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Mattis Erupts Over Niger Inquiry and Army Revisits Who Is to Blame
The New York Times ^ | 07 Dec 2018 | Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt

Posted on 12/07/2018 2:25:28 PM PST by Theoria

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was livid last month when he summoned top military officials to a video conference at the Pentagon to press them about an investigation into a 2017 ambush in Niger that killed four Americans on a Green Beret team. His anger, Pentagon officials said, came from seeing news reports that junior officers were being reprimanded for the botched Niger mission while the officers directly above them were not.

Days later, a senior officer who had largely escaped punishment was told he would be reprimanded. Another senior officer’s actions before and around the time of the mission were also under new scrutiny.

And this week, Capt. Michael Perozeni, a more junior officer who had received much of the public blame for the mission received word from the Army: His reprimand was rescinded.

The turnaround is evidence of the troubled search for accountability in an incident that left a small team of underequipped and poorly supported American soldiers in the African scrub to be overrun by fighters loyal to the Islamic State. More than a year after the ambush — the American military’s largest loss of life in Africa since the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” debacle in Somalia — top military leaders continue to battle over how to apportion blame and who should be held accountable.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: africa; army; mattis; niger; pentagon; sof; wot
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1 posted on 12/07/2018 2:25:28 PM PST by Theoria
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To: Theoria

Why do we have troops in Niger?


2 posted on 12/07/2018 2:26:37 PM PST by thesharkboy (Charter member of the Basket of Deplorables)
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To: Theoria

Our Special Forces need to be in Mexico - not Niger.


3 posted on 12/07/2018 2:29:10 PM PST by sheehan (DEPORT ALL ILLEGALS.)
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To: Theoria

Mattis ... the buck stops there ...


4 posted on 12/07/2018 2:29:53 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: thesharkboy
They are there to support CIA activities out of Niger and Libya. We have a large drone base there. Much of the activities require assets on the ground. The mission in Africa was expanded under Trump.
5 posted on 12/07/2018 2:31:07 PM PST by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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To: Theoria

http://www.afrol.com/articles/38164


6 posted on 12/07/2018 2:35:08 PM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: thesharkboy

Earlier reports that it’s mostly spec ops going after slavers.


7 posted on 12/07/2018 2:37:06 PM PST by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: Theoria

Hmmm, guess they couldn’t find an enlisted person to throw in Leavenworth.


8 posted on 12/07/2018 2:37:37 PM PST by glorgau
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To: Theoria

Careful with an extra g here people.


9 posted on 12/07/2018 2:39:17 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: Theoria

May God bless General Mattis with a long and prosperous life!


10 posted on 12/07/2018 2:39:33 PM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: glorgau

Sounds like they really tried to screw that captain though. He protested the mission. But followed orders. He seems to have fought heroically, but when everything blew up, the officers above him laid the blame on him.


11 posted on 12/07/2018 2:41:57 PM PST by GrootheWanderer
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To: sheehan

Exactly. Why send troops when we have perfectly good planes with plenty of bombs. Bring back napalm and cluster bombs. Plus throw in a couple of tactical nuclear weapons for fun.


12 posted on 12/07/2018 2:46:33 PM PST by HighSierra5
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To: thesharkboy

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/22/us/politics/drone-base-niger.html

...In Niger alone, the Pentagon in the past few years has doubled the number of United States troops, to about 800 — not to conduct unilateral combat missions, but to battle an increasingly dangerous Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and even loosely associated extremist groups with proxy forces and drone strikes...


13 posted on 12/07/2018 3:14:55 PM PST by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: Theoria
". . .underequipped and poorly supported American soldiers . . ."

Right there you know it wasn't the grunts who pay the piper at fault.

14 posted on 12/07/2018 3:15:44 PM PST by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory !!)
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To: Flaming Conservative

He may not be Vulcan, but he is sure very
t logical and truthfull.


15 posted on 12/07/2018 3:27:27 PM PST by SandRat (A)
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To: Theoria

Whenever I want understand military milieu, strategy, operations and logistics, I read the seditionist weeenies at the New York Times.

Who do I ring up to stop this stupid crap?


16 posted on 12/07/2018 3:36:28 PM PST by sergeantdave (Teach a man to fish and he'll steal your gear and sell it)
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To: SandRat

++++


17 posted on 12/07/2018 3:47:35 PM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: thesharkboy

Why...

America is an empire. We follow the orders from the global oligarchy. Thats why.


18 posted on 12/07/2018 4:11:55 PM PST by vannrox (The Preamble to the Bill of Rights - without it, our Bill of Rights is meaningless!)
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To: thesharkboy
Why do we have troops in Niger?

or Syria, or Turkey, or Iraq, or Afghanistan....ad nauseum.

Meanwhile, on the southern US border....

The few troops there are weaponless, erecting tents and slinging concertina wire.

19 posted on 12/07/2018 4:19:01 PM PST by TADSLOS (I wish Adam and Eve had been Cajuns. They would have ignored the apple and ate the snake.)
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To: Theoria

More than a year after the ambush — the American military’s largest loss of life in Africa since the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” debacle in Somalia

WTF, more than in engagements in Iraq or Afghanistan? This is the NYT today.


20 posted on 12/07/2018 5:36:39 PM PST by robowombat (Orthodox)
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