Pentagon caught off guard by White House statement on Syria: emails

[Judi Lynn]

Source: The Hill


BY ELLEN MITCHELL - 07/25/18 02:02 PM EDT

Internal Pentagon emails show that the White House did not coordinate with or notify Defense Department officials before it released a statement last year warning that the Syrian government would “pay a heavy price” if it conducted another chemical weapons attack, BuzzFeed News reported.

“We woke up to the statement. [White House] did not coord with us or [Joint Chiefs of Staff] or [State Department] from what I can tell,” top Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told Kevin Sweeney, chief of staff to Defense Secretary James Mattis, in an email obtained by the news outlet.

The email was sent immediately after the White House’s statement from June 26, 2017, warning Syria after the April 4 chemical attack on its civilians. The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the watchdog group Democracy Forward and shared with BuzzFeed.

Sweeny had forwarded White a BuzzFeed article quoting officials as saying they had “no idea” about the Syria announcement, with two question marks.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/defense/398827-pentagon-caught-off-guard-by-white-house-statement-on-syria-internal-emails

[COLGATE4]

1. Idiot child has finally convinced himself that he, and

he alone is all that is necessary (or wanted) to make all governmental decisions. Since Kelly lost whatever sway he may at one time had over man-child, Spanky has determined that his "gut" and "instincts" alone are more than adequate to decide life or death matters. We are truly approaching the bottom of a very slippery slope and one that can have terrible unintended consequences for all of us and the nation as a whole. The real crisis is that the know-nothing Rethuglican congress is fine basking in Dumpy's adoration by his deplorable masses instead of fulfilling their constitutional duty to serve as a check and balance on the executive. And now that the Supreme Court will in all probability swing wildly to the right when Kennedy's replacement is eventually confirmed there are, in effect, ZERO checks and balances on Trump. He will be able to do whatever his vestigial brain (or Fox News) tells him he wants to do and Katie, bar the door.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. One tabloid's cover story is, "The Most Powerful Man in America"

There's a huge picture of Hannity.

Not bad for someone who never graduated from college.

Stay in school, kids.

[sandensea]

2. Cheeto, the Pentagon should know, would gladly back al-Qaeda efforts to tear Syria apart.

It creates an instant cash cow for the arms industry, and puts Big Awl that much closer to picking apart the Syrian National Petroleum Co.

War profiteers and Big Awl are two of the GOP's biggest backers.

[Joe Nation]

3. Incompetent boob thy name is Trump.

[SergeStorms]

5. Trump said, "I go with my instincts".

Trump has some of the worst instincts of any human being on the planet. That's not hyperbole, the facts back that up 100%.