美国有线新闻 CNN 美军方透露美军在尼日尔遭袭事件细节 疑问仍存

 

The U.S. military is trying to determine what exactly happened during a mission on October 4th in the African country of Niger, also pronounced nee-Zhair.

A unit of 12 Green Berets, special forces of the U.S. Army, was on patrol with 30 Nigerien troops. And they were ambushed¹ by around 50 fighters believed to be affiliated³ with the ISIS terrorist group. Four U.S. Green Berets and five Nigerien soldiers were killed.

And the ambush² raised a number of questions. What was the mission of the U.S. and Nigerien forces? How did it go wrong? Why was one of the fallen U.S. servicemen not recovered for two days?

Some American lawmakers have criticized the military for not being forthcoming enough with answers. In a news conference this week, the chairman of the U.S. Joint⁴ Chiefs of Staff, this is the senior ranking member of the U.S. military who reports to the president, he criticized the speculation⁵ about the ambush and said the investigation⁶ would provide all the details once it's complete.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned the U.S. soldiers ambushed in Niger were under orders to gather intelligence on a terrorist leader believed to be operating in the area. The unit was not however on a mission to kill or capture the leader.

Their mission was one of the unit's first patrols. The team had only been in the country a matter of weeks, defense⁷ officials said.

On the morning of October 3rd, one day before the ambush, U.S. and Nigerien forces left the capital of Niamey, en route to the village of Tongo Tongo to meet local leaders.

GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: They did not expect resistance on this particular patrol, at least when they first planned it.

SCIUTTO: The next morning, October 4th, as they completed their meeting, the troops suspected the villagers were delaying their departure, the first indication something may have been wrong. Later that morning, the U.S. and Nigerien forces left the village and were heading back to their operating base when some 50 ISIS-affiliated fighters ambushed them, with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

The U.S. soldiers fought back but were in unarmored vehicles and carried only light weapons. It was one hour before they called in air support.

DUNFORD: When they didn't ask for support for their first hour, my judgment⁸ would be that that unit thought they could handle the situation without additional support.

SCIUTTO: Within minutes, a U.S. drone arrived overhead, capturing video of the scene.

French Mirage⁹ jets swooped¹⁰ in one hour later. Two hours in total after the firefight had begun.

The French aircraft which were armed did not open fire because they could not distinguish enemy from friendly forces on the ground.

In the chaos¹¹, Sergeant¹² La David Johnson was separated from the rest of the team and left behind. Forty-eight hours after the attack, Nigerien forces found his body, a full mile away from the central scene of the ambush.

The circumstances surrounding Johnson's death remained one of the most pressing questions of the investigation.

DUNFORD: We owe the families as much information as we can find out about what happened and we owe the American people an explanation of what their men and women were doing at this particular time.

1 ambushed   

v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The military vehicles were ambushed. 军车遭到伏击。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

3 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

9 mirage   

n.海市蜃楼，幻景

参考例句：

• Perhaps we are all just chasing a mirage.也许我们都只是在追逐一个幻想。
• Western liberalism was always a mirage.西方自由主义永远是一座海市蜃楼。

10 swooped   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来，并把它杀死。

11 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

12 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？