On October 4th, American troops were ambushed in Niger. Four men died including La David Johnson, the man whose widow was told "he knew what signed up for" by the President of the United States during a "condolence call."
A lot of people are trying to figure out if La David Johnson was left behind in Niger as his body was found a mile or more away from the others that died.
Then his body wasn't picked up for most of a day, 20 to 21 hours according to the last report I heard.
The Trump administration is less than forthcoming about how the ambush occurred. Members of Congress are actually threatening to issue subpoenas to get information on the Niger ambush.
Some are saying that the ambush that took La David Johnson's life seems to be the result of a "massive intelligence failure," intelligence that allies like the country of Chad may have been able to provide
...if they hadn't been offended by the Trump administration putting them on Muslim Ban 3.0
A week of so before the October 4th ambush in Niger, the Trump administration put a critical African ally, Chad, on the ethnoracism based MUSLIM BAN due to the stupidest of technicalities. And this appears to have influenced Chad to withdraw its troops from the battle against ISIS in Niger.
1) FROM SLATE.COM
[M]any observers have been puzzled by the inclusion of Chad on the [Muslim Ban] list.
Chad was not previously known as a major source of anti-U.S. terror plots, at least no more than several countries that aren’t on the list, and is in fact considered an important regional counterterrorism partner of the U.S. We now know the answer—and it’s very dumb.
CBS reports that as part of its security review of traveler vetting procedures, the Trump administration had required countries to provide a sample of its passports to the Homeland Security Department for analysis. That was a problem for Chad, because the country had run out of passport paper:
- Lacking the special passport paper, Chad's government couldn't comply, but offered to provide a pre-existing sample of the same type of passport, several U.S. officials said. It wasn't enough to persuade Homeland Security to make an exception to requirements the agency has been applying strictly and literally to countries across the globe, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss disagreements within the administration.
This was why the U.S. was willing to spurn a country that has hosted U.S. organized military exercises...
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/10/19/trump_put_chad_on_the_travel_ban_because_of_passport_paper.html
2) Putting Chad on the MUSLIM BAN due to their shortage of passport paper influenced to Chad withdraw from Niger, a country that supposedly has problems with ISIS.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-muslim-ban-boko-haram-chad-niger-travel-restrictions-a8000451.html
3) U.S. Troops in Niger
Most Americans didn't know we had any troops at all in Niger until after La David Johnson and three other soldiers were killed.
And I was one of those Americans that didn't know.
Apparently, American troops have been discreetly moving all over Africa for years for various reasons, and in Niger from at least 2013.
* * * * * * These are some additional questions that I have regarding what happened to La David Johnson. Even if U.S. troops weren't sent to replace the Chadian Troops that withdrew, reportedly as a result of Muslim Ban:
a) Were Chadian troops acting as guides for U.S. Troops...until Chad pulled out of Niger over Trump's Muslim Ban?
b) Would Chad have provided some intelligence or better intelligence if they hadn't been offended by Trump's Muslim Ban?
c) Would Chadian troops have provided better, quicker cover on the ground than France did by air? (France's planes didn't arrive until 30 minutes after the ambush began)
d) Why is Congresswoman Frederica Wilson saying La David Johnson was left alone or left behind for 48 hours after the initial attack? (read more below)
I don't know the answers to these questions yet. But it seems to me that it's possible that La David Johnson and fellow soldiers may have been killed by a white supremacist foreign policy, if you think about it
...because the Muslim Bans are not about religion.
...because the Muslim Bans are not about religion.
Again, Trump cannot pronounce books of the bible. And he actually admitted that he doesn't pray for forgiveness. And this is what Christians mainly believe in, needing forgiveness.Muslim Ban is about keeping people being considered not-white out the U.S. And Chad may represent the not-white-est of all the countries on the Muslim Bans our federal courts keep blocking so far.
Of course they left an ally that's not acting like an ally.
Of course having a more local ally is important in Niger.
The only question now is whether Chad withdrawing was at all related to this particular ambush. And it's likely we'll never ever know. Unless Chadian troops were assigned to every single U.S. mission in Niger we'll never know if Chadian troops would have been assigned to that particular mission that killed La David Johnson.
It's likely we'll never know for sure.
The details being reported on what happened on October 4th during that ambush in Niger keep changing at this point. It's early days yet. But one thing is certain: Alienating an ally like Chad with that Muslim Ban did not help La David Johnson and the men with him stay alive.
Alienating our allies and frenemies with white supremacy is not going to help keep our soldiers alive, regardless of skin color.
Missing soldier found nearly a mile from Niger ambush, officials say
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/20/politics/us-niger-ambush-sgt-la-david-johnson/index.html
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