The Wall Street Journal is reporting in increasing detail
on President Trump’s Thursday decision to not attack Iran, providing
reports from aides that described Trump as very reluctant to be dragged
into another war.
Trump reportedly told one of his confidants of his inner circle that
“these people want to push us into war… it’s so disgusting.” He added
that in his view “we don’t need any more wars.”
Signs are that much of the cabinet was pushing for a US attack, but Gen.
Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered a more
wary assessment of the outcome of such an attack. This is a surprising
revelation since the Pentagon’s brass had been suggested to be hawkish
as well.
Trump praised Dunford for calling for caution, calling him a “terrific
man and a terrific general.” Trump added that he was happy to see
division within his team on the matter, though some within his
administration, notably those who didn’t get the war they wanted, are
made about the internal schism.
On Thursday morning, when the attack was planned, John Bolton and Mike
Pompeo summoned national security officials for a breakfast, and to talk
about the US drone being shot down. Officials claimed that the group
was “unanimous” in favor of attacking Iran, though others denied that
Dunford, who was present, had supported the attack.
Trump is increasingly favoring Gen. Dunford on matters of foreign
policy, and that likely put him in a better position to express
opposition to the strike. Trump appears to have already been inclined
against such a strike, especially if it killed anyone, which would’ve
given Dunford the benefit of telling Trump what he wanted to hear.
Dunford’s opposition is also fueling allegations of military lawyers
being the backchannel through which President Trump got the formal
estimate of 150 killed in the attack, which he says is what made him
decide against it.
Some reports claim the military’s lawyers sent the estimate to White
House lawyers, who passed it along to Trump. Others are denying this,
and accusing White House lawyers of inventing the whole estimate
themselves. Trump confirmed being unhappy with the vague estimates he
was initially offered on the attack plan, saying we “wanted an accurate
count.”
This has fueled a lot of disputes within the administration that the
estimate was too high, though Trump dismissed this as largely irrelevant
to his decision, saying “anything is a lot when you shoot down an
unmanned drone.”
Uh Huh…for not wanting a war, he sure as hell has done everything he can to try and instigate one. I bet they would have attacked had their malware shenanigans succeeded in disabling some of Iran’s defenses. We probably have Iran’s anti-virus software to thank for averting a war. Thanks for keeping those definitions updated…*thumbs up*
Where trump has not instigated fire war in anyplace new, he has also not brought anything resembling peace anywhere either. All in all, a waste of time, as he plays attention games. Time to go.
Trump could fire Bolton and Pompeo today, but he won’t. They’re in place because Likudniks like Jared and Bibi want them there. The Christian Zionists like Pence and much of his base want them there. The dominionist generals who are itching for war want them there.
They’re in place because Trump chose to appoint them and chooses to keep them. Everything else is excuses.
What? You mean Trumpsters have to get it through their heads that only Trump is responsible for hiring Pompeo and Bolton and only he can fire them?
It could be that Trump approves of divisions between his advisors so that he hears both sides of an issue. Regrettably, if that’s so he has chosen two of the worst advisors I could imagine, Pompeo and Bolton (and possible the CIA head too) to represent the hawks as they’re all extremists and dedicated schemers.
And who are is peace advisors ?
Tucker Carlson is one, although, of course, he’s not a formal advisor.
We’ve had enough “winning”. Please take your board games home with you, Mr. Trump. Risk, Stratego and Monopoly are not the real world.
Heaven forbid any of you leftist boneheads give this guy any credit at all. Pathetic…
A broken clock is right once a year
Trump still has to wreck his first country. So far nothing being done is that different from many actions of various previous administrations, Democrat or Conservative driven. What has changed though is that nearly every deliberation is leaked and/or tweeted about ad nauseam.
However, there’s no easy way to deal with the Iran issue, when the condition will remain that both Iranian & US regimes have to save face.
One of the regimes has to step down to break the stale mate with the added consideration that Saudi Arabia & Israel would just replace Washington pressure and more likely would attack.
