Niger another nameless war

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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:03 am

Finally, We Learn Why Chad Is on the Travel Ban List. It’s Not Good.
By Joshua Keating


Ever since the Trump administration unveiled the latest edition of its travel ban on Sept. 24, many observers have been puzzled by the inclusion of Chad on the list. Chad was not previously known as a major source of anti-U.S. terror plots, at least no more than several countries that aren’t on the list, and is in fact considered an important regional counterterrorism partner of the U.S. We now know the answer—and it’s very dumb.

CBS reports that as part of its security review of traveler vetting procedures, the Trump administration had required countries to provide a sample of its passports to the Homeland Security Department for analysis. That was a problem for Chad, because the country had run out of passport paper:

Lacking the special passport paper, Chad's government couldn't comply, but offered to provide a pre-existing sample of the same type of passport, several U.S. officials said. It wasn't enough to persuade Homeland Security to make an exception to requirements the agency has been applying strictly and literally to countries across the globe, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss disagreements within the administration.

This was why the U.S. was willing to spurn a country that has hosted U.S. organized military exercises and is a major recipient of U.S. security aid, a move that might have contributed to Chad’s recent decision to withdraw hundreds of troops from neighboring Niger, where they had been part of the coalition fighting Boko Haram and where, as recent events make clear, the U.S. needs allies.

The issue is moot, for the moment, as the ban has been blocked by a federal court injunction just like its predecessors. But it should shred whatever remaining credibility the administration has in the criteria it uses to assemble these lists.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... paper.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby PufPuf93 » Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:09 am

Note I thanked Thiery before reading subsequent posts (and still do thank Thiery).

I meant to post a brief explanation of how and when we came to have military in Niger.

Trump is a nightmare and risk as POTUS, Trump shouldn't be POTUS, and an asshole on so many levels and screwed the pooch on the most recent events in Niger for his own agenda; but the Trump events did not happen in a vacuum.

I can easily hold these two thoughts simultaneous.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:24 am

Donald Trump added Chad to US travel ban because African nation had 'run out of passport paper and four U.S. soldiers died

Donald Trump added Chad to US travel ban because African nation had 'run out of passport paper'
Office supplies glitch to blame for surprise decision by President's administration to block visitors from ally previously praised for campaign against Boko Haram

Josh Lederman

Chad failed to meet "baseline" security requirement and were harshly penalised on technicality Susan Walsh/AP
This is the story of how an office supply glitch became a major irritant between the United States and one of its close security partners.

When President Donald Trump added the African nation of Chad last month to his most recent instalment of travel restrictions, everyone from the Pentagon to Chad's leaders to the French government was perplexed. The US has praised Chad's cooperation on counterterrorism, especially its campaign against a vicious Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from Nigeria.

As it turns out, a seemingly pedestrian issue was largely to blame: Chad had run out of passport paper.

Chad and every other country had been given 50 days to prove it was meeting a “baseline” of security conditions the Trump administration says is needed for the US to properly screen potential visitors. One condition was that countries provide a recent sample of its passports so that the Homeland Security Department could analyse how secure they really are.

Lacking the special passport paper, Chad's government couldn't comply, but offered to provide a pre-existing sample of the same type of passport, several US officials said. It wasn't enough to persuade Homeland Security to make an exception to requirements the agency has been applying strictly and literally to countries across the globe, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss disagreements within the administration.

Still, the US told Chad it could be removed once the issues were addressed, with national security adviser H.R. McMaster saying at the time that Chad could come off the list “maybe in a couple of months.” McMaster spoke to Chadian leader Idriss Deby last week about getting the visa restrictions removed, the State Department said, but the country remains on the list.

At least that was the case until Tuesday, hours before the new restrictions were to take effect, when a federal judge in Hawaii blocked Trump's order, saying it had the same legal problems that foiled the first two iterations of his “travel ban.” The move puts the restrictions temporarily on hold, but Trump's administration has pledged to appeal.

The Homeland Security Department confirmed that the US “lacks a recent sample from Chad” of its passports, but said there were other problems, too.

“The restrictions placed on Chad dealt with more than just the receipt of a passport exemplar. Chad does not adequately share public safety and terrorism-related information,” said Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan. He said the US was working closely with Chad on the issue and was “eager to see Chad develop more secure travel documents and make other enhancements.”

It was unclear why Chad ran into the office supply problem, although regional upheaval and the persistent terror threat have disrupted trade in the impoverished country in recent years. For a recent period of about six months, Chad stopped issuing passports, although it appears that situation has since been resolved.

The passport paper issue helps to illustrate the infighting within Trump's administration that led up to the revised travel order, which also placed restrictions on Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Venezuela. \
Homeland Security, working with the White House, pushed Chad onto the list without significant input from the State Department or the Defence Department, said a congressional official briefed on the process who wasn't authorised to discuss it publicly and requested anonymity.

Other officials said once the other national security agencies learned of the plan to add Chad, they objected vehemently, but were overruled.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 08306.html


Dozens of Boko Haram members convicted in mass secret trial in Nigeria
The 45 people were jailed for between three and 31 years, while another 468 suspects were ordered to undergo de-radicalisation programs

Nigerian soldiers training in the central state of Niger, where about 1,670 Boko Haram detainees are being held at a base in Kainji. Photograph: EPA

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
Friday 13 October 2017 22.01 EDT Last modified on Friday 13 October 2017 23.00 EDT
A Nigerian court has convicted 45 Boko Haram members in the largest ever mass trial involving the Islamist extremist group.

The closed-door proceedings began early this week at a military barracks in northern Nigeria but have raised the concerns of human rights groups about whether the hearings of 1,669 suspects will be fair.

The judges are drafted from civil courts, while the barracks are being used for security reasons.

The 45 people were sentenced to between three and 31 years in prison, the country’s information minister said in a statement on Friday. Another 468 suspects were released, but the court ordered that they undergo de-radicalisation programs. The government has not said what exactly the hundreds of suspects are charged with.


Tortured, abused, deported: Cameroon accused of driving out Nigerians
Read more
More than 2,000 detainees are being held at a military base in Kainji, in the central state of Niger, and the Giwa barracks in Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno.

Nigeria is trying to show it is making progress against the extremist group that has killed more than 20,000 people during its eight-year insurgency. Boko Haram has yet to comment publicly on the mass trials.

Nigeria has arrested thousands of suspected Boko Haram members in recent years, and military detention facilities are overcrowded. Human rights groups say most of those detained, including women and children, have been picked up at random and without reasonable suspicion. Former detainees have described malnutrition, mistreatment and deaths in the facilities.

Boko Haram’s attacks have spilled into neighboring countries and displaced more than 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad region, creating a vast humanitarian crisis. Some fighters have allied with the Islamic State group. The group provoked international outrage by kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls, known as the Chibok girls, in April 2014.

In northern Cameroon, nearly 60 men who said they were captured by Boko Haram and forced to fight for them in Nigeria surrendered to authorities.

