President Trump

Joint Special Operations Commander Says 4000 US Troops in Syria

In what might have been just an honest mistake or a dangerous faux pas, the Commander of the Joint Special Operations Task Force charged with expelling the Islamist terrorists from Iraq and Syria said on Tuesday that there were 4000 US troops in Syria. That number far exceeds the 503 that the Trump administration said are deployed there.

Speaking from Baghdad in a televised press briefing, Major General James Jarrad gave the surprising number to the assembled press corps. When asked by a reporter to confirm the 4000-troop total, Jarrad appeared to be caught off guard.

But a Pentagon Public Affairs Officer, acting as a facilitator for the press conference, interjected, quickly stating that the number was indeed 503.

It’s not immediately clear whether Jarrard misspoke or, in fact, divulged information that reflects the true scope of U.S. military activity in Syria. Neither the Pentagon nor the U.S.-led military coalition based in Baghdad has responded to a request seeking clarification.
It has long been an open secret that the Pentagon has far more personnel involved in the campaign against the Islamic State than its publicly disclosed figures suggest. Hundreds of additional American forces — including Special Operations troops, forward air controllers and artillery crews — moved into Syria to back up allies as they prepared to assault Raqqa, which was the Islamic State’s self-declared capital until its fall this month.
The Pentagon says there are 5,200 U.S. troops in neighboring Iraq, though the number is believed to be much higher.

The Pentagon spokesman told the media that the general just made a mistake, however, there are unsubstantiated rumors that over there are over 2000 Special Operations troops and Marines that are assisting and advising the US-backed Syrian fighters trying to expel the Islamic State from Syria.

To read the entire article from The Seattle Examiner, click here:

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McCain: US “Asleep to the Necessity of Our Leadership”

The United States has ignored its role as a global leader for decades said Sen. John McCain, the result being it has allowed “”seductions of authoritarian rule” to take root around the world.

Speaking to Midshipmen at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, McCain lambasted the last several US administrations for ignoring America’s mantle of leadership. “How did we end up here?” McCain asked. Adding further, “why do many Americans ignore our moral and historical knowledge and seek escape from the world we’ve led so successfully?”

“There are many wise answers to those questions,” he said. “My own is: We are asleep to the necessity of our leadership, and to the opportunities and real dangers of this world.”
McCain also said Americans are increasingly retreating to their own “echo chambers, where our views are always affirmed and information that contradicts them is always fake.”
Both political parties have accused each other of using “fake news” to win campaigns, and President Trump has routinely called CNN “fake news” from the White House. McCain has taken other veiled shots at Trump over the last few months, including in Philadelphia this month, when he indirectly accused the new administration of refusing the “obligations of international leadership … for the sake of some half-based, spurious nationalism,” which he said is “unpatriotic.”

McCain speaking to the Brigade of Midshipmen from which he graduated from in 1958, was taking another thinly-veiled shot at the Trump White House when he spoke about how the US retreated in isolationism after World War I.

McCain hammered home his point with the point that after the Great War, “There could be no more isolationism, no more tired resignation – no more ‘America First.”

The Senator was quite correct in his characterization that as a nation, “We are asleep in our polarized politics, which exaggerates our differences, looks for scapegoats instead of answers, and insists we get all our way all the time from a system of government based on compromise, principled cooperation, and restraint.”

To read the entire article from The Washington Examiner, click here:

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US Special Operations Forces, FBI Capture Key Benghazi Suspect

File this story under, “you can run, but you can’t hide.” Five years after the deadly attack on the US diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, a joint operation involving US Special Operations Forces and the FBI have captured a key militant who was in involved in the terror operation.

The suspect’s name is Mustafa al-Imam. US officials wouldn’t confirm the exact location of al-Imam’s capture, just saying that it was somewhere in Libya.

The attack, which al-Imam is believed to have played a key role in was on September 11, 2012, and killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, a State Department Information Officer and two former Navy SEALs Glenn Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

They said President Trump had approved the mission, which was carried out in coordination with Libya’s internationally recognized government.
“Our memory is deep and our reach is long, and we will not rest in our efforts to find and bring the perpetrators of the heinous attacks in Benghazi to justice,” Trump said.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson added that he’d spoken with the relatives of some of the Americans who died in Benghazi. Tillerson said the U.S. would “spare no effort” to ensure al-Imam is held accountable.
“I am grateful to the FBI, our partners in the intelligence community, and the Department of Defense who made this apprehension possible. The United States will continue to investigate and identify all those who were involved in the attack – and we will hold them accountable for their crimes,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions reacted.

US officials added that al-Imam will not be going to Guantanamo Bay but is en route to Washington D.C. and will stand trial there in Federal Court.

