi-faceted problem that requires a multipronged strategy”.

“While conventional war is waged on physical terrain, counterinsurgency is waged on human terrain,” he told TheCable.

“Insurgencies involve three sets of actors. The first group of actors are insurgents, which include groups that adopt unconventional strategies and tactics to overthrow an established national government.

“The second group is the indigenous government, which includes security forces and police, as well as its governance capacity.  Governance involves the provision of essential services to the populations, including health care, power, transportation infrastructure and other basic services.

“The third group of actors comes from outside.  These include state and non-state entities which can support the indigenous government or the insurgents.  Outside actors can play a pivotal role in tipping the war in favor of the insurgents or the government but alone can rarely win the war for either side.

“Popular support is a common goal for all actors in an insurgency.  With popular support come assistance – money, logistics, recruits, intelligence and other aid from the local population.

“Building on Mao Tse-tung’s argument that the guerrilla must move among the people as a fish swims in the sea, the population is the critical element in counterinsurgency operations as this represents the water in which the fish swims.”

Negative headlines

He thinks the war can be prosecuted within legal means to avoid rights abuses that tend to becloud the mission.

“Military operations which brutalise and alienate the people only serve to create more terrorists.  Negative headlines from such organisations as Amnesty International claiming war crimes and human rights violations are not helpful in fighting this smoldering war,” he said.

“A major component of gaining popular support is enforcing the rule of law fairly and firmly.  Our police and our military must be better trained and held accountable for misdeeds.”

Former President Goodluck Jonathan was unable to buy arms from the US following an embargo, after a series of reports of human rights abuses by the military in the north-east.

Buhari also expressed his frustrations at the embargo after coming to power, but there have also been reports of abuses under his watch.