US military officials: Trump-ordered raid in Yemen...was approved 'without sufficient intelligence'

[Native]

Source: Reuters via Business Insider

U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.

As a result, three officials said, the attacking SEAL team found itself dropping onto a reinforced al Qaeda base defended by landmines, snipers, and a larger than expected contingent of heavily armed Islamist extremists.

One of the three U.S. officials said on-the-ground surveillance of the compound was “minimal, at best.”

(Regarding Obama's decision to delay the mission) “The decision was made ... to leave it to the incoming administration, partly in the hope that more and better intelligence could be collected,” that official said.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-officials-trump-ordered-raid-in-yemen-that-killed-us-navy-seal-was-approved-without-sufficient-intelligence-2017-2

[nycbos]

1. I hate the Orange Man with a passion but...

... some reports say Obama rejected this raid. Why did they present it to him as a option if there wasn't "sufficient intelligence."

[mobeau69]

5. Did you read the article?

[nycbos]

10. Yes I did.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

62. If you had read it, you would have answered your own question. The excerpt, even. It's there. nt

[itcfish]

11. From his actions the

past week, it is clear the man has no intelligence whatsoever

[nycbos]

15. Indeed.

The brass for the last eight years have been dealing with a man of great intelligence who understands the complexity of situations capable of weighing the pros and cons of the action purposed.

That is clearly no longer the case. I hope in future they wait (when they can) until they have more intelligence.

[iluvtennis]

60. +10,000 nt

[atreides1]

26. Who presented it to him?

That's the question that needs to be asked???


Or did his man Bannon go looking for something to put Trump on the road to being a war time, president! In the hopes that he could increase his popularity?

[heaven05]

58. right

you like trump, right? some reports? Link please...that's normal around here when making definitive statements concerning alleged truths. " I hate orangeman with a passion BUT" ......qualifying word, to me.

[tanyev]

2. Time for congressional hearings!!!!!!!

[Equinox Moon]

27. This was a war crime, except we aren't at war with Yemmen.

Technically.

16 people were killed. x2 were Americans (one was an 8-year old girl), multiple people were injured and the rest traumatized. All this in order to steal computers.

I am speechless.

[kacekwl]

3. He knows it all.

Intelligence not his or anyone else in this administration's strong suite

[Thav]

4. Just about everything he's done is without sufficient intelligence.

Why would this be any different?

[narnian60]

57. +1

[Native]

6. It was a "brutal firefight"

The military officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said "a brutal firefight" took the lives of Owens and at least 15 Yemeni women and children. One of the dead was the 8-year-old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki, a militant killed by a 2011 U.S. drone strike.

And according to the Pentagon, women were supposedly firing at U.S. forces. The whole thing is mind-boggling.

Do any of you guys think they set Trump up with this? Personally, I can see him not caring about the lack of intelligence and moving forward with this simply to draw attention away from all of his other screw-ups, but there's a small part of me that wonders if he's being set-up.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. "Do any of you guys think they set Trump up with this?"

No way, ever.

[trc]

29. Two points: One, the Seals would not sacrifice a team to make trump

look bad, ever; and two, by suggesting trump was set up you are relieving him of responsibility for ordering a bad mission he did not understand and most likely did not listen to the military about their concerns. If trump ordered this mission he is responsible for the outcome...just as Obama was for every mission he ordered (drone strikes anyone).

[Native]

30. That's what I was hoping. Thanks.

[atreides1]

32. For what reason?

Are you asking if the military sacrificed a SEAL, intentionally killed civilians, and crashed an aircraft...just to set up Trump?

[Native]

35. No, not the military. Others, somehow.

[The_Voice_of_Reason]

34. Do not believe he was set up.

I would venture to day he was looking for an early easy win to burnish his tough guy talk, to show the world he was kicking ass and taking names....sadly, because he did not properly review the mission, it was anything but an easy win.

[Ilsa]

47. No, they were watching for the right opportunity

after getting better intel about risks, who would be there, etc. When PBO was still in office, it was still deemed too risky, with potential for more fallout from the collateral damage, I bet. It was basically on hold, from what I understand.

PBO wouldn't play politics with the Team's safety. I don't believe for a second that they left it as an opportunity for trump et al to fuck up.

From what I remember about killing bin Laden, the risk was still fairly even, but the intel would not get any better than what they had right then, and in fact, it could deteriorate with time. It was a deeply-considered decision to go in and follow through with getting OBL's body out. Sec. Clinton encouraged Pres. Obama on this, but ultimately, he made the big decision.

[leftynyc]

7. Democrats should be calling for investigations

Navy SEAL killed, 3 more wounded, a very expensive helicopter had to get blown up so as to not fall into isis's hands, an 8 year old American was killed along with other civilians - this was a fuck up of monumental proportions.

[Native]

9. Exactly. And to also send these guys in without sufficient ground support much less back-up? WTF?

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Nothing should gain Congress' attention like the military

Where is the oversight?

