Ambushed Oct. 4 on a special mission to find a top Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] or al-Qaeda recruiter in Niger, Sgt. La David Johnson, 29, Sgt. Dustin Wright, 29, Sgt. Bryan Black, 35, and Jeremiah Johnson, 29, fell to a group of 50 terrorists under heavy machine gun fire. Dominating the ambush hit the headlines, has been Johnson’s wife Myeshia, getting help from the mainstream press complaining about President Donald Trump’s lack of empathy. When examined more carefully, Myeshia, like former Gold Star parent Khizir Khan’s brutal criticism of President Donald Trump at last year’s Democratic National Convention, was exploited by the press and Democrats. Instead of getting to the bottom of what happened in Niger, the mainstream press looks content to slam Trump for not saying exactly the right thing expressing his condolences to Johnson’s widow.
On a 12-man mission Oct. 4 with 30 Nigerien troops to get the U.S.’s “top three objectives in Niger,” the team extended its search for more than 24 hours. “They should have been up and back in a day. Because they were up there f—-ing long on a mission that morphed, they were spotted, surveilled and ultimately hit,” said an unnamed U.S. official. Exploiting La David Johnson’s widow to slam Trump, the media shows its true face of today’s tabloid journalism, not finding out what happened. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford confirmed the joint missions with Nigerien forces. En route to a village Tiloa in the north, 85 miles from the capital Niamey, the troop headed back to Niamey, hoping to terminate a high value target from ISIS or al-Qaeda. Near the target area, the team stopped at a village to eat, at the request of their Nigerien counterparts.
When at the village, U.S. soldiers met with a village elder who was “definitely trying to stall them,” according to an unnamed official. When the Special Forces team spotted two motorcyclists near the village, they decided to move on, despite attempts by the village elder to keep them tied up. “He was definitely stalling as long as he could to keep us there,” said a survivor of the ambush. Whether Nigerien troops tipped of ISIS or al-Qaeda fighters is anyone’s guess. A surviving U.S. soldier confessed that the “hair on the back of their necks stood up,” anticipating the ambush. Chasing ISIS or al-Qaeda terrorists in remote parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East is part of the Defense Department’s global war on terror. Democrats and mainstream want to hold Trump to the same standard as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya.
Republicans blamed Hillary for her negligence before 51-year-old Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. Partisan politics held Hillary’s feet to the fire, when she was no more guilty for the terror attack in Benghazi than Trump is in Niger “The guy is a true war hero,” said a survivor Niger attack, referring to Johnson. “I really want his wife and kids to know that,” referring to his heroism engaging the enemy, protecting his troop. Letting the anti-Trump media latch on to Myeshia shows how credentialed news outlets have been politicized in today’s journalism. Reporters should be asking whether or not U.S. Special Forces should be partnering with Nigerien troops, not knowing the extent of terrorist infiltration, something that happened routinely in Afghanistan and Iraq. Getting set up for an ambush looks obvious in hindsight.
When it comes to joint military operations, the U.S. military saw many ambushes in Iraq, where Sunni members of the Iraqi Army held private loyalty to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. While there’s no proof of what happened in Niger, it looks a lot like Iraq, where sabotage was routine in the Iraqi Army. “He was definitely stalling as long as he could to keep us there,” said one of the eight surviving U.S. Special Forces. After some 50 ISIS or al-Qaeda terrorists opened machine gun fire on the 12-man U.S. mission. Dunford admitted the surviving soldiers were rescued by French troops in the area. “The French saved our men. Yes, we lost four. But we would have lost everybody if it weren’t for the French,” Dunford told ABC News. French commandos called in Mirage fighter jets, scrambling the ISIS-al-Qaeda terrorists, then sending it attack helicopters from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
Comparing the Niger operation to Benghazi, the partisan media highlights Trump’s negligence as commander-in-chief. Hunting down ISIS or al-Qaeda terrorists in sub-Saharan Africa is no easy job, when al-Qaeda-affiliated groups like Boko Haram run wild in the lawless countryside. Fixated on a failed mission, the press complained that Sgt. Johnson’s body wasn’t recovered for two days, blaming his eight-man troop from retrieving his body. “Until his death was confirmed, every asset was devoted to recovering him,” said Dunford, refuting the press’s account. “We threw everything we had at it . . . Literally hundreds of people were focused on getting La David back,” confirmed Dunford. Instead of focusing the facts, the media’s content to exploit a grieving widow to take more cheap shots at Trump. No one said counter-terrorism operations would be easy.
