Pompeo again declines to present evidence of 'imminent' threat that led to strike against Iranian ge
Source: CNN
Washington (CNN)Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday defended the basis for killing Iranian General Qasem Soleimani because of the threat of an imminent strike but declined to present any evidence, saying President Donald Trump's decision was "entirely legal."
"There's been much made about this question of intelligence and imminence," Pompeo said at the State Department. "Any time a president makes a decision of this magnitude, there are multitude pieces of information that come before him."
"It's the right decision, we got it right, the Department of Defense did excellent work," he said, adding that it was an "entirely legal decision."
Pompeo made his remarks as questions continue to mount about the justification for the strike as well as the administration's overall level of strategic planning for the fallout from killing the second most powerful man in Iran.
<more>
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/politics/pompeo-iran-briefing/index.html
Full title
Pompeo again declines to present evidence of 'imminent' threat that led to strike against Iranian general
alwaysinasnit
(5,072 posts)Lonestarblue
(10,074 posts)I read the news from several outlets, and all said that neither the US military nor the Iraqis knew who launched the attack. The attackers used Katyusha rockets, manufactured in Russia and sold to a number of countries in the Middle East. Both ISIS and Iranian-backed militias use Katyusha rockets, so there was no way to know who launched the attack because neither group claimed credit. So it appears that Pompeo and Esper simply decided that this was a good way to blame Iran for the attack and give Trump an excuse to kill Soleimani! I doubt there was an imminent threatjust an opportunity seized to make Trump look strong. It it starts WWIII, they wont care since their kids and grandkids wont go to war and die.
Ohiogal
(32,065 posts)Was that Pompeo would get fired by Donnie Dipshit if he didnt carry out his orders.
Roy Rolling
(6,933 posts)The party of no evidence, no witnesses, take our word for it.
The reality? A solid 30% will, 99% of them Republicans.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)RiP, Jim Nabors
bucolic_frolic
(43,287 posts)Today he'd be a typical broke ass cellar-dwelling ham-fisted Trump $$$$$$ ANIMAL
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)Not one of these people could/would give a straight answer to ANY question. Dodge, deflect, obscure, manipulate the question. NOT ONE GODDAM WORD that sounded like evidence, fact or proof.
And informing Congress via twitter ? WTF is that ?
This man has all the impulse control of a grease fire, and all of his "advisors" stood by while he has embraced his lowest, base impulse. None of us signed up for this.
I am sickened to my soul.
This dangerously incompetent and insane man has GOT to be neutralized. "By any means necessary."
oasis
(49,408 posts)SharonAnn
(13,778 posts)area51
(11,920 posts)Well, we all know Dementia Donnie doesn't read.
Ford_Prefect
(7,919 posts)He's suspected of pushing Trump into this lunacy. IMO his smirk is a tell. They had no intel on any threat because Trump never trusts the US Intel services. They cooked this one up out of nothing but a desire to find a distraction that would startle congress, and the racism which drives the Trump propaganda and ideology.
NCProgressive
(1,315 posts)It was just Trump's desire to distract and exhibit machismo.
MissMillie
(38,580 posts)It's not uncommon to not share your intelligence, because sometimes doing so compromises the ability to gather intelligence.
HOWEVER...
Because this administration has been, shall we say, less than truthful (to put it mildly), it's difficult to accept any of their claims at face value.