After spending two years with Boko Haram, the men decided to flee with their families and hand themselves in, according to several men who had surrendered and spoke to journalists at a ceremony in the town of Mozogo on Friday.

A total of nearly 400 people originally from Cameroon – 58 men, 86 women and 244 children – said they had been taken hostage by Boko Haram fighters during attacks on their villages and taken to Nigeria, where they were forced to join the jihadist group.

The men told reporters they had fought for Boko Haram and were laying down their arms of their own will. They surrendered at the border with Nigeria to a village vigilante group formed to combat the jihadists. The vigilantes then handed them over to the authorities.


Queueing all day for a three-minute call: reuniting families torn apart by Boko Haram
Read more
Ousmane Kouila, the head of the vigilante group, said they had been out on patrol in the border area when they met the fleeing Boko Haram fighters. “They said they were returning and that they were surrendering,” he said.

The local governor went to meet them and ordered them to be moved away from the border to avoid any reprisals by Boko Haram.

“We are counting on them to also convince others who are hesitating (to surrender) and there are a lot of them, they tell us,” said Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of the Far North region.

Authorities would provide the escapees with psychological help, he said.

“They have been through brainwashing, perhaps also having taken an oath on the Qur’an or made a blood pact,” the governor said, adding they needed help with “all they must have endured” at the hands of Boko Haram.

While Nigeria’s military has arrested many top Boko Haram fighters and last year declared the extremist group had been “crushed”, its leader Abubakar Shekau remains elusive. The group in recent months has carried out a growing number of deadly suicide bombings and other attacks, many carried out by women or children.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... in-nigeria


No one can figure out why Trump banned Chad
Officials and experts alike are puzzled at the country's inclusion in Muslim Ban 3.0.
E.A. CRUNDEN
SEP 27, 2017, 4:59 PM

The latest version of President Donald Trump’s travel ban has sparked confusion from officials and residents of Chad, many of whom are baffled at the country’s inclusion on the list.

Chad, a central African nation that has enjoyed a mostly positive relationship with Western allies like the United States, was by many accounts taken aback Sunday night when the ban was announced. In its original form, the ban targeted refugees and residents from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Yemen. Iraq was later removed from the ban’s second version, following outcry. That version of the ban, weighed down by legal action and lawsuits, expired Sunday, something the Trump administration prepared for, dropping a new version before the day’s end.


That new ban is arguably far more severe than its predecessor, which was a 90-day suspension. Instead, the updated version is indefinite. It has also altered its scope — Sudan is now off the list, but citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia are still banned, as are citizens of Chad and North Korea. Venezuelan government officials and their families are also included.

Trump’s original ban was widely referred to as a Muslim ban because of the nations it targeted. Adding North Korea, an atheist state, and Chad, where only slightly more than half the population practices Islam, as well as Venezuelan officials, has been largely seen as an effort to increase the new ban’s legal odds. But that decision has unleashed a new cycle of criticism and questions. Pointing to North Korea, experts have noted that the few people able to escape the country’s authoritarian regime will now be barred entry to the United States. Then there’s Chad.

“Chad is totally puzzled and baffled by President Trump’s decision to slap this ban on Chadian nationals,” journalist Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reported for NPR. “Chad is not happy, because it feels that it has done its utmost in the fight against terrorism.”

Chad, a very large and poor country rarely mentioned in international politics, has long been praised for its efforts to counter extremism, as well as its interest in working with countries like the United States. The nation’s geographic location puts it near prominent militant hubs, including Nigeria, where Boko Haram is based. But that proximity hasn’t translated to much — of Boko Haram’s 120 attacks in 2016, only four were in Chad. Another group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, also has a small presence in Chad, but a far larger one in nearby Mali.

But militancy within Chad’s borders hasn’t impacted U.S.-Chad relations much before now. Washington and N’Djamena enjoy regular communications and U.S. military personnel are a frequent presence in the country, largely because of its regional proximity to nations with larger extremism struggles, as much as because of its friendly relationship with the United States. Moreover, the rule of Idriss Déby, Chad’s authoritarian leader, has arguably gone mostly unquestioned by Washington in large part because of the country’s willingness to collaborate on counterextremism efforts.


But that relationship doesn’t seem to have spared Chad from the ban. In a statement released by the White House, Chad was praised for “an important and valuable counterterrorism partner” and lauded for its efforts in fighting extremism. But that same statement later chastised the country, saying it “does not adequately share public safety and terrorism related information.” That contradiction is one baffling experts.

“It’s a head-scratcher and also strange for diplomatic reasons,” Michael Shurkin, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, told NBC. “In terms of security, Chad is actually relatively capable.”

Chadian officials have been emphasizing that fact, pointing to the country’s history of cooperation and compliance.

“The Chadian Government expresses its incomprehension in the face of the official reasons behind this decision,” a statement read. “Reasons that contrast with the efforts and the ongoing commitments of Chad in the fight against terrorism.”

Chadian civilians themselves also greeted the news with alarm as much as shock. “The reaction has been astonishment and then indignation,” said Nour Ibedou, director of the Chadian Human Rights Association. “We do not understand how our country achieved this lack of trust from the United States.”

Citizens of Chad are arguably in agreement with a number of U.S. officials. Numerous figures in both the State Department and Pentagon reportedly objected to the addition, said to have been suggested by acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine C. Duke. According to the New York Times, a number of diplomats and administration officials cautioned that the move would hurt U.S. interests, unraveling years of work spent building close ties. But Trump’s senior policy advisor Stephen Miller reportedly supported the addition — culminating in Chad being added to the ban. (Miller, along with former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, also overruled State Department and Homeland Security guidance on the first version of the ban, claiming that green card holders from the targeted countries should also be banned from the United States.)

The internal debate over adding Chad is one officials have acknowledged.

“That list is not fixed,” Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said on Monday. “On Chad, there was a real debate.”

The African Union Commission (AUC) panned the decision, releasing a statement condemning Chad’s addition and advocating for its removal (Chad is notably leading the AUC this year.) But while regional officials work to push back on the ban, Chadians themselves are seeking answers — something they’re unlikely to get.


“It’s bewildering,” human rights lawyer Reed Brody told the Atlantic. “I’ve been trying to explain to Chadians that there’s no reason.”
https://thinkprogress.org/no-one-can-fi ... 41e8b23da/


Travel ban's inclusion of Chad is senseless
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/c ... -senseless


Trying, and Failing, to Make Sense of Chad’s Inclusion on Trump’s Travel Ban
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/tre ... travel-ban


Why Is Chad in Trump’s New Travel Ban?
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/25/why ... ravel-ban/



Trump’s travel ban on Chad makes absolutely no sense
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... 2f8c67af35


Pentagon, State officials opposed Trump's decision to include Chad in travel ban: report
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... de-chad-in
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:32 pm

dehumanize is the word of the day

he never mentioned her name



“I was stunned,” he continued. "Stunned when I watched him dehumanize her and very deliberately continued to dehumanize her and refuse to give her the dignity of a name and call her an empty barrel. He went out if his way to do it.”



