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US Defense Officials Briefing Senators on Niger Attack

by Ken Bredemeier

   U.S. defense officials are briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee
   on Thursday about the Islamic State ambush attack in Niger earlier this
   month that killed four American soldiers.

   Robert Karem, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for international
   security affairs, and Air Force Major General Albert Elton, the deputy
   director for special operations and counterterrorism, are set to talk
   about the October 4 firefight in a closed-door session.

   Defense Department officials are in the midst of an investigation of
   the attack that occurred near the Niger-Mali border and took the lives
   of the four servicemen, all U.S. Special Forces troops. Even as details
   remain murky of how the attack unfolded, several key lawmakers have
   voiced surprise that the U.S. has had about 1,000 troops in the West
   African nation, and said they are uncertain what the troops' mission
   is.

   President Donald Trump said Wednesday he did not specifically authorize
   the Niger mission.

   "But I have generals that are great generals -- these are great
   fighters, these are warriors," he said. "I gave them authority to do
   what's right so that we win. That's the authority they have. I want to
   win and we're going to win."

   Trump has been embroiled in days of contentious public statements about
   his condolence call to the widow of one of the soldiers killed,
   Sergeant La David Johnson.

   The widow, Myeshia Johnson, pregnant with her third child, told ABC
   News earlier this week that Trump's call to her only made her cry more
   because she heard him "stumbling trying to remember my husband's name.

   "That's what hurt me the most because if my husband is out there
   fighting for our country, and if he risks his life for our country, why
   can't you remember his name? And that one made me upset and cry even
   more because my husband was an awesome soldier."

   She said that Trump told her that her husband "knew what he signed up
   for [in joining the military] but it hurts anyway. It made me cry. I
   was angry at the tone of his voice."

   Trump has disputed her account, saying, "I certainly respect La David,
   who I, by the way, called La David right from the beginning. Just so
   you understand, they put a chart in front -- 'La David,' it says 'La
   David Johnson.' So I called right from the beginning.

   "I was extremely nice to her," Trump said. "She sounds like a lovely
   lady. I've never seen her, I've never met her, but she sounds like a
   lovely lady. But I was extremely nice to her, I was extremely
   courteous, as I was to everyone else."