aside CNN Is Reporting On Connection Of Chad Being On US Travel Ban And 10/4 Niger Events
I have been critical of the main stream media for not adequately covering the connection of Chad being added to the republican President Donald Trump’s administration’s travel ban on 9/24/17; the withdrawal soon after, of the Chadian army fighters from Niger who had a successful record for keeping militant groups at bay; and the resulting increased risk to all military in the area.
There is now one major organization CNN News which is reporting on these connections.
It is my opinion that risks to military and civilians increased in Niger after the Chadian military left Niger soon after the republican President Donald J. Trump placed Chad on the US travel ban around September 24, 2017, despite the absence of DOD, US State Department, and an array of foreign policy experts approvals. It turns out that Chadian soldiers who are reputed to be the most competent fighters in the region were the ones who had been keeping militant groups like Boko Haram at bay in Niger. In short, any military personnel traveling in Niger needed to be better prepared to face militants that were no longer contained.
In fact, about 2 weeks after US army / Niger military convoy came under attack by terrorists, 12 Niger troops were also ambushed within 50 miles of where the 10/4 tragedy occurred.
Chadian soldiers patrol in the Nigerian border
On October 24, 2017, David A. Andelman of CNN penned the following report, “Soldiers deaths in Niger trail a frightful back-story.”
Excerpts:
Just how was it left to Nigerien troops and French helicopters to find and fetch the bodies of our heroic service members killed in Niger?
Why did they apparently have so little air or intelligence muscle to protect them in the first place? We could get a final answer after the completion of a Benghazi-style after-action probe by the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM.
“At a Pentagon briefing Monday afternoon (10/23/17), the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff suggested some of the answers, if only the most basic timeline and structure of the operation. It is still, General Joseph Dunford suggested, too early to assess the full context or broader timeline. What already seems likely is that at least some blame could lie with those who set in motion a bewildering series of actions.”
“The broader timeline begins in the region on September 24, when the Trump administration suddenly and inexplicably added Chad to the list of countries whose citizens would be included in the latest iteration of the president’s travel ban. Chad and its leaders were utterly blindsided as there was no sense whatsoever that this nation has harbored or even encouraged terrorists — certainly no more culpable than such nations as Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, or for that matter Chad’s neighbors Mali, Niger and Nigeria, none of which were included on this list.”
CHADIAN SOLDIERS
“Au contraire, Chad’s troops have for some time served as an effective ally in the region — the best fighting force deployed in nearby Niger and Mali, with the best intel and best-trained warriors. They were the best because they were trained by the French and its redoubtable Foreign Legion. I know, because I was there in Chad in 1983 when the French had to send in their forces to backstop them when they thought Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi might invade from the north.”
“Over the next 30 years, the French turned them into a first-rate fighting force, utterly allied to the Western anti-terrorist effort in the Sahel — itself a desperately critical part of the success of our war against ISIS and against the spread of Islamic terrorism that is threatening to overrun Africa.”
“It’s true that this attack that left the Americans dead occurred in a far distant part of the country from where Chadian troops typically focused their efforts. Chadian troops in Niger have been deployed in the eastern regions of the country near Diffa, which is about 750 miles from where the ambush took place in western Niger. But terror operations and intelligence cooperation are complex, and dramatic shifts with vital allies can have unforeseen consequences.”
“Moreover, the Pentagon and National Security Council have been searching for the next place where, hydra-like, a post-Raqqa ISIS might rise, they need look no further than here in these three West African nations.”
Chad, Mali and Niger offer a central conduit from north African nations like Libya — quite rightly a fellow member of the Trump travel ban, and potentially the richest recruiting lode for Islamic jihad — to the vastly populous regions of Nigeria and its neighbors. Already, Nigerian-based Boko Haram, a proto-Islamic group comprised more of heavily-armed thugs than confirmed jihadis, has made enormous inroads in this region. Now, ISIS is knocking on the door. Some determinedly anti-jihadist nations like Chad, have stepped up to block these efforts.”
“And then Trump went and insulted them. In fact, the September 24 action was only the latest backhanded and ill-informed insult. It seems that US Homeland Security gave all countries 50 days to meet a “baseline” of security conditions, including producing a counterfeit-proof version of their passport to prove that they were reliable enough to allow their citizens into America.”