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6_p7hwUl3o


Lawrence O'Donnell Dismantles John Kelly's Disgraceful New Defense of Donald Trump
The MSNBC host was beside himself after Thursday's press conference.
By Tom Boggioni / Raw Story October 20, 2017, 8:08 AM GMT


Late Thursday night, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell brought the hammer down on White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for attacking a black lawmaker from Florida who has been standing up for the family of a fallen soldier.

In the nearly 20 minute attack on Kelly, the MSNBC host excoriated President Donald Trump’s chief of staff for calling Rep. Frederika Wilson (D-FL) an ’empty barrel,” while at the same time praising Trump for his bravery.

Noting that Kelly was providing cover for Trump’s botched phone call to the widow of a soldier killed in Niger, O’Donnell pointed out that Kelly showed empathy for the family of a military family he couldn’t bring himself to say anything good about a congresswoman who was consoling a constituent.

‘He showed no empathy at all for her,” O’Donnell explained. “he talked about her a lot. He talked about her more than he talked about the president or his sons. And he never mentioned her name. He called her an ’empty barrel.’ He dehumanized her. In fact, from start to finish, John Kelly’s comments in the briefing room today were essentially a lecture about his moral superiority over her and Donald Trump’s moral superiority over her.”

“I was stunned,” he continued. "Stunned when I watched him dehumanize her and very deliberately continued to dehumanize her and refuse to give her the dignity of a name and call her an empty barrel. He went out if his way to do it.”

O’Donnell then turned his focus on Trump, all but calling him a coward after Kelly stated the president was “brave”.

“There are many words you can use for President Trump,” the MSNBC host asserted. “The word brave has absolutely no application in the same sentence with the word ‘Trump.’ And it dishonors any other use of the word brave that you might like to make if you use that word to describe Donald Trump.”

“It was especially stunning coming from a military man who knows what brave is,” he lectured. “Coming from a military man who has lived that bravery himself — has risked his won life. Whose sons have served and lived that bravery. It was especially stunning for that word about Donald Trump — ‘brave.'”

You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
https://www.alternet.org/media/lawrence ... nald-trump



Does John Kelly Have Even an Ounce of Shame?
The White House attacks a congresswoman—and proves he's as devoid of empathy as his boss.
By Heather Digby Parton / Salon October 20, 2017, 8:40 AM GMT


Ever since Donald Trump was asked about his curious delay in commenting on the deaths of four servicemen in Niger and, instead of answering, began to brag about how he was the only president to call all the families of fallen soldiers, this ugly story has been festering. Once again, Trump's reflexive self-aggrandizement to cover up for his failures has gotten him into trouble.

First of all, other presidents have of course called families of the fallen and have made many other gestures of sympathy and care. It was a low blow to try to tar his predecessors as failing to honor the war dead. Needless to say, the moment he made the claim that he alone called all the families, reporters went out and started asking and it turned out he hadn't done that either.

After making that ignoble boast, Trump went on a radio show and said that someone should ask John Kelly, the former Marine general who is now his chief of staff, whether President Obama had called him after his son was killed in Afghanistan, which obviously meant that was where he'd heard that Obama fell down on the job. The White House later confirmed this.

Evidently, this spurred Trump to finally call Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of the soldiers killed in Niger, while she was on the way to meet the coffin at the airport. He behaved like a boor because he doesn't know how to act any other way. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who was accompanying the family to carry out this terrible duty, complained publicly about Trump's insensitive comments which the fallen soldier's mother confirmed. Instead of taking the mature and dignified course and simply apologizing for being inartful with his words, President Trump called everyone a liar and sent out one of "his generals" to clean up his mess.

Kelly has a distinguished record in the Marine Corps and is himself a Gold Star father who lost a son in Afghanistan. I don't think anyone in the country disrespects either of those things. But he is no longer in uniform and has willingly become a partisan political player working for a contemptible leader. When he decided to use his stature and experience to bail out his boss for making a hash of what he calls a sacred issue on Thursday, he sold his own reputation cheaply.

He went before the press and confirmed that Obama hadn't called him, but said he didn't see this as a negative thing. He wondered how any president can properly express himself if he's never been through the ordeal of losing a child, trying to elicit sympathy for poor Donald Trump and the burden he bears. But most presidents read a book or two about former administrations, they reach out to the living ex-presidents for insight or they just generally give a damn about aspects of the job other than holding rallies and watching "Fox & Friends." But this is Trump: He doesn't read and he doesn't ask for or take advice. He's not like any other president in our history.

After delivering what seemed to be a sincere disquisition on the way members of the military and their families face this tragedy, Kelly abruptly went on the attack, accusing everyone but his boss of lowering the discourse and destroying everything that's traditionally sacred in our society.

Kelly said that women were formerly considered sacred and implied that Khizr and Ghazala Khan and his wife had degraded the sacredness of the Gold Star family by appearing at the Democratic convention, conveniently ignoring the fact that the man he's working for is an admitted sexual predator who mercilessly attacked that Gold Star family. (He didn't mention that POWs used to be held sacred as well, or that his boss says he "prefers people who aren't captured.") He angrily decried the politicization of the war dead, although it was his own boss who politicized a simple question about a military mission that nobody wants to talk about by attacking his predecessors' approach to dealing with this sacred duty.

Then Kelly went for the jugular and brutally attacked Rep. Wilson for "eavesdropping" on the conversation between the president and Sgt. Johnson's wife. Apparently he hadn't bothered to read anything about the incident or he would have known that the call was on a speakerphone in the car and the exchange was confirmed by others who heard it. Had he looked into it, he would also have found out that Wilson, a former educator, is a good friend of the family and ran a program Johnson attended called the 5,000 Role Models of Excellence Project, for youths pursuing military careers.

Not that any of that matters. It was apparently decided in the White House ahead of time that the best way to protect the boss was to smear Rep. Wilson. Kelly carried out the order with relish, even though its premise was a lie.

Just like his boss, the president, Kelly never once uttered the name of Sgt. La David Johnson or his pregnant widow, Myeshia.
Much of the mainstream press was predictably breathless over Kelly's forceful performance. Interestingly, many of the military commentators were not as impressed, correctly observing that it was Trump and Kelly who were politicizing the fallen. And the president just kept going:


Chuck Todd said on "Meet the Press Daily" that people heard what they wanted to hear from the reports of Trump's calls, suggesting that if you liked Trump you understood his reported comment, "He knew what he signed up for," as a sign of empathy and caring. I have no doubt that's true. His fans always give him the benefit of the doubt. For the rest of us it's not that simple, since Trump is a compulsive liar who has never shown empathy toward anyone but himself. As George W. Bush famously said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me ... won't get fooled again."
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-polit ... unce-shame


Donald Trump’s obsessive hatred of President Obama is what led to his Niger scandal being exposed
Bill Palmer
Updated: 11:49 pm EDT Thu Oct 19, 2017
Home » Opinion

Donald Trump has spent his time in office obsessively worried that history will judge him to have been less popular and less successful than his predecessor, President Obama. Trump has lied about Obama constantly, while working to sabotage Obama’s most important accomplishments, out of pure jealous spite. Now it turns out Trump’s obsessive hatred of Obama has directly led to his Niger scandal being exposed – and could lead to his ouster from office.


