US VOWS TO STEP UP ITS WAR ON TERROR IN AFRICA
▶ Pentagon may loosen rules of engagement as Trump faces pressure over Niger attack in which US troops died
The US government has signalled it will intensify its war on terrorism in Africa as it faces increasing pressure over intelligence failures that led to the deaths of four soldiers in Niger.
President Donald Trump’s defensive reaction to questions and his feud with a member of Congress over his condolence call to the widow of one of the soldiers have focused attention on the US role in mentoring African forces in their struggle against ISIL and Al Qaeda-linked militants.
Now it has emerged that the body of Sgt La David Johnson, one of the four dead, was found more than a kilometre away from the ambush site.
The Pentagon is reportedly planning to take more aggressive action in Africa and loosen global rules of engagement to allow its forces to fire on terrorist suspects even if they do not represent an immediate threat.
The moves were revealed by Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator, after he met secretary of defence Jim Mattis to discuss the deaths.
“The war is headed to Africa. It’s beginning to morph,” Mr Graham said. “As we suppress the enemy in the Middle East they are going to move. They are not going to quit.”
Controversy over the October 4 ambush is growing. Officials believe the 12-member US team was attacked by a 50 ISILlinked militants after meeting with local elders on the border close to Mali.
Militants on motorcycles, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns, fired at US troops travelling in unarmoured pickup trucks.
One report suggested the mission had been lured into an ambush after they chased a few militants.
The New York Times reported that locals, including a village chief accused of deliberately delaying the US team, had been taken into custody by Nigerien authorities.
But American officials have been reluctant to provide information.
“The loss of our troops is under investigation,” Mr Mattis said. “We in the department of defence like to know what we’re talking about before we talk.”
The Pentagon’s Africa Command is working on a timeline to establish exactly what happened, and what went wrong.
Problems needing answers include why the Americans were caught by surprise, whether they should have been in armoured vehicles, why it took two days to recover the body of Sgt Johnson and how he ended up 1km away.
It will try to determine whether ISIL was responsible, through its affiliate in the Greater Sahara, led by Adnan Abu Walid Al Sahraoui, or if another group such as a breakaway faction of Boko Haram or Al Qaeda, was responsible.
Also unknown is why the troops had no air cover until French warplanes came to their rescue.
The confusion has led critics of the Trump administration to speculate that the attack was the result of US policy.
But experts on the region say attacks were on the increase and it was only a matter of time before American forces got caught out.
The story took on a life of its own last week when details were leaked of Mr Trump’s condolence call to the widow of Sgt Johnson. He apparently said to her that her husband “knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt”.
Yesterday Mr Trump continued his spat with Frederica Wilson, the member of congress who revealed details of the call.
“I hope the Fake News Media keeps talking about Wacky Congresswoman Wilson in that she, as a representative, is killing the Democrat Party,” he tweeted.
The partisan firefight and unanswered questions have led to talk that the attack could be Mr Trump’s “Benghazi moment”, an unexplained foreign tragedy that dogs his administration.
Robert Shapiro, professor of political science at Columbia University, said Mr Trump’s repeated missteps and controversies had almost no impact on his support base.
“His supporters don’t care about these things,” Prof Shapiro said. “They just want to keep him in the White House where they want him doing bigger things than calling soldiers’ families.”
The war is headed to Africa. As we suppress the enemy in the Middle East they are going to move LINDSEY GRAHAM Republican senator