Page 2 - Enemy Contact News Today

Missing soldier, we made the decision to make sure that all of the resources were available. >> sergeant johnsons body was discovered two years later by nigerian forces and returned to u.s. troops. he said that the troops are not allowed to accompany local forces if they expect enemy contact. the special forces unit that was ambushed had only been in niger for a few weeks. >> thank you for that update. we appreciate it. kimberly, your thoughts? its because of the, first of all, in terms of the w...

Johnsons body found 48 hours later, and why was it found a highly away from where the ambush took place. they dont know the answer to that question. he also dont know why the intelligence that was given to these soldier z was it was unlike unlikely they would have enemy contact. i also asked him do though know if the forces that evacuated both the wounded and dead ever did a head count to make sure everyone was accounted for. again, a question they dont yet have an answer to. but i also asked hi...

U.s. troops in niger are not allowed to accompany local forces if they expect enemy contact. >> harris: lets bring in four-star general jack keane, a fox news military analyst and chairman of the institute for the study of war. thanks for being with us today, what was our mission in niger? >> our mission is actually to train and assist our indigenous partners, and weve been doing that for a number of years, obviously weve been noting for a couple of weeks, there is quite an explosive radical isl...

Took the french aircraft, the french were ready to go in 30 minutes. then it took them 30 minutes approximately to get on the scene. so from that, i think its a fair conclusion to say two hours after the initial contact was made, the initial french mirages arrived overhead. my judgment would be that unit thought they could handle the situation without additional support. so what well find out in the investigation exactly why it took an hour for them to call. we shouldnt conclude anything by that...

Designed to support the training, advising and assisting of local african partners. we mitigate the risk to u.s. forces with specific guidance that we will only accompany those forces when the prospects of enemy contact is unlikely. there are other areas in africa that we have a different construct. so what i described to you is the construct that exists in west africa. clearly we have a different type of operation against al-quaida, al shabaab and al-quaida organizations inside of east africa. ...

To defend themselves? were they heavily defended or go in in light trucks not expecting much resistance. >> ill answer the second part because i know and ill give you in general the first part. so they did not expect resistance on this particular patrol. at least when they first planned it. again, what happened subsequently will be the investigation. because the rules in that part of west africa are that we will only accompany our partner forces when the chances of enemy contact are unlikely. so...

Search for sergeant johnsons body, can you tell us how many u.s. troops took part in that search and how many partnered and allied forces as well. describe not just the drone that went in to look for him and other assets as well? >> i cant. again, thats down to a level of detail that is really going to require the investigation to lay all of that out. >> do you know how many u.s. troops took part in the search? >> i cant tell you -- again, i know how many u.s. troops were part of that original a...

Is but you have to realize that niger is, you know, the operational area in niger is larger than the operational area in afghanistan, in iraq, and syria. so this is a very large area where the special operation forces count on their partners to provide the security necessary and of course as general dunford said, you know, enemy contact will be unlikely th. they were doing a civil military operation mission that is part of the special operation force missions there on the ground. so they were de...

That theyre taking too many risks. lets keep in mind, although i talked about enemy contact being unlikely on this particular mission, the reason were in west africa is because its an area of concentration of isis and al qaeda. the reason why our special operations forces are operating in libya is because there is a threat of isis attacks from libya. the reason theyre in east africa is because there is an al qaeda and a smaller isis presence there. to the extent that theyre taking risk, we have ...

Theyre taking too many risks. lets keep in mind, although i talked about enemy contact being unlikely on this particular mission, the reason why were in west africa is because the area of concentration of isis and l al-quaida. the reason why were in libya is because of a threat of is superior attacks. and the reason why were in libya is because theres a small al-quaida presence there. to the extent theyre taking risk, we sent them there to operate in areas within which there are extremist elemen...