Trouble was brewing for Trump when the media figured out this week that he never did call the families of the four U.S. soldiers who died in Niger two weeks ago. But all he had to do was offer some arbitrary excuse for the delay, and assure everyone that he would be making the calls soon. Instead, Trump made up a bizarre lie in which he accused President Obama of never calling the families of fallen soldiers. The media immediately called him out on this, and he seemed to realize he’d screwed up, because he quickly began walking it back and claiming he’d simply “heard” it somewhere. But the damage was done.


Suddenly, the storyline shifted from the usual “Trump is lazily not bothering to do the job” narrative to the much more controversial “Trump lied about how former U.S. Presidents handled the deaths of U.S. soldiers.” It instantly became a huge headline-grabbing scandal, all because Trump had randomly tried to blame it all on Obama. This pushed the failed U.S. military op in Niger from back page news, where it had been for two weeks, to the front page. Now the important questions are being asked about just what Trump had the military doing in Niger to begin with.


Those answers are likely going to center around Niger’s recent military partnership with Russia, the impact of Trump’s Muslim ban on Chad’s willingness to fight alongside the U.S. in Niger, and Trump’s Secretary of Education’s brother’s private military contracting company. It’s going to be profoundly ugly – and it’s all going to come out because Trump just had to throw in a random dishonest dig at President Obama.
http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/oba ... rump/5610/


Video Shows Wilson Didn’t Brag About Funding FBI Building, As Kelly Claimed


By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published OCTOBER 20, 2017 12:15 PM
A video of Rep. Frederica Wilson’s (D-FL) speech at a 2015 FBI building dedication ceremony, taken by the Sun Sentinel newspaper and resurfaced on Friday, shows that the congresswoman did not brag about securing the funding for the building as White House Chief of Staff John Kelly claimed she had.

Kelly joined the White House press briefing Thursday to defend President Trump’s call to the widow of a fallen U.S. soldier who was close to Wilson. In defending Trump’s comments to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, which Wilson said were hurtful, Kelly criticized the congresswoman for being present for the call and then speaking out about it.

He also brought up a speech Wilson gave in 2015 for the FBI building dedication, claiming that she bragged about how she “got the money” for the building and calling her an “empty barrel.”

Wilson called Kelly’s description of her speech a “lie,” noting that funding for the building had been secured before she ever took office and that she only helped to pass legislation naming the building after two slain FBI agents. The video from the Sun Sentinel appears to support Wilson’s version of events.

In the speech, Wilson describes how she and congressional leaders worked together to pass legislation to name the FBI building, after the starting the process just four weeks prior to the dedication ceremony at the agency’s request. She said it was a “miracle” that the bill passed both chambers and was signed by President Barack Obama in time.

She said that her effort and that of her colleagues who also pushed for the bill “speaks to the respect that our Congress has for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the men and women who put their lives on the line every single day.”

She then honored FBI agents gathered in the room, as well as the two special agents who died in a gunfight in 1986, Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, for whom the new building was named.

“We are proud of their sacrifice, the sacrifice for our nation. It is only fitting that their names be placed on the same mantel as the FBI,” she said in the speech.

Despite the release of the video, the White House stood by Kelly’s criticism of Wilson’s speech, again calling her an “empty barrel.”

“Gen. Kelly said he was ‘stunned’ that Rep. Wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents about her own actions in Congress, including lobbying former President Obama on legislation. As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you’re able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes about yourself, you’re an empty barrel,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Wilson did not note in the speech that she lobbied Obama. She only said that he signed the bill quickly.

After the Sun Sentinel released the video, Wilson touted on Twitter the “proof” for her account of the FBI building dedication speech.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/v ... fbi-speech
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 20, 2017 6:13 pm

We were told today by the press secretary we have no right to question a general

This is of course unconstitutional

This is not a dictatorship......yet

Pick up the phone Kelly...apologize ...you LIED about a congresswoman ...set the record straight


Niger Ambush Came After ‘Massive Intelligence Failure,’ Source Says
by KEN DILANIAN and COURTNEY KUBE


WASHINGTON — A senior congressional aide who has been briefed on the deaths of four U.S. servicemen in Niger says the ambush by militants stemmed in part from a "massive intelligence failure."

The Pentagon has said that 40 to 50 militants ambushed a 12-man U.S. force in Niger on Oct. 4, killing four and wounding two. The U.S. patrol was seen as routine and had been carried out nearly 30 times in the six months before the attack, the Pentagon has reported.

Play Formal Investigation Launched in Deadly Niger Attack Facebook TwitterEmbed
Formal Investigation Launched in Deadly Niger Attack 1:56
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly, said the House and Senate armed services committees have questions about the scope of the U.S. mission in Niger, and whether the Pentagon is properly supporting the troops on the ground there.

There was no U.S. overhead surveillance of the mission, he said, and no American quick-reaction force available to rescue the troops if things went wrong. If it wasn't for the arrival of French fighter jets, he said, things could have been much worse for the Americans.

Congress also has many unanswered questions about what happened, he said, including about the specifics of the mission that day and the accounts lawmakers have been given about the timeline of the attack and rescue.

The aide said questions are being asked about whether the U.S. soldiers were intentionally delayed in the village they were visiting. He said they began pursuing some men on motorcycles, who lured them into a complex ambush. The enemy force had "technical" vehicles — light, improvised military vehicles — and rocket-propelled grenades, the official said.

After the rescue when it became clear that one soldier was missing, "movements and actions to try and find him and bring him back were considered. They just were not postured properly [to get him]." The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was not recovered until nearly 48 hours after the Oct. 4 attack..

Earlier this week, McCain said the committee had not been provided with the information about the Niger mission that it "deserves."

Pentagon officials say operations in the region have already "tightened up" and there's been an operational "pause" while the U.S. military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) assesses the situation. U.S. officials believe the attack was carried out by a local terror group that claims association with ISIS.

Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of AFRICOM since 2016, told Congress in March that only 20 to 30 percent of AFRICOM's needs for "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance" flights were being met. The Marine Corps general said there weren't enough helicopters to find wounded or dead soldiers, and that African partners weren't able to help with recovery missions.

"For personnel recovery," he said, "Africa Command relies heavily on contract search and rescue assets."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/africa/sou ... re-n812626




Pentagon investigating troubling questions after deadly Niger ambush

W.J. Hennigan and Brian Bennett
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, troubled by a lack of information two weeks after an ambush on a special operations patrol in Niger left four U.S. soldiers dead, is demanding a timeline of what is known about the attack, as a team of investigators sent to West Africa begins its work.

The growing list of unanswered questions and inability to construct a precise account of the Oct. 4 incident have exacerbated a public relations nightmare for the White House, which is embroiled in controversy over President Trump’s belated and seemingly clumsy response this week to console grieving military families.

