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US special forces 'fought Niger ambush alone after local troops fled'
The Guardian ^ | Nov 4, 2017 | Jason Burke and Julian Borger

Posted on 11/05/2017 4:56:37 AM PST by huldah1776

Serving and retired officers say soldiers also tried to convince French jets to engage in incident in which four Green Berets died

The US special forces detachment ambushed in the Niger last month fought alone for hours after the local Nigerien forces they were accompanying fled in the first minutes of the engagement, retired and serving special forces officers with knowledge of events have said.

The trapped soldiers also made repeated efforts to convince French warplanes sent from neighbouring Mali to engage the enemy, attempting to “talk in” the pilots who refused to attack due to poor weather, rough terrain and an inability to differentiate friend from foe, the officers said.

***snip****

Most of the ambushed US unit had no combat experience, and had not been warned to expect any encounter with hostile forces.

This assessment has surprised some and has been a focus of congressional attention. A United Nations assessment indicated that there have been at least 46 attacks by armed groups in the districts around Tongo Tongo since February 2016.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2016; 201602; 201710; 2p16; africa; alassane; alqaedaafrica; gwot; jamesgordonmeek; military; mounkailaalassane; niger; nigersyria; ontrumpswatch; specialforces; syria; syrianiger; syrianwar; tongotongo
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This was so messed up. Whenever I hear of this kind of result I think of Eastwood's line in Heartbreak Ridge. something about a cluster.
1 posted on 11/05/2017 4:56:38 AM PST by huldah1776
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To: huldah1776

Isn’t it a given it places like that?


2 posted on 11/05/2017 4:57:27 AM PST by NorseViking
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To: huldah1776

I strongly suspected that was the case from the moment this story broke.


3 posted on 11/05/2017 4:59:35 AM PST by mad_as_he$$
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To: huldah1776

Just WHAT are we doing in such a pit of a place? Echoing George McGovern, Come Home America.


4 posted on 11/05/2017 5:01:49 AM PST by laconic
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To: huldah1776
"fought alone for hours after the local Nigerien forces they were accompanying fled in the first minutes"

Knock me over with a feather.

5 posted on 11/05/2017 5:03:23 AM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: laconic

Training the locals to stop ISIS from getting a foothold so we don’t have to do the heavy lifting.

The ISIS cockroaches being defeated in Syria are trying to set up a new caliphate in Africa.


6 posted on 11/05/2017 5:04:10 AM PST by Eddie01
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To: huldah1776

And there were no more American assets to help? Once again depending on the French led to death and defeat. When will we learn??? If the local troops fled, its time for us to flee that country and let them rot.


7 posted on 11/05/2017 5:08:44 AM PST by Uncle Sam 911
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To: laconic

We’re denying a safe space the size of Texas for ISIS to establish a new safe space.

Not agreeing with the tactics, I’d just blast them with Predators and Hellfires, but that’s what the mission is.


8 posted on 11/05/2017 5:11:17 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Eddie01

I’d rather just patrol it with Predators and drop a Hellfire on every jihad camp, and not risk American lives on the fool’s errand of training the locals.

The local forces are our allies by day, and ISIS by night.


9 posted on 11/05/2017 5:12:38 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Uncle Sam 911
"Once again depending on the French led to death and defeat."

I think that's a little harsh.

The French ran (flew) towards the sound of gunfire.

10 posted on 11/05/2017 5:13:37 AM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: Uncle Sam 911

If the US and French are not there, it will become another ISIS stronghold.

Training “local forces,” however, is a joke. Just drop Hellfires on every jihad camp and village.


11 posted on 11/05/2017 5:14:28 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Uncle Sam 911

Obama kept saying he wanted to use more special forces but this loss does show something is amok with that recommendation. Did they also have their training cut in half like the other branches?


12 posted on 11/05/2017 5:14:30 AM PST by huldah1776 ( Vote Pro-life! Allow God to bless America before He avenges the death of the innocent.)
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To: huldah1776

This was more like ‘Tears of the Sun’ or ‘Black Hawk down’ where good America Soliders are assigned to some God forsaken hell hole where the difference between the ‘good’ guys and the ‘bad’ guys are the same as the diffence between the right and left of a Twix Bar and then when the mission goes to ‘s#!#*’ those that sent them leave these brave men hanging on their own while they scamble to cover their collective asses and save their careers.


13 posted on 11/05/2017 5:17:22 AM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: billorites

I read it was something like the 29th trip by the same unarmored convoy down the same road to do the same job.

The “friendly village elders” who assured the SFs it was perfectly safe probably drew the ambush maps for the attackers.

Instead of winning their hearts and minds (useless in a moslem nation) we should drop Hellfires on the village that betrayed us, to teach the other village elders that they have more to fear from the US than the jihadists.

But instead, we’ll go back in with more money, more PC nonsense, and get betrayed again and again.

(Something like 80% of A-stan’s GDP is direct US aid, and still the Taliban is regaining control.)


14 posted on 11/05/2017 5:17:50 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Kartographer

“Local allied forces” by day, ISIS by night. See above.


15 posted on 11/05/2017 5:18:36 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

How in the H are you going to know where to drop anything? It is mandaory to have assets on the ground, period. Laser target identifiers are only reliable from the ground for moving human targets. IR does not differentiate between good guys and bad guys, it just hows where humans are.


16 posted on 11/05/2017 5:20:04 AM PST by mazda77
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To: huldah1776; All
Image result for green berets barry sadler

"The Ballad Of The Green Berets"

(SSgt. Barry Sadler and Robin Moore)

Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret

Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret

Trained to live off nature's land
Trained in combat, hand-to-hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage peak from the Green Berets

Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret

Back at home a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Leaving her his last request

Put silver wings on my son's chest
Make him one of America's best
He'll be a man they'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5WJJVSE_BE

17 posted on 11/05/2017 5:20:07 AM PST by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Nukes. See my FR page)
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To: huldah1776

Four Special Forces soldiers, and this was their first combat experience?

Didn’t I see a CIB in the photos of them?

This seems a little “off.”


18 posted on 11/05/2017 5:21:04 AM PST by Vermont Lt (Burn. It. Down.)
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To: Travis McGee

Think how different Afghanistan would be today if instead of soldiers we had sent nuns and made all the children attend Catholic school.


19 posted on 11/05/2017 5:23:03 AM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: mazda77

How do you think the jihadists communicate?
How do you think they arrange meetings, and resupply jihad camps?
Magic? ESP telepathy?


20 posted on 11/05/2017 5:23:29 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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