Trump sent soldiers on doomed Niger mission while military said they lacked support

[workinclasszero]

Trump sent soldiers on doomed Niger mission while military said they lacked support
Donald Trump sent the four U.S. soldiers who died in Niger on their mission even after the military had warned that they needed more support — support they never received.
By Oliver Willis OCTOBER 20, 2017

The four American soldiers who were slain in Niger were sent into harm’s way on Donald Trump’s orders, even though the military had made clear that there was not adequate support in the area.

The L.A. Times reports that “for months before the ambush” the military had requested the presence of drones, other surveillance aircraft, and additional military medical support to back up operations in the theater of operations.

Those requests were resisted by the U.S. ambassador to Niger, who was “reluctant to increase the American presence in the country.”

The military, acting on orders from Trump, who is the commander in chief of all armed forces, went ahead with the doomed mission.

https://shareblue.com/trump-sent-soldiers-on-doomed-niger-mission-while-military-said-they-lacked-support/

[secondwind]

1. ....

[coolsandy]

2. No, no, no. Remember he turned the Generals loose to do whatever. Lindsay told you, 45 doesn't

micromanage the military like Obama did. We can expect much more activity in Africa and around the world quicker and more cruel than under Obama who hamstring the Generals. They are all now giddy with their loosed reigns.

You know 45 will never put himself in a position to be blamed for anything except all good stuff.

[eShirl]

5. Then he's responsible for what they do with the power he's abdicated to them.

[Hortensis]

3. Why would Rump himself have known about any one mission?

He has only a vague idea at best where Niger is and could care less because it's too poor for a Rump Tower.

These special forces reportedly had been stationed in that particular area for months and had been to the area where they died a number of times without ever being attacked. In any case, whoever planned this particular sortie wouldn't have been POTUS, even if for some reason it needed to be officially authorized by someone at the very top incapable of understanding any situation in depth.

I found very interesting Rachel Maddow's segment on how, immediately after Rump's administration inexplicably put friendly and supportive Chad got on the Muslim ban list, Chad started pulling all its crack troops out of Niger, with immediate rise in terrorist activities, including where our special forces were stationed.

[Scarsdale]

4. Who has the

authority to interrupt tRump when he is "twittering"? Between golfing and twitter, how can he be bothered with these minor skirmishes? Maybe, once he realizes how "bad it is for him" to have to console the families, he will try to limit the activities? What a mess this country is in. It has only taken tRump (with Putin's help) and the gop a matter of months to completely screw up the entire world

[Baitball Blogger]

6. No one sends soldiers into a military hot zone without an exit plan.

If a General did this, they should be stripped of their rank.

[former9thward]

7. The U.S. has been in Niger since 2013.

There are over a 1000 troops there. Why are they there is the question to be asked. They were put there for the endless War on Terror. Yet another failure of that so-called War.