“We need to find out what happened and why,” White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, whose son was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

At the Pentagon, Mattis suggested to reporters that he would say little pending results of the investigation. “We at the Department of Defense like to know what we’re talking about before we talk," he said. "And so we don't have all the accurate information yet. We will release it as rapidly as we get it."

The attack, apparently carried out by militants affiliated with Islamic State, was the deadliest since Trump took office, yet the U.S. military’s Africa Command still does not have a clear “story board” of facts that commanders usually gather swiftly after deadly incidents. That has senior Pentagon officials and lawmakers suggesting incompetence.

The questions arising from the incident, particularly about the availability of additional military support to the patrol, echo those raised in the aftermath of the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four people: U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, foreign service information officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Thursday that getting to the bottom of what happened may require subpoenas.

“That's why we're called the Senate Armed Services Committee,” he said. “It's because we have oversight of our military. So we deserve to have all the information."

Trump’s national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, at an event hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, said the Pentagon will have “authoritative, definitive answers” to questions such as whether an intelligence failure contributed to the ambush and why the body of one soldier initially was left behind.

But the investigation will take time, he said. “There is a period of time where there is always ambiguity here in Washington to what is going on halfway down the world,” McMaster said, adding that there are no military missions that are “risk free.”

A team of investigators, led by a one-star general, is working to clear up the confusion of what occurred before, during and after the mission. For instance, Sgt. La David T. Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Fla., was initially unaccounted for and his body wasn't found until after an intense two-day search, and then by Nigerien villagers.

Also killed were Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Wash.; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Ga.

For months before the ambush, the U.S. military had requested more drones or other surveillance aircraft in Niger and additional military medical support, but those requests met resistance from the U.S. ambassador to the country, who was reluctant to increase the American presence in the country, according to a U.S. official briefed on the attack.

The Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, otherwise known as an “A-Team,” increasingly had been operating in remote areas far from command support, the official said. Green Beret-led patrols had visited the area along the Mali-Niger border 29 times in the last six months. Islamic State and Al Qaeda operate there, exploiting divisions within local tribal forces in the region.

U.S. military officials also are looking into the possibility that French forces were attacked in the same area in previous days, but that information may not have been relayed to the A-Team.

More details about the deadly firefight are coming to light as the Army moves forward with its formal investigation. The military now considers the ambush to have been a well-planned and coordinated series of two successive attacks on the Special Forces A-Team attached to Nigerien forces.

The A-Team had been able to fend off the first ambush but was attacked again while trying to retreat deeper into Niger, the official said.

It was in the chaos of the second attack that the unit may have lost track of Johnson and initially members were unable to confirm he had been killed in the assault. French attack helicopters and jets responded during the second ambush, successfully killing and pushing away the gunmen, allowing the remaining members of the U.S. and Nigerien force to escape.

Without the French air response, the military is concerned the entire unit could have been killed. Two American soldiers were wounded, and four Nigerien soldiers were also killed in the attack, and eight wounded.

The unit was driving in light unarmored vehicles that are sometimes preferred by Special Forces units for maneuverability and speed. Given the sophistication of the attack, U.S. military officials believe Islamic State may have played a role in helping plan the attack.

Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of U.S. Africa Command, documented to Congress in March his forces’ lack of needed resources on the continent. He said about 20% to 30% of requirements for “intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance” flights were being met, and complained there weren’t enough military helicopters to help locate missing, wounded, or killed service members.

“For personnel recovery, Africa Command relies heavily on contract search and rescue assets due to lack of dedicated assets to support operations,” Waldhauser said. “Furthermore, African partners lack the capability and capacity to assist with personnel recovery missions.”
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-fg-t ... y,amp.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:26 pm

trump's 4 star general...chief of staff is a fucking LIAR


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsom_S9yF9g

Image

At a 2015 dedication of an FBI building in Florida, Rep. Frederica Wilson "stood up there ... and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call he gave the money -- the $20 million -- to build the building. And she sat down."
— John Kelly on Thursday, October 19th, 2017 in a White House briefing


Fact-checking John Kelly on Frederica Wilson's 2015 speech

By Louis Jacobson on Friday, October 20th, 2017 at 4:27 p.m.

Video undermines White House attack on Rep. Wilson over condolence calls

We took a closer look at whether White House Chief of Staff John Kelly accurately described a 2015 speech by Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla.
The White House continues to criticize U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., for publicizing a private phone call by President Donald Trump to the family of a slain servicemember.

Wilson, a family friend, had been listening to the call from Trump in which he allegedly said Sgt. La David Johnson "knew what he signed up for … but when it happens it hurts anyway."

Johnson was killed in an Oct. 4 ambush in the west African nation of Niger. After the call, Wilson told the Miami Herald, "I think it’s so insensitive. It’s crazy. Why do you need to say that? You don’t say that to someone who lost family, the father, the breadwinner. You can say, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss. He’s a hero.’ "

A few days later, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly appeared behind the press room podium on Oct. 19 to offer the White House’s perspective on the call. In closing, he zeroed in on Wilson for criticism, citing the 2015 dedication of an FBI building in South Florida.

Here are his comments in full, the emphasis is ours:

"I was still on active duty, and I went to the dedication of the new FBI field office in Miami. And it was dedicated to two men who were killed in a firefight in Miami against drug traffickers in 1986. … Jim Comey gave an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men and to all of the men and women of the FBI who serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well. There were family members there. Some of the children that were there were three or four years old when their dads were killed on that street in Miami-Dade. Three of the men that survived the fight were there, and gave a rendition of how brave those men were and how they gave their lives.

"And a congresswoman stood up, and in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there and all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call he gave the money -- the $20 million -- to build the building. And she sat down, and we were stunned. Stunned that she had done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned. But, you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. None of us stood up and were appalled. We just said, okay, fine."

Wilson responded by saying Kelly wasn’t telling the truth.

"That’s a lie. How dare he," Wilson said on CNN.

Luckily, a video can help settle this specific back-and-forth.

A video unearthed by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel of the April 10, 2015, event preserved Wilson’s speech. While it does portray Wilson speaking animatedly and indulging in some braggadocio -- she is known as a colorful, outspoken politician with a soft spot for fashionable hats -- Kelly mischaracterized her remarks in significant ways.

The effort she bragged about was initially requested by the FBI itself, and her actions were made in service of honoring the memory of the two slain agents. She also shared the credit, saying it could not have been accomplished without the help of her Republican colleagues, including then-House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

Perhaps most notable, the video doesn’t show Wilson boasting about securing money for the building, which had been obtained before she was even in Congress.

The video shows Wilson telling the audience that shortly before the dedication of a new FBI building in Miramar, Fla., the FBI approached her to see whether she could help name the building after FBI agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, who were killed during a 1986 shootout with bank robbers south of Miami. Naming federal buildings is typically a responsibility of Congress.

