Page 69 - Combat Operations News Today

Were in the middle to do this and attacked, is someone supposed to stop ask for authorization? the fact that it took an hour to call in for back up we dont know why that happened yet. >> we dont. and we wont know. and there will be some details that we may never know. there is a distinction between self defense and combat operations. >> okay. what about the real possibility that the villagers in this part of niger gave this isis affiliate a heads up that they were in on this attack? >> there are...

To be able to conduct operations against isis. this is african-led. it is not u.s.-led. our african partners are at war here. not the u.s. government, which creates a, you know, a political and a policy challenge. so there is a wide variety of missions that you would find special operations forces doing, and it runs the gamut, from civil military operations, supporting international organizations, supporting ngos, supporting usaid, to, you know, the combat operations that our partners do in advi...

Arent in niger to hunt extremists. >> our missions are advise and assist, we are not directly involved in combat operations. >> reporter: a senior congressional aide tells nbc news the ambush stemmed in part from a massive intelligence failure. congress now demanding more information on counterterrorism missions across africa. >> have to keep us informed so we can make good decisions about do we want 1,000 soldiers in niger? if we dont want them, the way to deal with it is to cut off funding. >>...

And so that mission hasnt changed. now, when those forces find themselves in a firefight like they did in this ambush situation, of course, youre involved in combat operations, but thats not the stated mission and theyre clearly not seeking that on a day to day basis. there are occasional drone strikes, but that doesnt mean the forces on the ground are going out looking for these sorts of fights. >> shortly before this attack, theres another african nation, chad, which withdrew its troops from n...

And personally, i dont have any problem if a member of congress wants to be with a gold star family when the president calls. >> malcolm, to the congressmans question, you know, john kelly said today, were at war. and jim mattis said, war is war. i dont think anyone knew we were at war in niger. and the fact of the matter is, isis has now splintered -- isis groups or hqim have splintered in no, maam groups in so many places you can imagine a scenario where u.s. forces are actively fighting and b...

For years called flint lock. the french have been carrying out combat operations as part of "operation burkani." what weve done is put assistance forces, special forces odas, a drone base in niger has been there for some time, a $100 million expansion of a base, and we have been assisting these nations to stop the formulation of al qaeda in the islamic maghreb and some of these fledgling groups that are splintering off from boko haram and isis coming out of libya. these missions have been going ...

Claiming victory saying raqqah has been liberated and major military operations there are over. joining me from iraqs border with syria senior international correspondent arwa damian, lay this out for us. hi, kate. the forces on the ground the syrian democratic forces, are not quite yet claiming that raqqah has been liberated, although yes, they have declared major combat operations over saying theyre focusing on going after small pockets of resistance, smaller groups of isis fighters, also tryi...

August and says they have made modifications like adding a new carbon monoxide removal teal and t-45s have a new warning system for pilots. >> how was your feeling when you were asked to take over this, being somebody out there flying jets and be in the midst of combat operations? >> when i looked at it, its a trust and confidence given to me to do this mission. probably the most important thing going on in naval aviation. i feel a heavy responsibility combined with just really wanting to lean i...

Afghanistan the way we look at korea or germany. to say there will be an american force there for generations to come to stabilize it. does that sound right to you? >> i think so. and kosovo too, stiffening the spine, providing incentive for people to get along. look at iraq. without looking back to blame people over iraq, the reality is when we left in 2011, we found ourselves with an iraq infected with isis. its the same in afghanistan. the hope is to get to a point where were not continually ...

Internal security by itself without tens of thousands of western troops on the ground. this is the goal. nothing more, nothing less. all these ideas about strong central government, the direct democracy, building schools, paving roads, you know, these things are nice things to aspire to. but these are neither the reasons why we went in to afghanistan nor the reasons why we should remain i think president trump was very clear on this. >> tucker: is there sincerely any hope at all that with 4,000 ...