Perhaps then, Department of Justice prosecutors can ask the suspect about the video, that supposedly triggered the attacks.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

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Iran President Rouhani: Iran’s Missile Production Will Continue

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, that the country’s missile program will continue and is not in breach of its nuclear deal, despite objections from the Trump White House.

Earlier this month, Trump said that the nuclear deal signed in 2015, was one of worst, one-sided agreements that the US had ever entered into and claimed that Iranians have committed “multiple violations of the agreement.”

Rouhani fired back, in quotes from the country’s official website, calling into question the Trump administration’s credibility.

“If a government like the US government states that it is not committed to an important international commitment, and its reason is that the previous administration has been tricked, then what happens with the continuity of the responsibility of the governments?” it quoted him as saying. “You are explicitly violating your previous agreements and neglecting a UN Security Council-approved agreement.”
The fact that the plan does not address Iran’s nuclear missile program is one reason why Trump had been dissatisfied with the agreement.
“Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!” the US leader tweeted in late September.
In his October 13 speech, Trump said: “We cannot and will not make this certification. We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout.

Rouhani struck a typical defiant tone citing that the missile program was not part of the nuclear deal and that the Iranian government will continue to build and store any weapon they feel that they need to defend themselves. He finished with the requisite threat that “the enemies should know that violation of any agreement will be detrimental to them and the Islamic Republic of Iran will give them a decisive answer.

The decision by Trump to decertify the agreement puts the onus back in Congress’ hands. They’ll have 60 days to decide whether or not to re-impose sanctions on Iran which would put the US in violation of the deal.

To read the entire article from CNN, click here:

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Israel Willing to Stand Alone, Attack Iran to Stop Nuclear Program

Israel knows that a nuclear-capable Iran is having a neighbor with a gun to its head and the Iranians have made it clear, they intend to destroy the state of Israel. So the Israeli government is willing to resort to military action, alone if necessary to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons.

Israel’s intelligence minister Israel Katz made these comments on Thursday in Japan where he is hoping that U.S. President Donald Trump’s will back their tough stance on Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.

“If international efforts led these days by U.S. President Trump don’t help stop Iran attaining nuclear capabilities, Israel will act militarily by itself,” Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said in an interview in Tokyo. “There are changes that can be made (to the agreement) to ensure that they will never have the ability to have a nuclear weapon.”
Israel has taken unilateral action in the past without the consent of its major ally, the United States, including air strikes on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007 and in Iraq in 1981. A strike against Iran, however, would be a risky venture with the potential to provoke a counter strike and roil financial markets.
“We will not allow Iran to transform Syria into forward base sea harbors, air bases and Shia militias,” he said. “We will act together with the United States and other countries in the world until they stop the ballistic missiles that threaten Israel.”

The Japanese have been one of the US’ staunchest allies in the east, and Katz was hoping to stoke the fires there ahead of President Trump’s visit on November 5. But the Japanese get nearly all of their oil from the Middle East and have tried for a very long time to get along with all of the players there, including Iran.

The other NATO powers have not agreed that this is an option and if the US and Israel decide to take action, they’ll no doubt be alone in this. Which may actually encourage Tehran to act even more boldly in the near future.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

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Judge in Bergdahl Case Considers Trump Impact on Sentence

The sentencing for the court-martial trial of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was supposed to begin on Monday. But the military judge deciding his punishment said that he’s concerned that comments made by President Donald Trump both before and after being elected could impact the public’s perception of the military justice system.

Bergdahl pled guilty that he endangered members of his unit by walking off his post in Afghanistan back in 2009. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison but Army Col. Jeffery R. Nance allowed last-minute arguments by defense attorneys that recent comments by the President will prevent a fair proceeding.

Nance allowed the attorneys to question him about whether he was swayed by Trump’s comments. Nance said he wasn’t aware of the comments beyond what was in the legal motions. Nance said he plans to retire as a colonel in about a year and isn’t motivated by pleasing commanders to win a future promotion.
“I don’t have any doubt whatsoever that I can be fair and impartial in the sentencing in this matter,” Nance said.
But he had stern words and pointed questions for prosecutors about what effect Trump’s comments would have on public perception of the case. He indicated he would issue a written ruling later on the defense request to have the case thrown out over Trump’s comments.
Nance previously ruled those comments were “disturbing” but didn’t amount to unlawful command influence and noted the statements were made before Trump assumed his position at the top of the armed forces’ command structure.

While campaigning for the Presidency in 2016, Trump called Bergdahl a “dirty rotten traitor”, who deserved to be executed by a firing squad or tossed from an aircraft without a parachute. Last week, asked about the case by the press, Trump said that he couldn’t comment on the case but intimated that they (media) already know his thoughts on the subject of Bergdahl.

To read the entire article from ABC News, click here:

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White House Chief of Staff Kelly “Stunned” Over Trump Criticism

In another turn of events from earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Thursday he was “stunned and broken-hearted” over the comments that Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) made after President Trump called the widow of a soldier who was killed in Niger two weeks ago.