Disagree, trump has rubbled Syria with his marine artillery units. 100,000 155mm guided shells. He has supported rubbling Yemen. His military spending is rotting the US. His sanctions are destructive worldwide, gimme a break.
You would have to argue for lack of giant piles of rubble before Trump came in or separated from the Russian, Syrian and IS campaigns of destruction.
But you’re right, as long as sanction policies and military spending are not changed radically, war will remain on the menu and my earlier point would be meaningless ultimately.
Jan, go ahead and Google “effects of a 155mm shell”…multiply that by 100,000, then explain how that doesn’t mean “trump rubbled Syria”. Keep in mind, trump promised in his campaign, he would carpet bomb ISIS cities. It is a promise he kept.
I’ve seen Syria before the first shell was launched by the US. It’s ridiculous to say “Trump ruined Syria”. However I’m not belittling the damage. It’s just that you refer to actions in place since 2014 and later intensified in urban areas simply because that’s where ISIS pulled back. Also it was a multinational effort while Russia did not stay behind. It does not make sense to put the state of Syria on Trump: he didn’t start it but he certainly did not do much to stop the destruction until it was nearly over.
Guess you didnt Google 155mm shell effects. The story of what the US artillery did there has not surfaced yet. Took some time for the Fallujah story to come out too. I don’t know who’s reputation you are trying to protect…think they just fired those shells into a hole ?
Heaven forbid that you deluded Trumpists ever realize that your neocon President is a part of the problem.
Pathetic…
Obvious troll is obvious
I am not a leftist. I am a libertarian anarchist. Compared to me, on economic issues, you’re a red. Trump is a warmonger. I don’t support warmongers.
If “these people” are so “disgusting” why are they still there? Why should we be governed by disgusting people?
Some daring journalist ought to ask our President: at which level of killed Iranians would you have allowed your attack to proceed?
What I am observing is another textbook example of the unintended consequences of an act: pulling out of the 5+1 Iran agreement. I will only begin to get slightly relieved if President Trump returns to that agreement as a first baby-step towards detente with Iran.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Dieter. DJT should’ve never ditched the 5+1 Iran agreement .. That was the best action Obama ever took. Upon taking office in January, 2017, DJT acted quite childishly by pulling out of that agreement.
You’re right .. What we’re observing is just another textbook example of the unintended consequences of pulling out of the 5+1 Iran agreement. We’ll both only begin to get slightly relieved if DJT returns to that agreement as a first baby-step toward detente with Iran. However, he’ll have to dump Pompous Pompeo and Bonkers Bolton before he can return to the 5+1 Iran agreement.
Thanks. As I have pointed out elsewhere: who can he find in his depleted barrels for Secretary of State and his Intelligence Czar? In reality there are experienced Democrats and Independents available for these positions. He cannot possibly appoint them and win the election next year because his base will go bonkers.
Furthermore, I am not even sure that he wants to get rid of Pompeo and Bolton because with them in place he can continue his inane game of letting Iran guessing what he is up to. Problem: the downing of the drone has demonstrated that Iran is not guessing but is steadily acting in its own national interest.
His base seems pretty solid. They didn’t care that he was a Democrat, why would they care if some of his appointees were too?
How many of his base know that he was a Democrat?
How many of his base would accept John Kerry as Secretary of State? Or Mr. Obama (I believe that there is no restriction here; not a bad choice either). Do you really believe that Trump could appoint either of them without any troubles among his followers whom he has indoctrinated with the certainty that both are probably traitors?
Well, if Trump will bring that off I will call him a super statesman.
“How many of his base know that he was a Democrat?”
Exactly. His base has proven that they 1) don’t know, 2) don’t care, or 3) both who he is, what he says, or what he does. He’s an image in their minds and no actual facts can sully that image. On the rare occasion that they even notice such facts, they just come up with bizarre excuses for the facts rather than re-evaluating their worship system.
In that respect, Trump isn’t greatly different from some previous presidents; his highly theatrical approach just tends to put everything and everyone on steroids.
