Pentagon, State Department appear surprised by Trump's new red line on Syria and chemical weapons
Source: theweek.com
1:33 a.m. ET
The White House appeared to draw a new red line on Syria Monday night, with Press Secretary Sean Spicer warning that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been caught making "potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack" that "would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children," and if he "conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price." The rest of the government, including the military, appears to have been caught off guard by the announcement.
Five U.S. defense officials "said they did not know where the potential chemical attack would come from, and were unaware the White House was planning to release its statement," BuzzFeed News reports. "Several State Department officials typically involved in coordinating such announcements said they were caught completely off guard by the warning, which didn't appear to be discussed in advance with other national security agencies," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Typically, the State Department, the Pentagon, and U.S. intelligence agencies would all be consulted before the White House issued a declaration sure to ricochet across foreign capitals."
Various agencies and departments referred reporters to the White House for comment. It's "unclear how closely held the intelligence regarding a potential chemical attack was," The New York Times notes, after similarly reporting that "several military officials were caught off guard by the statement" from Spicer. "While the White House's motivation in releasing the highly unusual statement is uncertain, it is possible that Mr. Trump or his advisers decided a public warning to Mr. Assad might deter another chemical strike," the Times suggests, adding that the president has "absolute power to declassify anything he chooses to release," including intelligence on chemical weapons.
At least one Trump administration official appeared unfazed by the statement:...........
Read more: http://theweek.com/speedreads/708517/pentagon-state-department-appear-surprised-by-trumps-new-red-line-syria-chemical-weapons
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Reichstag.
Instead of creating or inciting his own "Reichstag moment" could donald be using and abusing classified data to create an incident, a distraction that might make the "Russia thing" go away?
Everyone who SHOULD have known seemed taken by surprise that he released this information.
So maybe he & his cabal have concocted a way to show his "true worth" as a world leader? donald is first out with the intelligence and his blustery warning. But, was there any 'there' there? Is the Pentagon backing him up because it would be too crazy & embarrassing not to?
Guess I am just wary and skeptical of anything this poor excuse for a president does.
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Calling wolf, showing the world he has the goods, where Obama didn't. What he sees as Obama being weak in Syria, most people saw as Obama being thoughtful & careful to choose which hill to die on. trump doesn't care about hills, because he blames and skates. Nothing sticks to him
I just hope they are keeping the codes away from him.
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