Kelly came to the aid of the President who was criticized in how he tried to comfort the widow of SGT La David Johnson of the 3^rd Special Forces Group. “There’s no perfect way to make that phone call,” said Kelly, who appeared at a regular White House press briefing. “It’s not the phone call parents, family members are looking forward to,” he said.

Kelly said the comments Trump made to Army Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, were similar to those spoken to him after his son was killed in Afghanistan. “He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed,” Kelly said. “He knew what he was getting into when he joined” the military. “And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this Earth, his friends,” said Kelly. “That’s what the president tried to say to the four families yesterday.”
Kelly said that the conversation in the aftermath of a military death is one of the only aspects of American life that has not been politicized. Yet, “it eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress,” he said. “I thought at least that was sacred,” he said.
Trump on Wednesday denied telling the widow of a U.S. soldier killed by Islamic State-linked militants in Niger that her husband knew “what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts.”

Kelly spoke about his own son’s death in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and how difficult that time was. Trump took to Twitter to lambast Rep. Wilson over her comments, calling her actions, “sad.”

To read the entire article from The USA Today click here:

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Trump’s Call To Special Forces Widow Creates a Firestorm

President Donald Trump’s call to the grieving widow of SGT La David Johnson has created an imbroglio between the White House and a Florida Democratic Congresswoman.

Johnson was one of four soldiers from the 3rd Special Forces Group who were killed two weeks ago in Niger in an ambush while they were training and advising the local troops on a Foreign Internal Defense (FID) mission. The Green Berets and support troops were returning from a mission when they were ambushed by a numerically superior force with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Johnson, a wheeled vehicle mechanic was initially separated from the other troops and was presumed missing but was found a few days later, having been killed in the fighting.

Trump’s call to Myeshia Johnson took place in a car right after she had met the casket of her husband at the airport. Like so many scenes of those in the past, it was an emotional, gut-wrenching experience for Johnson’s widow, who not only lost her husband but the father of her young children. That’s where the story differs.

Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson, claims that she was in the car with Johnson and that the President told Myeshia Johnson that “he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt.” Wilson also claims that the President didn’t even know the soldier’s name and that after the call, Johnson “broke down” sobbing. Wilson’s claim was corroborated by Cowanda Jones-Johnson, a family member who raised Johnson and who was also in the car at the time of the call.

Wilson later spoke on CNN and lambasted Trump saying that “Mr. Trump is crazy” and later told a CNN reporter that the President “has a brain disorder.” As one would expect, it was quickly picked up by the national media and became an even bigger story after the President responded, first in a meeting in the Cabinet Room and then like he’s normally done via Twitter.

President Trump first denial was at the White House to the reporters, there for the Cabinet meeting, “I didn’t say what that congresswoman said. Didn’t say it at all,” Trump told reporters during a meeting on tax reform in the Cabinet Room. “She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said.” He added that he “had a very nice” conversation with Johnson’s widow, and that “she sounded like a lovely woman.”

Trump said that he had proof that Wilson made up her claims but neither he nor White House press secretary Sarah Sanders offered any proof of it. Sanders did state that there are no recordings of the President’s phone calls but alluded that there were many other people in the room during the conversation. That is when the situation devolved into a Twitter war of words began, with Trump stating,

Wilson didn’t back off her earlier statements and sent her own Tweet out.

Later she spoke with a CNN affiliate and added more fuel to the already stoked fire. “That is what stood out in everyone’s heart,” she said. “You don’t say that. He is the President of the United States. This is a soldier who gave his life for his country. He is a hero in our minds, in our community’s minds. That is an insult to the entire Miami Gardens community,…And I hope he didn’t say this to the other three families.”

Wilson also claims that she was “livid” at the President’s remarks and tried to grab the phone in the car to speak with the President but was blocked from doing so by a Master Sergeant from the military, who was no doubt part of the Survivor Assistance detail. Which was the correct answer on two parts. First, the proper protocol is that the President’s conversations with families are private and for them only. And the second is that the last thing you need is for a third party to inflame nerves of the bereaved family that are already stretched to the breaking point.

Having been involved in a couple of these situations in the past, the feelings of the family are always to be treated very, very carefully. Every word spoken, every action taken has to be under the consideration that the family has had an integral part of it ripped away and never to return. They are dealing with the heartbreak of losing a loved one and on the day that the casket returns home is a gut-wrenching, experience when all of the bad feelings become reality. We’ve watched this play out many times, too many times and any outsiders, be they the military assistance teams or the local representative, lending their support has to be there as a calming influence.

Just one wrong word can be catastrophic. During the funeral for my Team Sergeant from Panama in 1990 at a tiny North Carolina graveyard, the immediate family of his and his in-laws harbored a deep grudge against one another. At the gravesite for him, just one misspoken word sparked a melee with punches thrown by too many people to count. And our pallbearers and honor guard who were there to say goodbye to our comrade had to break it up while in uniform. It was a situation, I hope never to see repeated.