They reportedly offered to provide a pre-existing sample of this type of passport. No dice. The next thing they knew they were on the banned list, alongside their arch enemy Libya and other clearly terrorist-driven nations.
Barely a week after the announcement of the new travel ban, the Chadian government suddenly began pulling hundreds of their fighters from Niger. There was no immediate explanation, though the nation’s communications minister Madeleine Alingué condemned the Trump administration’s unheralded move, observing that it “seriously undermines” the “good relations between the 2 countries, notably in the fight against terrorism.”
“Troops from Niger and Mali are now all that stand between the forces of ISIS and, further afield, Boko Haram and our own military.”
“We have about 1,000 [American] forces distributed over the Chad Basin, most of them in Niger, but not all of them,” Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, a senior official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said at a news conference held after the soldiers were ambushed. Indeed, the United States not only has hundreds of troops but also a major drone operation in Niger. And General Dunford pointed out, another 4,000 French and 35,000 African troops are operating there.”
“But now, Chad’s troops, one of the major components of the multinational force operating in some regions of Niger, are largely gone. They had been assembled as part of a multi-national African force that has been charged to patrol, defend and especially understand a vast stretch of largely barren desert that includes Mali and Niger — a combined territory nearly four times the size of Texas. Few could understand it better or be better equipped to fight in many of these regions than the army of Chad.”
(From right to left) Heroes Dustin Wright, La David Johnson, Jeremiah Johnson, Bryan Black
“Inexplicably, though, we still sent our small, likely under-armed band of troops into harm’s way. Fifty jihadis, heavily armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, utterly outgunned and outmanned the slim American force they ambushed.”
“And then our boys died there. The backstory is frightful — filled with mindless decisions executed with minimal knowledge and potentially catastrophic results. It’s urgent that we uncover quickly just what led to this terrible disaster, the role played by any misjudgments on or off the battlefield”.
Yet another way not to treat your allies.Chad’s troops have been a dedicated control against some of the worst of the Jihadists and Boko Haram once a criminal group but now now evolving into possibly another terror group of Islamists. Cast out and unfriended by State because they lacked the money to replace some paper. Why wouldn’t an existing type of the same passport be acceptable until the paper could be replaced. Why would he Country of an ally be put on the same list as those it fought against. No wonder the Chadian troops withdrew behind their own borders.
xxx Hugs Gronda xxx
The existing type of the same passport until the special-ordered paper could be replaced would have been a very sensible solution but the president’s administration couldn’t be bothered to make this right to support an important ally in the region.
The Chadian leader Idriss Deby is no Angel and he is definitely not a fool. Let’s see how this entire story unfolds.
CNN executives have no love towards the president and his administration. Like you, I suspect that they didn’t want to be manipulated into not printing relevant news and hopefully, other news outlets will follow in their footsteps.
Gronda Morin 
It’s about flippin’ time!😒
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Dear Kim,
I’m just grateful that CNN is not being mum on this subject. Maybe others will start covering this aspect of the story.
Hugs, Gronda
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Yet another way not to treat your allies.Chad’s troops have been a dedicated control against some of the worst of the Jihadists and Boko Haram once a criminal group but now now evolving into possibly another terror group of Islamists. Cast out and unfriended by State because they lacked the money to replace some paper. Why wouldn’t an existing type of the same passport be acceptable until the paper could be replaced. Why would he Country of an ally be put on the same list as those it fought against. No wonder the Chadian troops withdrew behind their own borders.
xxx Hugs Gronda xxx
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Dear David Prosser,
The existing type of the same passport until the special-ordered paper could be replaced would have been a very sensible solution but the president’s administration couldn’t be bothered to make this right to support an important ally in the region.
The Chadian leader Idriss Deby is no Angel and he is definitely not a fool. Let’s see how this entire story unfolds.
Hugs, Gronda
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Oh well that bounces my theory out of the door!
Let’s hope CNN keep it running. I think they are big enough to handle the ‘Fake News’ squwaks’
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Dear Roger,
CNN executives have no love towards the president and his administration. Like you, I suspect that they didn’t want to be manipulated into not printing relevant news and hopefully, other news outlets will follow in their footsteps.
Hugs, Gronda
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