"The ribbon-cutting has been scheduled in four short weeks," Wilson recalled being told. "The dedication is on the government’s calendar and cannot be changed. One problem: The FBI wants to name this gorgeous edifice at the same time, in four weeks. Everyone said that’s impossible -- it takes at least eight months to a year to complete the process, through the House, the Senate and to the president’s office.

"I said, I’m a school principal and I said, excuse my French, ‘Oh, hell no!’ We’re gonna get this done. Immediately I went to attack mode. I went to the Speaker, Speaker Boehner, and I said, "Mr. Speaker, I need your help. The FBI needs your help, and our country needs your help and we have no time to waste.’ (Boehner) went into attack mode, and in two days pulled it out of committee, brought it to the floor for a vote."

At that point, Wilson said, she "dashed it over to the Senate," where Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio helped get it to the floor in two days. "And guess what? The president signed the bill into law this past Tuesday, April 7, 2015, with a bang, bang, bang."

Wilson did not mention anything about securing funding for the building, nor did she brag about using her influence with Obama.

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Wilson called "crazy" Kelly’s notion that she claimed she had gotten the money. "That building was funded long before I got to Congress. I didn’t say that. I have staff, people who write the speeches. You can’t say that."

The Herald reported that the General Services Administration "had already bid out a $144 million construction contract for the project in September 2010, just a few months before Wilson won her congressional seat. The bidding for federal projects takes place after Congress has secured the funding."

The Herald also reported that the 380,000-square-foot pair of glass towers cost $194 million to build, much higher than the $20 million figure Kelly had mentioned.

In reality, most of Wilson’s speech consisted of praise for the FBI and the slain agents.

The quick action on the naming "speaks to the respect that our Congress has for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the men and women who put their lives on the line every single day," Wilson said. "And today we’re providing a boost to our nation by naming this fantastic building in honor of Special Agent Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, who died valiantly … in what is still considered the bloodiest gun battle in the storied history of the FBI."

She then urged everyone in law enforcement and first responders to stand up so the audience could applaud. "Stand up! We are proud of you," she said.

Wilson then spent several moments specifically praising agents Grogan and Dove and telling their story. She continued, "Today, it is our patriotic duty to lift up Special Agent Benjamin Brogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove from the street in South Florida and place their names and pictures high, where the world will know that we are proud of their sacrifice, their sacrifice for our nation."

Wilson concluded, "It is only fitting that their names should be placed on the same mantle with the letters ‘FBI,’ because special agents Brogan and Dove embody the sacred motto for which the agency has become known. Please repeat it after me: Fidelity, bravery, and integrity. God bless you, God bless the FBI, and God bless America."

Just hours after the Sun-Sentinel posted the video, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House was standing by Kelly’s characterization of Wilson’s remarks.

A reporter at the daily White House briefing asked, "Does Gen. Kelly still stand by the statement he made yesterday that he felt (Wilson) was grandstanding and that she was taking credit for funding?"

Huckabee Sanders responded, "Absolutely. Gen Kelly said he was stunned that Rep. Wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents about her own actions in Congress, including lobbying former President Obama on legislation. As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you’re able to make a sacred act honoring American heroes all about yourself, you’re an empty barrel."

When asked whether she had seen the Sun-Sentinel video, Huckabee Sanders said she had, and that it didn’t change her view.

Wilson "also had quite a few comments that day that weren’t part of that speech and weren’t part of that video that were witnessed by many people that were there," Huckabee Sanders said.

However, she declined to provide supporting evidence for that claim. When PolitiFact inquired with the White House, they did not provide any additional information.

Our ruling
Kelly said that Wilson "stood up there ... and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call he gave the money -- the $20 million -- to build the building. And she sat down."

However, in her speech, Wilson didn’t mention funding for the building, much less claim credit for it or tell the audience how she leveraged influence with Obama to secure it.

Wilson did describe how she helped secure legislation to name the building for two slain agents, but Kelly’s description leaves out that the FBI pressed her to make that effort and that she shared credit with several other lawmakers, including the Republican House speaker and Florida’s Republican senator. Wilson also spoke at some length about the bravery of the slain agents and the FBI in general.

We rate Kelly’s statement False.



It's not the first time Kelly has used the phrase. In September, he attributed the quote "empty barrels make the most noise" to his "blessed mother" after Illinois Democrat Representative Luis Gutiérrez called him a "disgrace to the uniform" for supporting the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.


Lawrence O'Donnell.....

Says "Empty Barrel" is an old school Boston racist terms for blacks that was only used in the city of Boston by poor Irish people.

- Says that he and John Kelly grew up in the same type of Irish Catholic Boston neighborhoods, so he knows this to be true PERSONALLY, because he heard it all the time.

- Says that every time he called Congresswoman Washington "Empty Barrel" is was to demean her like back in the old days.



Malcolm Nance Retweeted
Adam Khan‏ @Khanoisseur 6h6 hours ago
More
Adam Khan Retweeted ABC News Politics
Someone’s been thumbing through “Military Dictatorships for Dummies”



LA Times reports the US military in Niger had asked for more military resources before ambush but never came
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-fg-t ... story.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Sat Oct 21, 2017 8:30 am

What the Hell Happened in Niger?

Rumors are swirling over what took place in the final hours before four U.S. servicemen died—but a clear picture of what actually took place is only beginning to emerge.

Image
A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Army Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on October 5, 2017. U.S. Air Force
SIOBHÁN O'GRADY 5:17 PM ET GLOBAL


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On October 4, a small group of U.S. troops were preparing to leave a meeting with community leaders near the small town of Tongo Tongo in Niger. They were close to the Malian border, traveling in unarmored pick-up trucks with limited weaponry and a few dozen of their Nigerien counterparts. Then they were ambushed.

By the time the more than 30-minute assault was over, three U.S. troops were confirmed dead and two more were gravely injured. Another, Sergeant La David Johnson, was missing and his body would not be recovered for another two days. French aircraft, called in for back-up, circled overhead as fire was exchanged below. They later helped to evacuate survivors.

This account, based on public statements from the Trump administration, interviews with U.S. Africa Command officials; former State Department and intelligence officials; and the man who almost served as the senior director for Africa on the National Security Council, along with additional reporting from other news outlets like CNN and The Washington Post, suggests a direct link between the fatal ambush and the absence of a clear strategy or perhaps even a cursory understanding of U.S. operations in Africa by the Trump administration.

This is the backdrop against which a series of difficult questions emerges. There is deep confusion over exactly what went wrong, including why U.S. troops were traveling in unarmored vehicles, how Johnson was separated from the group, how he died, and why it took so long to find him. As public scrutiny of the incident intensifies, so too do the many stories about what may have taken place. On social platforms like Twitter, people are sharing graphic details about the troops’ final, brutal hours. But there’s little clarity, and certainly sparse information from public officials about what actually happened.

An offshoot of the Islamic State has been named as a potential suspect in the attack, during which roughly 50 terrorists are believed to have assaulted the troops with grenades and machine guns. The Pentagon launched its own investigation into how the attack took place and why its troops—who were on a joint patrol with troops from Niger—were so unprepared for it. The FBI announced that it would launch its own investigation. Speaking on background, one intelligence expert said the presence of the FBI indicates that the servicemen were not in a combat situation, and that their deaths are being treated as a terrorism case.