Did the President actually say these words? I don’t know, but given his lack of filter in the past, I tend to believe it. Was it a deliberate attempt to hurt the feelings of SGT Johnson’s widow? No, I don’t buy that a bit. But as we’ve seen in the past, President Trump’s lack of filter and speaking off the cuff can get him in trouble.

And of all the times he needed to think thru what he was going to say, this was it. Losing a soldier for the military is a sad fact of the job. We as soldiers, know this better than anyone. We accept it, know that it is, in fact, the worst part of the job. We know that the table we sit around will have an occasional empty chair. It is part of what we were aware of when we volunteered. But he wasn’t speaking to the troops, and that’s where he needed to choose his words very carefully.

Nothing that he could say will take away the pain and anguish of Myeshia Johnson or any of the other three families from the 3rd SFG who lost loved ones on that day in Niger. But his words will stick with them for the rest of their lives because when they think back on the day his body came home, they will remember the call from the President of the United States. He speaks for the country as a whole and they should be words that stick with them in a positive, healing and caring way. There should never be any gray area in this…ever.

Regardless of whether he said it as it is being portrayed or any other way, he failed this family on the worst possible day for them. And because of that, we as a country didn’t do them right either. They deserve that.

Photos: US Army, White House, Twitter

Kurdish Forces Pushed Out of Long-held Lands by Iraqi Army, Shia Militias

Kurdish forces, in a stunning series of events, have been forced to abandon lands they had controlled since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, after Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shia militias swept into areas that had been hoped to be an independent Kurdistan.

These peshmerga units were forced out of the towns of Bashiqa, Khanaqin, and Sinjar less than a day after surrendering the city of Kirkuk earlier. Any hopes for a Kurdish independent state now seem dashed. The Kurds had voted on an independence referendum on September 25 to hold onto their lands they’ve held since Saddam lost power and they’ve seized back in battles against the Islamic State.

The rapid fall of Kirkuk gave impetus to the capitulation across northern Iraq, with forces loyal to Baghdad sweeping unopposed into areas that military leaders thought they would have to fight for.
Instead, Iraqi troops found empty streets, shuttered shops and primitive roadblocks, which were quickly cleared, before the relaxed arrivals took up their new positions.
On the northern entrances to Kirkuk, a day after the rout, senior peshmerga officers appeared stunned by what had taken place. Few agreed to be interviewed as they set up new defences 25 miles away from the city.
Diggers gouged trenches in scorched brown earth, and bulldozers piled dirt into hilltop berms, while others cleared mounds on roads that had been intended to stop Iraqi advances.

The US and the Trump administration did not support the Kurds or their independence referendum. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “the vote and the results lack legitimacy.” Many of the Kurds look upon this action by the US as the ultimate betrayal of a faithful ally since the initial Gulf War of 1990.

Meanwhile, Tillerson said that the US will “continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq.” That must be welcome news in Tehran, as the Kurds believe, as do many others that the Iranians are exerting far too much influence in Baghdad.

To read the entire article from The Guardian, click here:

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Disaster Relief Missions Straining Already Hurting Military Readiness

The U.S. military has been taxed with fighting wars for 16 years in multiple countries and with the previous presidential administration cutting back on troop levels, modernization of the service’s equipment, the Defense Department’s readiness is in “dire straits” across the board according to some reports just released.

The report from the Heritage Foundation, the conservative Washington think tank, also points to the country’s aging nuclear arsenal, in dire need of upgrades is falling behind that of the Russians who have upgraded theirs. And to top things off, the current disaster relief efforts undergoing in Puerto Rico, and elsewhere is putting an added burden on a force already stretched thin.

“We believe that the U.S. military is at marginal status and it’s trending toward weak,” said retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dakota Wood, a senior research fellow for defense programs at Heritage and editor of its 2018 “Index of Military Strength” report.
In perhaps a sign of the U.S. military being stretched too thin, the Pentagon said Thursday new U.S. forces flowing into Afghanistan have been delayed due to hurricane relief efforts. The Pentagon has sent extensive resources to help with assistance to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other Caribbean islands in the region.
“Forces are flowing to Afghanistan; they have been slightly delayed by ongoing hurricane relief efforts,” Joint Staff Director and Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters late Thursday.

Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force units are at or near record lows in terms of service members. The Army at the end of the Cold War had 780,000 troops. Now they number about 480,000. The Marine Corps aviation assets are operating on a shoestring due to lack of spare parts and maintenance. The Navy has the least amount of ships since World War I. The Air Force is short nearly 1000 pilots and only four of 32 fighter squadrons are considered “combat-ready.”

To read the entire article from CNBC News, click here:

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