President Trump sort of denied last night’s report
that the Pentagon’s plan for a war with Iran would see 120,000 US
ground troops sent to the Middle East, saying that the report was in the
New York Times and therefore must be “fake news.”
The 120,000 troops plan was attributed to the Pentagon, and said to be a
“new” assessment which had been solicited by John Bolton, and which was
making the rounds. At the time, it was reported to be unclear if it had
gotten to where Trump was being briefed on it.
Trump was dismissive of that, though not the war, saying if the US attacks Iran he would “send a hell of a lot more” than 120,000 troops. That previous report indeed said the 120,000 was just for a border war, but not enough for an invasion.
Though some media outlets are seeing this as the White House downplaying
the chances for war, President Trump clearly doesn’t seem to be
interested in doing so. This is, after all, just a day after he
threatened “great suffering” on Iran, and his disavowal of the 120,000
troops number appeared to rest heavily on it being insufficiently large.
Trump Dismisses 120,000 Troops for Iran War Story
Says US would 'send a hell of a lot more troops'
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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