Where is right wing media? "YEMEN!!!! YEMEN!!!! YEMEN!!!!"

[Native]

12. William "Ryan" Owens

[Ilsa]

48. Rest in peace. I feel horrible for his wife and children.

It didn't need to happen.

[HAB911]

13. Not the only thing

'without sufficient intelligence'

[C_U_L8R]

14. 'Without sufficient intelligence'

It's a true Trump motto that unfortunately
will be garnering too many gravestones

[Crowman2009]

16. BTW, if you know someone who wants to join the military. STOP THEM!

Otherwise Trump will send them home in a body bag. I'm wondering if Bannon/Trump is trying to kill off our military so they can leave Europe vulnerable to a Russian invasion.

Take from an Iraq vet like myself. If you don't want somebody to serve under a corrupt idiot that doesn't have a fuckin' clue what he's doing. Then follow my advice when I say:

DO NOT ENLIST!

[Marthe48]

17. Here's what it is

Nothing done by these clown car incompetents will have sufficient intelligence. I am surprised any one of them can drink from a glass.

[mopinko]

28. they must all wear loafers.

unless they have someone to tie their shoes.

[mcar]

18. This SOB is going to kill us all

Incompetent sociopath surrounded by incompetents. Why are they harping on about delays in the cabinet when they don't give a flying fck what anyone thinks.

[woodsprite]

31. Because as soon as he gets them installed, the sooner he can resign because it's not fun

Those are the people he promised the most tax cuts and power to.

[Eugene]

19. We're such smart people and "intelligence" is overrated.

Besides, the intelligence community is packed with lazy government
workers who are unionized, liberal and mostly Democrats. </Trump mode>

The only surprise here is that the Trump Gang is not trying to spin
this as a setup by the Obama Administration. They are still insisting
this fiasco was an overall success.

[PatSeg]

20. But Trump knows more than the generals

[Mc Mike]

22. Old ''Blood and Guts" Drumpf.

Our troops' blood, his 'guts'. Funny, cuz he's always been such a gutless wonder.

Wonder if there will be a permanent congressional oversight committee formed by the repugs -- like they apparently did with Benghazi -- when one of der dRumpfenfuhrer's fucked up little toy soldier missions gets 4 of our people killed in one incident.

[NewJeffCT]

23. I think much of what Team Trump will do

will be without sufficient intelligence.

[onetexan]

41. That's right

He & his ilk don't care how many American lives are lost. They will consider it collateral damage.

[NewJeffCT]

51. as long as more brown or black people are killed than US soldiers

most of his followers will consider that a win.

[Bengus81]

24. First of the shoot from the hip wild fucking west BS from Drumph....

a hell of a lot more to follow.

[Bengus81]

25. Set it up to blame it on Obama if it went south...and it DID.

Supposedly a whopping 14 of them killed and one of ours,children killed and a wasted chopper and Spicer and Trump are high fiving?!?! Remember the fucking FIELD day the Republicans had with that botched raid of Iran for the hostages that Carter ordered?? Lost some lives and choppers in that one too but no children but Carter was raked over the coals and helped him lose the next election.

Watch how quickly a Republican Pres gets a complete PASS on this disaster.

[Marthe48]

33. Yemenghazi

Just saw on a facebook post, had to share

[Native]

37. Seen on Twitter: Trumpgahzi & Dongahzi

[rickford66]

65. They haven't finished with the Benghazi investigations yet, have they?

You know Trump will never accept responsibility anyway.

[DinahMoeHum]

36. OBAMA said NO due to insufficient/bad intelligence. . .

. . .Trump said YES due to NO intelligence.

http://theweek.com/speedreads/677442/trumps-disastrous-first-military-strike-previously-been-rejected-by-obama

[Native]

39. Excerpt from The Guardian

(Colonel John) Thomas said he did not know why the prior administration did not authorize the operation, but said the Obama administration had effectively exercised a "pocket veto" over it.

A former official said the operation had been reviewed several times, but the underlying intelligence was not judged strong enough to justify the risks, and the case was left to the incoming Trump administration to make its own judgment.

[The Guardian]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/yemen-strike-eight-year-old-american-girl-killed-al-awlaki

[DinahMoeHum]

45. You watch, Trump will say Obama set him up to fail.

Wouldn't put that past him.

[world wide wally]

38. WTF did anyone expect from a whacko in the White House?

And the fucking military supports this shit?

[Turbineguy]

40. OK. Somebody in the Pentagon

pushed this thing. A half baked plan. And, the trump admin being fairly half-baked itself thought they could pick up some glory. Spokesman SS blamed the Obama Admin of course. He would.

Now people in the Pentagon are saying the operation was flawed. Discord in the guard house?

[ewagner]

42. My take on this:

I suspect Trump's people wanted a quick military victory to tout DerTrumpsters tough guy image.

They asked the military for options and the military presented this one with a shit-load of caveats and reservations.."mad-dog" would have been foaming at the mouth over it, he probably would have supported ANYTHING that went BANG!

