The October 4 ambush along the Niger-Mali border left four US special forces killed, and revealed to the US public and Congress for the first time that some 1,000 US troops were on the ground in Niger. After a month has passed, what else have we learned?
Very little, as it turns out. Niger and the Pentagon continue to offer radically different versions of what happened on that day, as well as the circumstances in which the US troops were left behind in the evacuation, something US officials initially insisted couldn’t have happened.
Nigerien officials say this was an “operational mission,” but one in what was not considered enemy territory, intended to detain a suspected ISIS recruiter. Pentagon officials say none of that happened, and that there was absolutely no intention to kill or capture anybody.
What the Pentagon is saying happened continues to vary day to day, and sometimes hour to hour, but officials continue to insist that he “investigation” into the incident is ongoing, and that a final version will be released in a few weeks. Until then, anything the Pentagon says happened seems to be a wild guess, and subject to revision.
US officials are also saying the size of the deployment in Niger, which went from an unspecified number of US “trainers” to 1,000 combat troops without anyone being informed, is likely to grow further. Whether we’ll hear about that when it happens remains to be seen.
Line them all up for polygraph tests.
Maybe these small forces in unheard of places is a good program . Crack these Islamic extremists before they can takeover and gain such a big force and area with their terrorism . Their method of operation is first kill all the peace loving Muslim that would oppose them . Than hold their power with fear . I watched on national TV 700 ISIS troops in Toyota pickups capture half of Iraq . almost totally unopposed until it took the USA , the Kurds ,Iraqi army , and the Iranian army to stop them . One air plane at the right time could have finished off those pickups .
First we create them and then we kill them. Great plan.
Maybe they were looking for yellowcake like Saddam Hussein.