The incident seems certain to make it harder for President Donald Trump to avoid discussing U.S. military engagement in Africa, a little-talked-about keystone in the global U.S. war on terrorism. It took the president 12 days to publicly acknowledge the deaths of the four U.S. troops, which he did only after a journalist pressed him on the issue.

The U.S. military has been training soldiers from Niger since the early 2000s. Their aim has largely been to improve the country’s military capacity—to turn them into a force that can not only handle threats like terrorism on its own, but can also eventually train itself. But in recent years, the U.S. footprint in Niger has grown, mainly to meet the threat of extremists spilling into the country from neighboring Mali and Nigeria.

U.S. Africa Command spokesperson Patrick Barnes said in a phone call that the military relationship with Niger grew from trainings to regular rotations of U.S. troops in 2011, as well as “accompanying and assisting” instead of just running short-lived trainings. Now, there are roughly 800 U.S. servicemen and women assigned to Niger, including some special forces. In the northern town of Agadez, for example, Barnes said there are “a few hundred Air Force” personnel, and other Americans assisting in surveillance out of the capital of Niamey. As for this latest incident, he said AFRICOM is “going to let the investigation run its course.”

“In the process of doing that, we'll see if there are things we could have done differently that will help us going forward,” Barnes said.

To a large degree, this part of Africa has served as a backstage for the global theater of America’s war on terrorism. The United States has quietly prepared troops there to handle counterterrorism operations, including against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group that at one point temporarily took hold of northern Mali. Washington has also provided support to Niger and other countries fighting Boko Haram, a Nigeria-based group that has killed tens of thousands of people in the Lake Chad region. The United States now runs surveillance operations out of northern Cameroon to boost that effort.

Matthew Page, a Nigeria expert and former State Department analyst on the Africa desk, said that much of the intelligence community has been “surprised” by how quickly the operations in Niger have expanded over the past few years. That expansion, which Page referred to as “mission creep,” may have even taken some top officials in the Trump administration by surprise when they were forced to grapple with the deaths of the four U.S. servicemen.

The deaths of U.S. troops anywhere would test an administration’s public relations savvy. But the incident in Niger has turned into yet another publicity nightmare for Trump, who failed to even mention the ambush until nearly two weeks after it happened, and then defended the fact he had not yet called the families of the fallen soldiers. Sergeant Johnson was the last casualty to be identified after the ambush. Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, a Democrat, who was reportedly in the car with his pregnant widow when Trump finally did call to express his condolences, claimed that the president’s remarks were insensitive, and that he told her that her husband “knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway.”

Perhaps Trump himself wasn’t quite clear on what Johnson had signed up for in Niger. The president rarely mentions Africa, and continuously delayed high-level Africa appointments within his administration, including the National Security Council’s senior director for Africa. Even now, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs post remains filled by a temporary appointment. Many of the key responsibilities of the administration’s Africa team are now being managed by much more junior staff than would be considered normal in different circumstances, Page said.

“[His administration] probably hasn’t even begun to think through or review or really even know the details of the U.S. military’s footprint in a country like Niger. One could say that they’ve been distracted by other things, but those things are also of their own making,” Page said. “I think what this illustrates backs up what a lot of us have been saying about Trump’s Africa policy, which is that it’s not even really half-baked. There’s no one home when it comes to Africa policy.”

More than two weeks after the attack, the how and why of what happened are largely fuzzy. The Pentagon’s inquiry will try to answer a series of questions, including whether the soldiers were put in unnecessary danger and whether they could have been better armed or prepared for such an encounter. Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters this week “in this specific case, contact [with terrorists] was considered unlikely … But there's a reason we have U.S. Army soldiers there and not the Peace Corps, because we carry guns,” he said. “We do these kinds of campaigns by, with, and through allies. It is often dangerous; we recognize that.”

Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rudy Atallah, the man Trump nearly hired as his National Security Council's’ senior director for Africa, said that Niger is a difficult posting for U.S. service members due to the lack of communication between their camps, the Nigerien military, and the civilians they are purportedly there to help protect. “We don’t have very good intelligence information on what the threat looks like or how it’s growing and [U.S. troops] don’t have the support of local population,” Atallah said. “Our folks don’t spend a lot of time gripping and grinning with the locals, and the locals don’t know what our guys are doing.”

Atallah was hesitant to suggest that the attack on the troops, which came immediately after a meeting with local leaders, was premeditated to specifically target them. While nailing down the motivation behind the assault will be difficult, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if the attackers thought they were only attacking Nigerien troops.

Regardless, the Trump administration’s policymakers may now be forced to reassess the U.S. presence in the Sahel, Page said, although what that reassessment would entail remains unclear. And the U.S. presence, Atallah pointed out, is deeply tied to goings-on in Libya, where ISIS wants to carve out new strongholds. Even if the attack on October 4 was actually carried out by al-Qaeda affiliates and ISIS just happens to be taking credit for it, Trump has made tremendous fanfare about wiping ISIS out wherever it lurks. “Anywhere ISIS goes, he’s gonna go,” Atallah said of Trump. “If these guys are gonna end up in Libya, he’s gonna laser-beam on Libya.”

Trump’s administration seems to be half-blind when it comes to acknowledging the strategic importance of West Africa and the Sahel, especially when it comes to military alliances and the fight against terrorism, experts said. For example, Trump added the nation of Chad to his latest travel ban—a move that is likely to have both surprised and infuriated its government. A U.S. judge has already shot down the ban; U.S. officials later said Chad was added in large part due to its inability to produce adequate passport pages in time for consideration by the Trump administration. Still, the move came at a time when Chad was already withdrawing its troops from the fight against Boko Haram. At a crucial moment, the Trump administration has caused unnecessary friction with Chad, whose military is the strongest in the region.

In the case of Niger, the deaths of four servicemen still seem to be not enough for Trump to offer further transparency or accountability for U.S. military activities in the region.

“This isn’t likely to cause some epiphany about the importance of Africa [in the White House],” Page said. “I don’t think this administration is self-conscious and self-reflective enough. Their worldview is their worldview, and at the end of the day, it’s a light nationalist foreign policy.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... ck/543531/


'This was sophisticated': US official says troops saw warning signs before Niger ambush

David Choi
special forces green berets US Army Green Berets make elevation adjustments during an urban stress-shoot on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. US Army

A senior congressional aide says that a "massive intelligence failure" may have played a role in the Niger ambush that led to the deaths of four US soldiers.
The Defense Department is looking into whether the soldiers were being delayed and lured into an ambush, multiple news outlets reported.
The ambush that resulted in the deaths of four US service members in Niger earlier in October has been attributed in part to a "massive intelligence failure," a senior congressional aide told NBC News.

