Posted on Jun 21, 2019
Trump Says Strike On Iran Was 'Cocked And Loaded' Before He Called It Off
363
8
7
3
3
0
I know this comment coming from me is about to shock a bunch of people on RP, but this was a good move by the president. Right now no one is dead and Iran seems to have purposely done things that won't result in deaths. If people start dying, the game will change.
Trump Says Strike On Iran Was 'Cocked And Loaded' Before He Called It Off
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: 
Iran
Donald Trump
Iran Donald Trump
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
2
2
0
What I find hard to believe is that the military never presented any estimate of casualties as part of thebriefings all the way through the approval process. Trump says he asked how many would die about 30 mnutes before the strike, and his national security team said they would have to check andget back to him. And when he got the answer, he called it off.
I find it stunning that first, the senior military leaders wouldnt address this topic at all during the briefings,and second, that any president wouldnt ask about casualties well before 30 minutes before a strike. It just doesnt add up.
I find it stunning that first, the senior military leaders wouldnt address this topic at all during the briefings,and second, that any president wouldnt ask about casualties well before 30 minutes before a strike. It just doesnt add up.
(2)
(0)
SPC Kevin Ford
LTC (Join to see) You have hit the nail on the head with one of the problems with the Trump presidency. He lies, a lot, and consistently lies in ways that make him look good.
Because of that I don't trust anything sourced to him unless there is outside corroboration. That there was no military action is verifiable, we also seem to have corroboration that a strike was planned and called off at the last minute. So all that appears trustworthy enough and is enough to make me go, OK good call. Even if there was a bit of theater in there to put Iran on notice, still a good call.
But as you say the details around how it came about, without corroboration, are not coming from a trustworthy source and don't match with past experience on how things were likely to have played out. So I dismiss that part of the story as unverified information coming from an unreliable source.
Because of that I don't trust anything sourced to him unless there is outside corroboration. That there was no military action is verifiable, we also seem to have corroboration that a strike was planned and called off at the last minute. So all that appears trustworthy enough and is enough to make me go, OK good call. Even if there was a bit of theater in there to put Iran on notice, still a good call.
But as you say the details around how it came about, without corroboration, are not coming from a trustworthy source and don't match with past experience on how things were likely to have played out. So I dismiss that part of the story as unverified information coming from an unreliable source.
(1)
(0)
1
1
0
1
1
0
I appreciate you noting that. Honestly, I'm still at a loss why this information is getting leaked. I don't like it. I don't care who's in office, these kind of leaks are dangerous.
(1)
(0)
LT Brad McInnis
Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin I wonder if some of them aren't "on purpose" in order to get it out in the public discourse. If the Iranians know just how close they were to getting struck, then it may change behavior. I am not for the leaks, hated it when I had to respond to them when I worked CENTCOM, but sometimes there may be a larger goal.
(0)
(0)
Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
I wonder that too. Either way, it still concerns me because it potentially encourages people throughout the government to release sensitive and/or classified information without authorization.
(0)
(0)
SPC Kevin Ford
Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin Part of it the administration is bringing upon themselves. What I mean by that is prior administrations were relatively open with the press and usually spoke the truth and when they couldn't talk about something said "no comment." So the cases where the press started thinking they needed to start turning over rocks were a lot fewer.
This administration gives very little information to the press and when they do, a lot of it has been shown to be verifiable untruths. This isn't just from the POTUS, but the press secretary and pretty much all senior administration officials. The press cannot trust anything coming from those sources and due to that is more actively trying to cultivate other more trustworthy sources of information during this administration.
The other half of this is the leakers themselves. That is a little more squishy subject. We've got a lot of lot of people being put in very uncomfortable positions of knowing that they should keep the information quiet but also knowing that the American people are constantly being told untruths which probably starts a moral quandary on the proper course of action to protect the country.
For me, I would have kept my head down and stayed quiet. I'm too much of a rule following boyscout (I know, seems strange). But I also know that people will react differently when put in a moral dilemma.
The most effective way to tamp down the leaks is to reduce the moral dilemma for those people.
This administration gives very little information to the press and when they do, a lot of it has been shown to be verifiable untruths. This isn't just from the POTUS, but the press secretary and pretty much all senior administration officials. The press cannot trust anything coming from those sources and due to that is more actively trying to cultivate other more trustworthy sources of information during this administration.
The other half of this is the leakers themselves. That is a little more squishy subject. We've got a lot of lot of people being put in very uncomfortable positions of knowing that they should keep the information quiet but also knowing that the American people are constantly being told untruths which probably starts a moral quandary on the proper course of action to protect the country.
For me, I would have kept my head down and stayed quiet. I'm too much of a rule following boyscout (I know, seems strange). But I also know that people will react differently when put in a moral dilemma.
The most effective way to tamp down the leaks is to reduce the moral dilemma for those people.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google