Great Satan US seeks to aid Occupation French military intervention in Mali

The US has reaffirmed its intention to back French military intervention in North African country of Mali, vowing to provide any assistance to the effort that would even include deployment of American troops.

“We have promised [France] that we will … provide whatever assistance we can to try to help them,” US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced during a Monday trip to Europe as quoted in a Tuesday report by The Los Angeles Times.

According to the report, Panetta further reiterated that the US was already providing the French with intelligence assistance, pointing to “a responsibility to go after al-Qaeda wherever they are.”

The report also cites “defense officials” as adding that “small number of US troops might be sent to Mali and surrounding countries,” but in a ‘limited support role.’

Al-Qaeda is a shadowy group, reportedly based in Saudi Arabia, which is often cited by the US and its allies as the main pretext for waging wars and military interventions on Muslim countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

According to the report, while the Obama administration is preparing to “ferry hundreds of additional French troops” to Mali, US officials also announced plans to “send drones or other surveillance aircraft and provide help with aerial refueling of French fighter jets” that bombed columns of Muslim militants in northern Mali for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.

The report further cites “a US defense official” as saying that France has asked the Pentagon for help in quickly moving another 500 to 600 troops and their equipment into Mali.

The official is also quoted as adding that US military planners “were devising options for using Air Force cargo planes to move the forces from France to staging areas outside Mali, possibly including the neighboring countries of Niger and Burkina Faso.”

“We’re going to do it,” the official emphasized. “We just don’t know what platforms yet,” referring to the types of aircraft.

A former colonial power in Mali, France holds a substantial number of North African immigrant population and, according to the report, fears that Muslim militants may use Mali as a base to “plot attacks on French soil.”

The claim comes amid persisting reports that the European power widely mistreats and discriminates against its African immigrant population, most of whom reportedly live in poverty and denied adequate employment opportunities and public assistance benefits.