Trumpster ordered it anyway.

just my humble opinion

[karynnj]

59. If so, he should have simply made his statements of more help on ISIS and then taken credit

when the Iraqis reclaimed the Eastern half of Mosul recently, and then taking all of Mosul and finally taking credit for ISIS controlling no land in Iraq. Various people close to the Obama administration spoke of all of this was likely this year. Here, he could have taken credit and because actual coverage in the US was so terrible, he could claim that he freed Iraq from ISIS.

Now, any sane person would know that winning back the eastern half of Mosul (in the first weeks of Trump's administration) was due to the international coalition led by Obama's careful, slow plan with people from that area leading the fight and then restarting governance in areas won back. There will be a tremendously difficult fight to regain western Mosul, which contains the old city. I hope Trump continues with the method Obama was successfully using. It might be because this is an international coalition and there is tremendous political resistance to US ground troops, he might at least see the US political advantage of following Obama's lead here.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

63. Yeah. Instead, Hair DrumpFuhrer has greatly antagonized our ally by banning them from travel here.

[maxrandb]

43. In response, the Retrumplicans have ordered an investigation into

BENGHAZI!!!!!!!!!

[neeksgeek]

44. But Trumpendork knows more than the generals!

[Native]

46. On the campaign trail, Trump endorsed killing relatives of terrorist suspects, which is a war crime.

On the campaign trail, Trump endorsed killing relatives of terrorist suspects, which is a war crime. “The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families,” he told Fox News in December 2015.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/yemen-strike-eight-year-old-american-girl-killed-al-awlaki

[nini]

49. Well, we were told to give him a chance

He's failed from day one..now lots of people are dead.

[workinclasszero]

50. TRUMPGAZI

Why did Dump kill innocent children and leave our men out there to die?

[lisvard2]

52. Benghazi!!!

Dems need to demand investigations!!!

[radical noodle]

53. This was bound to happen

He thinks he knows more than generals. He thinks that Bannon should be front and center in intelligence. It will continue to happen unless someone stops him.

[dbackjon]

54. If this had happened under Obama/Clinton, there would have been ten investigations by now.

[Native]

55. They'd have locked him up by now.

[Bengus81]

61. So some Dem with BALLS needs to call for TEN investigations.....

Don't let this THUG and his partner in CRIME Bannon off the hook!!

[heaven05]

56. no surprise

these republiKKKans are and will remain an imminent danger to our forces, US and the world for the foreseeable future, however long that will be...

[DFW]

64. Such a PERFECT double meaning

"U.S. military officials told Reuters that Trump approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence."

How unbelievably correct!

I'd even go so far as to say that no one with any intelligence at all was involved, or the mission would have been scrubbed before it even got past the planning stage.

Of course, instead of a fiasco, the Republicans will spin this into an "alternative success."

[Native]

66. double entendre for the win! +1

[dhill926]

67. thank god the media are all over this....

and the dems are screaming for investigations....oh yeah....never mind....

[Native]

68. It's growing legs fast...

New York Magazine: U.S. Military Sources Claim Trump Approved Yemen Strike without Enough Preparation
The Hill: Questions rise about Trump-ordered raid in Yemen
Daily News: Trump's deadly first counterterrorism raid in Yemen had inadequate intel, ground support, military officials say
The Guardian: Questions mount over botched Yemen raid approved by Trump
Mother Jones: Who's to Blame For the Disaster in Yemen?
MSNBC: Key questions surround Trump’s first military raid
Huff Post (UK): Donald Trump Ordered Yemen Al Qaeda Raid ‘Without Sufficient Intelligence’
Talking Points Memo (Josh): Pentagon Points Finger of Blame at Trump
Reuters: Deadly U.S. raid may bolster Yemen's al Qaeda - Crisis Group

...and the latest seems to be that this will now give al Queda a propaganda boost.

[joanbarnes]

69. They killed Kennedy for less.

[jmowreader]

70. Trump had all the intelligence HE needed

Obama didn't authorize the mission. Trump didn't understand why.

Trump believes he knows more than the generals and admirals. He believed this mission would be easy - shades of Task Force Smith, the first salvo of the Korean War. (LTC Smith was told the NK troops were bad, untrained soldiers who would turn tail and run when they saw US ARMY on Smith's troops' uniforms. Quite the opposite happened.) By successfully running this mission Trump would prove not only what a great military mind he has, but how lacking Obama was.

Now Trump's staff needs to hide his phone so he can't go on Twitter and destroy the SEALs.

[Native]

71. Has this made it on the TV news yet? Anyone know?

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

72. Trumpghazi!

Let the investigations...

Never mind, it's OK if you're a Republican.

[briv1016]

73. Donald wanted to do an "I killed Bin Laden" type speech right out of the gate.

He rush it on bad intelligence and a soldier paid with his life. I fear this will only be the first of many.