Pathetic and dishonest statement.
The US breathe and lives on/trough wars.
Does Trump not understand the death toll in Yemen? Or how many deaths the Iran sanctions have, and will, cause? 150 is what, a days work at most? And that’s every day.
Was the 150 American deaths, total deaths or Iranian only?
Let’s pretend trump means what he says about “no more wars”…what could he do ? Well, for starters, he could withdraw the forces he put in Syria, and not just send them to Iraq or Africa, but home. He could address congress’ move to end the war on terror authorization. He could transfer military spending to the infrastructure he bloviates about. He could stop spraying sanctions around like a teenage boy who has discovered his “special purpose”. But what do I see ? In California, I see rows and rows of rr flat cars sidetracked along every national guard camp. Fort Ord, Camp Robert’s, SLO, ….these are the type cars that move the big stuff, they are not “dropping off”. Anyone else notice this in your areas ?
“He could transfer military spending to the infrastructure he bloviates about.”
Not legally, he couldn’t. Congress decides what money gets spent on.
He can veto those spending Bill’s he can, he can refuse to spend discretionary spending on war or spook stuff. He could use his position as the head of his party to change priorities. Late in 2015, Obama had stated his desire to end the war on terror authorization, which, of course, he cant have done. But, he could have changed the military missions and deployments associated with the authorization, as CIC.
Trump is like the kid who pokes the anthill with a stick. He enjoys watching his peons and underlings scrap it out.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/05cf55ae6593dc8c2112a8e44703fcf7192d0965abb0679ffe8c4cd2663cf70b.jpg
Sigh…how often does it need to be pointed out that 1) Trump is never consistent even with his “wants”, and 2) if he can be led by the nose to authorize a strike last week, what will he do the next time the incident is more significant than a downed drone (which Iran has done numerous times before)?
So why is everyone arguing over what Trump “wants”? This is just desperately hoping an Iran war can be averted by Trump and Trump alone. Which is simply not the case.
It’s a plain case of “cognitive dissonance” – people just don’t want to accept that an Iran war is a done deal, and the only thing in question is how it gets started and when, not that whether it will.
Over the last couple days, some people probably told Trump that his actions last Thursday were not playing well with his base, so now we get a bunch of “mea culpas” from him – until the next time he decides he wants to be a “war President” so he can win the election (and the next day goes back to saying “I don’t want a war” so he can win the election.)
And everyone spends massive amounts of energy trying to tea-leaf this idiot. It’s pathetic.
I raise my glass Sir…
Iran should probably send Tucker Carlson a cookie bouquet. He and Rand appear to be Trump’s unofficial ledge whisperers. It’s a thankless job but it’s also probably the kind of purgatory those two dicks need to redeem themselves.
Nit to worry. Congress has a majority cobbled up to “save Yemen”, and protect Israel from Saudis getting hands on too much weapons. Those coalitions are perfect, hiding behind moral causes. Now, they want to add one more cause — prevent Trump from starting war without their approval. Or translate — Congress WILL. approve it. And force it in Trump.
It is amazing that nobody cares about the fact that this adversary has ability to retaliate. Is this one of those— let’s get them before they get stronger? Watch Russia and China do nothing? May be, may be not? Why is Russian frigate loaded with Kalibr cruise missiles in Cuba? Just chilling?
Sometimes I wish people would live in the real world and not the black and white version of their choosing.
I don’t know any current leader of any developed or developing Nation who doesn’t have to strike or is forced to strike a balance between different forces in his circle of power.
Trump is no exemption however erratic his statements and actions might seem. From the beginning he has been under pressure not only from different groups but also from different competing ego’s of people who want to leave a mark on the world stage.
We do live in interesting times because for the first time (in history?) the public starts to recognize the people and the powers behind the “thrown” and this is important. The mistrust of the public in their “leaders” (or leadership elites) is rising. That is good because we have to rely on our own judgement and not that of others or the mainstream media.