Trump's Benghazi? Ambush of U.S. soldiers in Niger goes unnoticed
Four dead Americans in Africa: Why hasn’t this act of terror drawn the same feverish scrutiny?
SOPHIA TESFAYE
10.11.2017•4:59 AM
Four dead Americans.
It’s been five years since terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, leaving four Americans dead. Last week, as CIA officers disguised in wigs and mustaches testified in court about the predawn ambush on the diplomatic compound, four other American soldiers were killed in neighboring Niger.
Most Americans may not even be aware that approximately 800 U.S. troops are stationed in Niger, a West African nation where jihadist groups have taken root. As part of the never-ending war on terror, the United States has also set up a drone base in Niger’s capital city of Niamey. Contrary to his focused commitment to reverse every policy put in place by his predecessor, President Donald Trump has decided to carry on with the construction of a second drone base in Niger commissioned by Barack Obama.
American forces have never been sanctioned to an official combat mission in Niger, a landlocked West African nation about twice the size of Texas with a population of just over 20 million people. But they have long been fighting against Islamic extremists in the country and surrounding region. On Oct. 4, four Green Berets were killed and two more injured after their group of a dozen U.S. soldiers were ambushed while conducting a joint patrol with about 40 Nigerien soldiers.
The New York Times reported that when the soldiers were ambushed, no American helicopters came to their rescue. Although Congress has never authorized the mission in Niger -- as is required by the Constitution -- the military’s Africa command asked lawmakers for more help months before the attack, the Times also reported.
It remains unclear which terror group carried out the ambush, but there are reports that a new wing of the Islamic State that calls itself the Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS) had a hand in the deaths of the Special Forces troops -- the first U.S. casualties in Niger.
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https://www.salon.com/2017/10/11/trumps-benghazi-ambush-of-u-s-soldiers-in-niger-goes-unnoticed/
= new reply since forum marked as read
hearings, and hearings, and hearings, and hearings, and hearings, and hearings?
I don't think so. 
