Finally, Niger stories coming out

Whether they're true or not, who knows? But let's have a look at what ABC is saying was told to them by "a survivor of the attack and a senior U.S. intelligence official."

Their accounts, provided in separate interviews, raise questions about why a second, potentially more dangerous mission was tacked on late in the day even after a second team that was supposed to join them was unable to do so.

What was started as a reconnaissance mission to meet with local leaders turned into a kill-or-capture mission aimed at a high-value target, according to both sources.

  ABC

Did Dunford mention any of that in his press conference? Or was that just his mention that an alteration to the mission was being investigated?

According to multiple intelligence sources, this target is one of the U.S.’s “top three objectives in Niger,” one that the U.S. has been “actively pursuing.”

Hmmmm...what about that business of US troops being forbidden to take on any mission that might lead to enemy contact?

“They should have been up and back in a day. Because they were up there so f------ long on a mission that morphed, they were spotted, surveilled and ultimately hit,” the official said.

[...]

“He was the best kid you could ask for,” the survivor said of Johnson, who fought back the militants with machine gun fire from the back of a pickup truck, before grabbing a sniper rifle and continuing to shoot.

“The guy is a true war hero,” the survivor added. “I really want his wife and kids to know that.”

But, do you want them to know what really happened to him?

Their pre-mission threat assessment never considered the possibility of 50 to 60 enemy combatants attacking them, according to the official. That matches what Dunford told reporters on Monday.

[...]

On their way back, the team received a call from the base back in Niamey, asking them to turn around and kill or capture a high-value target who is a known al Qaeda and ISIS operative, according to two senior officials.

We knew somebody knew what happened. Even if the Pentagon - or the administration of The Most Notable Loser - didn't want Dunford to admit it.

There was “high confidence” that the target was in the area, the sources told ABC News. A second U.S. Special Forces team was directed to meet up with their patrol, but when they could not, the original 12-member team and their Nigerien partners were told to proceed anyway.

Somebody's going to get an earful. Well, most likely already has.

The senior intelligence official credited the French forces who responded with “saving our bacon.”

“The French saved our men. Yes, we lost four. But we would have lost everybody if it wasn't for the French,” the official told ABC News.

I don't think we've heard that sentiment before.

The team arrived at the target location in the early morning hours of Oct. 4, but found nothing. They burned the remnants of the abandoned campsite and headed back south as the sun came up, stopping back through a nearby village called Tongo Tongo around 8:30 AM.

There, the Nigerien force requested they stop to eat, while U.S. soldiers met with a village elder, who was “obviously and deliberately trying to stall them,” according to the official.

“He was definitely stalling as long as he could to keep us there,” the survivor said, saying he had an entourage, showed the unit a child with an illness, and even grabbed a goat he wanted to prepare for them.

But the unit suspected something was definitely wrong when they saw two motorcycle riders watch them and race out of the village.

[...]

It was around midmorning or midday by the time the team departed the village. According to the survivor, they had only gone a few hundred yards when they came under fire from machine guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades.

[...]

Exactly how and where Johnson died remains unclear

[...]

“Without a doubt, his courage and bravery in action that day were above and beyond expectation. He died fighting for his brothers on his team. You can quote that verbatim,” the survivor added. “He grabbed any and every weapon available to him. The guy is a true war hero.”

[...]

The survivor described an all-out effort to find Johnson during those 48 hours [until Johnson's body was found], saying he was missing, but presumed alive.

So what the hell happened to him? This person knows, or he is being told what to say. Or both.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.