General Faces Questions Over Niger Ambush That Killed Four US Soldiers
by Travis J. Tritten
Mar 3, 2018, 12:01 AM
The U.S. general who led the investigation into the Islamic State-linked ambush last year that killed four soldiers in Niger will testify before the House on Tuesday and could reveal new details on what went wrong with the mission.
The Pentagon is poised to release the findings of the probe by Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head of U.S. Africa Command, and the general is likely to be peppered with questions about the deadly ambush and the military’s advisory missions on the continent when he appears before the House Armed Services Committee.
But the general may still be hampered from sharing details because the timing of the Pentagon’s official release of the investigation is uncertain. It is on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ desk, but the secretary has promised to brief families and Congress before making the findings public.
“There may be a limit on how much [Waldhauser] can talk about that attack next week. We’ll see where we are when the time comes,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the House Armed Services chairman. “It is important to be respectful of the families as far as time but it is also important for us to examine it and other issues related to Africa, especially given the fact that ISIS has been squeezed out of Iraq and Syria and we see the flow of terrorists in especially northern Africa.”
Lawmakers in the House and Senate have warned that battlefield successes in the Middle East are shifting the focus of the global war toward Africa, where the U.S. has been running special operations missions, airstrikes, and assistance missions for years.
President Trump ramped up strikes against Al Shabaab in Somalia beginning last year, but Africa Command has still not drawn the attention or resources of other combatant commands.
“We have very limited resources over this gigantic expanse of territory,” Thornberry said. “My point is there is some real challenges there that we need to examine.”
The Niger ambush pushed the U.S. operations into the spotlight and underscored the risks for troops in Africa. The findings of Waldhauser’s investigation could influence how U.S. forces operate there.
Mattis described the planned rollout of the findings last month.
“The timeline will include the briefings to the families, the briefings to Capitol Hill, and the briefings, then, to everyone else,” Mattis said. “But the families need to know what we found first, and the Congress will be informed, and then we'll bring it out.”
So far, Congress has not been briefed on what was found out about the ambush, which included Green Berets who were traveling with local Nigerien forces on a mission related to a local rebel leader associated with ISIS.
“As far as a formal conclusion for the public and given to us, which they must, no,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, when asked if he has been briefed.
Reed, who just visited Africa, said the U.S. command has already taken steps to better protect troops operating there and is ensuring that adequate evacuation and support is available during missions.
“They have to direct more resources to force protection than they might have before the Niger operation,” he said.
Mar 3, 2018, 12:01 AM
The U.S. general who led the investigation into the Islamic State-linked ambush last year that killed four soldiers in Niger will testify before the House on Tuesday and could reveal new details on what went wrong with the mission.
The Pentagon is poised to release the findings of the probe by Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head of U.S. Africa Command, and the general is likely to be peppered with questions about the deadly ambush and the military’s advisory missions on the continent when he appears before the House Armed Services Committee.
But the general may still be hampered from sharing details because the timing of the Pentagon’s official release of the investigation is uncertain. It is on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ desk, but the secretary has promised to brief families and Congress before making the findings public.
“There may be a limit on how much [Waldhauser] can talk about that attack next week. We’ll see where we are when the time comes,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the House Armed Services chairman. “It is important to be respectful of the families as far as time but it is also important for us to examine it and other issues related to Africa, especially given the fact that ISIS has been squeezed out of Iraq and Syria and we see the flow of terrorists in especially northern Africa.”
Lawmakers in the House and Senate have warned that battlefield successes in the Middle East are shifting the focus of the global war toward Africa, where the U.S. has been running special operations missions, airstrikes, and assistance missions for years.
President Trump ramped up strikes against Al Shabaab in Somalia beginning last year, but Africa Command has still not drawn the attention or resources of other combatant commands.
“We have very limited resources over this gigantic expanse of territory,” Thornberry said. “My point is there is some real challenges there that we need to examine.”
The Niger ambush pushed the U.S. operations into the spotlight and underscored the risks for troops in Africa. The findings of Waldhauser’s investigation could influence how U.S. forces operate there.
Mattis described the planned rollout of the findings last month.
“The timeline will include the briefings to the families, the briefings to Capitol Hill, and the briefings, then, to everyone else,” Mattis said. “But the families need to know what we found first, and the Congress will be informed, and then we'll bring it out.”
So far, Congress has not been briefed on what was found out about the ambush, which included Green Berets who were traveling with local Nigerien forces on a mission related to a local rebel leader associated with ISIS.
“As far as a formal conclusion for the public and given to us, which they must, no,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, when asked if he has been briefed.
Reed, who just visited Africa, said the U.S. command has already taken steps to better protect troops operating there and is ensuring that adequate evacuation and support is available during missions.
“They have to direct more resources to force protection than they might have before the Niger operation,” he said.
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