Posted on 10/07/2017 5:29:43 AM PDT by BenLurkin
According to the Pentagon, the Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, otherwise known as an “A-Team,” went on a routine patrol Wednesday afternoon with about 20 troops from the Niger Armed Forces when they came under heavy fire.
Officials said a barrage of machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades from about 50 militants forced the U.S. and Nigerien troops into defensive positions near the border with Mali. The fire peppered the troops’ trucks and shattered windows before they could regroup and fire back.
The soldiers called in support from French attack helicopters and fighter jets. It’s not clear whether the aircraft fired.
Amid the chaos, the officials said, one of the 12 Green Berets was left behind in a border region notorious for drug smuggling, human trafficking and myriad extremist militias, including allies of Al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The other Green Berets only noticed his absence after they had pulled back.
...
headle said the patrol had planned to talk to local leaders about security. He said the military has no indication that someone tipped off the militants to set up an ambush in the brush.
“It would’ve been easy to have good concealment in this terrain,” he said, adding that an unarmed surveillance aircraft was overhead, but no armed air cover because the threat was considered “unlikely.”
...
he deadly attack drew attention to the little-known U.S. military presence in Niger, an impoverished desert country in Francophone West Africa. About 800 U.S. personnel are deployed there.
Niger is considered strategic for U.S. counter-terrorism operations. It lies between Nigeria to the south, where Islamic State affiliate Boko Haram has been fighting to establish Islamist rule, and Mali to the west, where multiple extremist militias are active.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
What?
Niger … another war Obama got us into by executive action.
“He said the military has no indication that someone tipped off the militants to set up an ambush in the brush.”
Yeah. Maybe someday, the U.S. military will learn they should not engage in multiculturalism and diversity and attempts to prove “we are not racists” in foreign countries.
We are in Niger? Why? First I have heard. The ChiComs are there of course.
Niger, oil, and Chinese investment in Africa - Business ...
www.businessinsider.com/niger-oil-and-chinese-investment-in-africa...
Sep 30, 2015 · On August 14, a compressor failed at the Soraz oil refinery near Zinder, Niger, crippling one of the very few pieces of industrial infrastructure in one of ...
Death by political correctness
We have to deploy troops in Africa to make it look like that hellhole has some value to us - so we create Africom and a whole bunch of ill conceived missions in central Africa
This is an outgrowth of Susan Rice national security plannjng
She was atoning for Bill Clinton’s nonchalance about genocide in Rwanda and her role in advising him to do so
President Trump why didn’t you pull our troops out?
Niger is where blowhard Joe Wilson was sent with CIA money to drink sweet mint tea and get assurances from the natives that Saddam Hussein never got yellowcake uranium for his nuclear program
We’re also building a drone base there to keep an eye on Libya...
It’s not clear whether the aircraft fired.
They’re French - surrender would be order......
Mad Dog Mattis is running the show
And racking up quite a number of missteps in his first 6 months
Uh yeah sure
Someone got a sweet contract deal for that one
“ Establishing our military footprint in the heart of darkest Africa”
Apparently “Send up the count” is a lost art.
God bless this fine young warrior's family and friends during this time of grieving.
Go with God young Green Beret and thank you for your service to your country.
Some one told someone else the Americans were coming.
Then drop a MOAB on the ambush position.
“Mad dog” is an academics general. A lot of bark and blustering, but nothing else.
It does seem surprising, but perhaps our guys were spread out among the Nigerian troops, trying to coordinate them and keep them alive?
George Washington’s wise farewell words were to “avoid foreign entanglements.” Too bad we haven’t listened. We should stop pretending that these people are capable of running modern countries. They functioned for centuries with their tribal systems, and we should have left them alone.
Time to cross the border and set up our own ambush
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