About 40 to 50 ISIS-affiliated militants reportedly ambushed a 12-person squad of US soldiers, killing three Green Berets and one soldier near the Niger-Mali border. Two others were wounded during the assault.

The operation, meant to establish relations with local leaders, was believed to be low-risk, and was viewed as routine after being conducted about 30 times in recent months.

The aide also said US forces did not have ample overhead surveillance support and no quick-reaction force — an emergency-response team — for the mission. French fighter jets, which reportedly arrived within 30 minutes of the call going out, played a crucial role in the fight, according to the aide.

A diplomat said that French officials were frustrated with the mission, particularly because the US troops had limited intelligence and no contingency plans, Reuters reported.

Although multiple Defense Department offices have launched investigations into the incident, the aide noted that one of the scenarios being looked into was whether the US soldiers were intentionally delayed in the village they were visiting. The aide said that the soldiers were pursuing men on motorcycles, who lured them into the ambush, according to NBC News. There, they were met with rocket-propelled grenades and improvised vehicles outfitted for combat.

US Army Special Forces Niger exercise training Africa A US Army Special Forces weapons sergeant observes a Niger army soldier during marksmanship training as part of Exercise Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger, February 28, 2017. US Army/Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Klutts

Another report suggested that the soldiers were ambushed while walking back to their unarmored vehicles, after their meeting with the village leaders. One senior US intelligence official said to ABC News that US troops detected something was wrong when they saw two motorcycles race out of the village: "Hair on the back of the neck stood up," the senior official said.

The soldiers then felt they were being stalled by the village elder, the official continued. When they were finally leaving, the militants attacked from both sides of the road.

"This was sophisticated," the official said, "Our guys not only got hit hard, but got hit in depth."

When the dust settled, around 21 militants were killed. The militants were later buried at the Malian side of the border, ABC News reported.

"So while this was a tragedy, what's gotten lost is how well our people acquitted themselves," the official continued, "We lost four but at least 21 from their side died."

On Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that although he couldn't give details on the attack, the soldiers had "died in the defense of America."

"This war is getting hot in places where it's cool," Graham said. "The American public needs to get ready for more operations. We're gonna be more aggressive."
http://www.businessinsider.com/niger-am ... on-2017-10


Missing soldier found nearly a mile from Niger ambush, officials say
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/20/politics/ ... index.html




“calm before the storm” October 5th - trump
Special Forces deaths October 4th
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby Burnt Hill » Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:36 am

PufPuf93 wrote:Trump is a nightmare and risk as POTUS, Trump shouldn't be POTUS, and an asshole on so many levels and screwed the pooch on the most recent events in Niger for his own agenda; but the Trump events did not happen in a vacuum.

I can easily hold these two thoughts simultaneous.


PufPuf93 I have to give you some props here.
You have been on target in many threads lately.
I for one appreciate what you have been bringing to RI, thank you.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby Burnt Hill » Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:38 am

And SLaD, as always, keep doing what you do! :hug1: :lovehearts:
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby PufPuf93 » Sat Oct 21, 2017 7:18 pm

Burnt Hill » Sat Oct 21, 2017 8:36 am wrote:
PufPuf93 wrote:Trump is a nightmare and risk as POTUS, Trump shouldn't be POTUS, and an asshole on so many levels and screwed the pooch on the most recent events in Niger for his own agenda; but the Trump events did not happen in a vacuum.

I can easily hold these two thoughts simultaneous.


PufPuf93 I have to give you some props here.
You have been on target in many threads lately.
I for one appreciate what you have been bringing to RI, thank you.


Thank you BH. Feeling warm. :hug1:

I am happy when I have something to say and the energy to say it.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby Spiro C. Thiery » Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:30 am

PufPuf93 » 20 Oct 2017, 17:09 wrote:Note I thanked Thiery before reading subsequent posts (and still do thank Thiery).

I meant to post a brief explanation of how and when we came to have military in Niger.

Trump is a nightmare and risk as POTUS, Trump shouldn't be POTUS, and an asshole on so many levels and screwed the pooch on the most recent events in Niger for his own agenda; but the Trump events did not happen in a vacuum.

I can easily hold these two thoughts simultaneous.


You're welcome and thank you. I grabbed the text and put in down as both a favor and because it thought it important to the topic, i.e. salient to the title of the thread. The fact that the thoughts you present above mirror my own is, I suppose, coincidental, though my motivation identical. Given that RIers almost never respond to my posts or comments, I was surprised to get a reaction, especially one that culminates with:
seemslikeadream » 20 Oct 2017, 15:56 wrote:back from the deliberate diversion to the topic of this thread.... NIGER


I'm not sure, but I guess wanting to know why Niger is another nameless war is a diversion, deliberate at that.
seemslikeadream » 20 Oct 2017, 12:55 wrote:The black guy isn't president any longer

the woman lost the election

the orange hair wonder is in charge now


The above kind of dog-whistle insinuation is more than a deliberate diversion from one's own posted topic. To reemphasize, I think that slad's questions are valid and I can, like PP93 hold simultaneous concerns pertaining to the issue. And to be clear, I don't buy the framing of most of the journalism so far embedded, and that includes the CNN piece I block posted. That is to say, we will not find answers to the machinations of the orange menace until we face unflinchingly why this project in Niger exists in the first place. The first Hill piece slad entered approaches this, but falls back on the tried and true excuse of America as misguided nation of good intentions. I don't buy it. The ostensible battle of whack-a-mole like emergent terror organisations is a big fat ruse.
Seeing the world through rose-colored latex.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:37 am

I admit I over reacted to your post and I apologize but get real here..why stop at your certain point in time...why not go back to Reagan?

How far back do you want to take this conversation?

I'm up for it ..go for it

let's get real

why stop at Obama and Clinton... I don't buy it

just who's a deliberate diversion do you want to talk about?
Last edited by seemslikeadream on Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby Spiro C. Thiery » Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:41 am

seemslikeadream » 4 minutes ago wrote:I admit I over reacted to your post and I apologize but get real here..why stop at your certain point in time...why not go back to Reagan?

How far back do you want to take this conversation?

I'm up for it ..go for it

let's get real

why stop at Obama and Clinton... I don't buy it


I didn't stop at Obama and Clinton. CNN did.
Seeing the world through rose-colored latex.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby seemslikeadream » Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:42 am

just what did YOU post?

what was IMPORTANT to you?

where have YOU stopped?

are we going to discuss history or the present?

France....U.S. government ..hell let's go back to Vietnam!
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Niger another nameless war

Postby Spiro C. Thiery » Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:52 am

seemslikeadream » 3 minutes ago wrote:just what did YOU post?

what was IMPORTANT to you?

where have YOU stopped?


I clearly don't have as much time as you do. Sorry. I seem to detect your having found my initial reply to be of fractional focus. Perhaps a less inundated thread would encourage more contributors with deeper knowledge of the background here. I don't have it, but I know it goes back to at least as far as 2013. I'm sure the roots extend through the Clinton sandwiched in Bush bread, which would indeed implicate Reagan, but I'm not all together convinced he had much agency in these things.
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