posted on Nov, 11 2017 @ 10:19 AM
More information is starting to come to light about the ambush on 04 October that left four Americans and ten Nigerien soldiers killed. The Pentagon
and FBI have both sent investigators to Niger to try and figure out what exactly transpired that lead to the ambush and killings, and so far it's
looking like it was a bit of a #show.
Synopsis: the body of Sgt. Johnson was found by villagers nearly a mile from the initial ambush site; his hands were bound and he had a "gaping
wound" in the back of his head. The villagers contacted the Nigerien military in the area, and they (Nigerian military) are the ones that recovered
the remains. Johnson's remains weren't recovered for a full two days until after the others'.
The other three dead Americans were stripped of their equipment and uniform and were found at the initial ambush site.
It appears that the team was using unarmored vehicles and was lightly armed; this is possibly due to a change in mission; there are reports from the
DoD that the mission was simply a reconnaissance mission. The Nigerien military is saying the mission was both a recon mission and an attempt to
capture a militant leader.
The team was supposed to be on a one day mission, but at some point decided to stay out overnight and then continue mission the next day. Nigerien
officials believe this decision gave jihadists (the word they use) the opportunity to surveil the team and coordinate about 50 fighters for the
ambush. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs says
“I think a probably more accurate description than ‘stayed overnight’ was they caught a couple of hours of sleep after the 3rd and before they
completed their mission on the 4th.”
All in all, it's starting to look like an intelligence failure, a command failure, or both.
The Pentagon says they're investigation likely won't be complete until some time after New Year's, so all of this information is coming from either
Nigeriens who are willing to talk, or from anonymous officials familiar with the investigation.
WaPo article
Fox article
Fair warning, both articles mention the "White House response" to the incident, more specifically to the whole phone call debate. That's really not
the point of this thread, though.